About Us
We are the Student Inclusion Health Society, a group of students at UCL working with our Junior Doctor lead. Our aim is to empower students to engage in inclusion health initiatives through capacity building workshops and community-based partnerships. We have been working to set up placements which address Inclusion Health, and are now looking to recruit members of the student body to take part and run these placements.
Please get in touch if you're interested in joining - we'd be delighted to hear from you.
Placements
Hopscotch
Hopscotch is an organisation focused on the provision of services for women who are facing inequalities and abuse. Hopscotch, since 2020 has been working with Afghan refugee women, supporting them in finding community and belonging within the UK.
Students are provided with the opportunity to run targeted sessions for Afghan women - focused on the needs of the group. For example, we are currently running a childhood nutrition session focused on healthy eating using Afghan ingredients!
North Central London Asylum Seekers
We have partnered with North Central London health inequalities and communities team with the aim of bringing together students and asylum seekers to overcome barriers to health care. Possible projects include leading presentations on health literacy/common health conditions, helping to bring more nutritious food into hotels or taking part in weekly workshops aimed at building trust and self-advocacy amongst asylum seekers and refugees.
Find&Treat
Find&Treat is a specialist outreach team that works to identify cases of TB in the community and support patients in taking a full course of treatment. Homeless people have the highest rates of TB, a disease which is associated with poverty and inequality. Find&Treat work as a multidisciplinary team and include former TB patients who work as peer advocates, nurse specialists and technicians.
Students will undertake a survey of the skills of the homeless population. Many of these people have much to contribute to healthcare and beyond. Often these skills are unacknowledged, and as a student workforce we can contribute to combatting this.
Lewisham Refugee Centre
Lewisham refugee centre provides free advice and emergency support to refugee, asylum seeker and migrant communities. They additionally provide wellbeing support and community sessions. Students can contribute via helping clients access NHS and dental support, education of surrounding GPs in Lewisham and Greenwich re enabling access to those without immigration status. Additionally there is the possibility of doing research with the communications team.
St Mungo's
St Mungo's provides homeless accomodation, support group and activities. Students may run group activity sessions, healthcare signposting and healthcare assessments for the homeless.
Primary Care: Polypharmacy
Polypharmacy is a growing problem, with many patients taking unnecessary medications. This has both an impact on the patient, with a high burden of side effects, and also is costly to the NHS. Excess medications also involve a large carbon footprint.
Students will be placed with a GP practice in Islington to carry out an audit of polypharmacy and review medications through home visits. This will develop student understanding of primary care and gain greater insight into patient experience.
Primary Care: Art Therapy
We will work with a GP practice in Islington and Dr Tamsin Ellis to support young people in care with low level anxiety and mental health problems.
Students will work with an art therapist lead to set up and organise the therapy group and survey the impact, considering how we can best support people in care and what interventions are successful in addressing mental health.
Committee
Programme Lead - Jey Jeyapala
As the lead for the Student Inclusion Health Network I have been fortunate enough to work with an inspirational team of students setting up the UCL SIHS. We exist to bridge the gap between the world of undergraduate academia and the practical implementation of real-world health interventions. My role is to provide support, guidance and training for the UCLSIHS programme. This is informed though my clinical work as an Internal Medical Trainee in North West London and as a clinical fellow with the Enhance Generalist Skills Programme, in addition to my experience working with third sector organisations in the UK and abroad advocating for health justice.
Student Supervisor - Sally-Anne van der Linden
Hi my name's Sally-Anne and I'm an FY2 at Royal Free Hospital. My interest in tackling health inequalities began in Sheffield at medical school when I took part in an outreach programme teaching children from schools in deprived area about how they can look after their mental health. From there, I co-founded a health inequalities society where we aimed to educate other students through newsletters and workshops as well as running projects to create positive change within our local community. One of these projects involved connecting asylum seekers and medical students to help overcome barriers to healthcare and it is something that I am passionate about setting up here in London too!
President - Bizzy Perreau-Saussine
Hey:) My name is Bizzy and I’m President of SIHS. My role involves coordinating our team and ensuring the smooth running of our activities. So far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic nature of our team and have loved the discussions between us. I’m involved with SIHS because our network gives us the opportunity to not only discuss and learn about the social and political determinants of health, but also take active steps to address them. This is something that I believe is otherwise missing in my medical education, and I think it is a really valuable part of the doctor that I hope to one day become.
Treasurer - Adithi Harikrishnan
Hi all! My name is Adithi and I am a 4th year medical student at UCL! My role involves managing the cost of our activities, and helping to fund any events and programmes we run. My love for what we do at SIHS stems from the idea that as students we learn a lot about inequalties and injustices in our studies. SIHS gives us an opportunity to not only improve our awareness but aim to positively contribute to these communities using local action. I also hope we can start to fill some educational gaps between the medical curriculum and teach you how you can put this knowledge into practice even as a student.
Secretary - Nadhira Samsudeen
Hi everyone! My name is Nadhira, I am a 4th year medical student at UCL and this year's secretary at Student Inclusion Health Society. My role involves coordinating outreach to our partner organisations and overseeing the administrative aspects of the team. It has been a real pleasure to be involved with setting up a programme focused on the importance of intersectional and inclusive healthcare, filling a major gap in the medical curriculum. I believe that good healthcare begins with an individual focus and an understanding of the barriers which may prevent patients from accessing quality care.
Welfare Officer - Noor Fatima
Hi!! My role as welfare officer of SIHS involves helping to make activities inclusive and signposting members to wellbeing services. I have enjoyed working as part of the team as I have learned a lot about inclusion health over the past few months. It is something I never realised was missing from the medical school curriculum despite it being integral to the role of a doctor. My interests lie in migrant and refugee health and initiatives we can run to make accessing healthcare smoother for this population.
Events Officer - Misha Patel
Hi, I'm Misha, a fourth-year medical student and the events officer for SIHS this year. I'm eager to organise and oversee some fantastic events aimed at enhancing students' understanding and engagement in inclusion health throughout the upcoming year. Being part of this network is truly exciting, as it provides an opportunity to broaden my expertise in inclusion health and engage in discussions on pertinent topics beyond the curriculum. I can't wait to collaborate with fellow students and contribute to fostering a more inclusive healthcare environment.
Social Media Officer - Jiya Undre
Hi everyone ! My name is Jiya and I’m a 2nd year medical student at UCL. I am SIHS’ social media officer, in charge of managing our social media relations and expanding the reach of our society through various platforms :) I have loved working with SIHS, learning of systems to improve health accessibility and also addressing the gaps in the medical school curriculum. I look forward to continuing work with SIHS, being able to positively address health issues within the local communities in London.
Futher Resources
Below we have included some papers which cover Inclusion Health, Generalism and their relationship to medical education. We hope to incorporate their ideas into our work. Feel free to have a browse:)
Benrimoh D, Warsi N, Hodgson E et al. An Advocacy and Leadership Curriculum to Train Socially Responsible Medical Learners [version 1]. MedEdPublish 2016, 5:62 (https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2016.000062)
Berwick DM. Era 3 for Medicine and Health Care. JAMA. 2016;315(13):1329–1330. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.1509
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/enhancing-generalist-skills/enhance-lea…