UKZN’s Professor Veena Singaram has been awarded a Karolinska Institutet prize for Research in Medical Education (KIPRIME).
Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet is ranked as one of the world’s top medical schools.
Singaram is the newly appointed Head of the Health Professions Education (HPE) Unit in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) Teaching and Learning Office.
The KIPRIME is awarded every second year for outstanding research in medical education, which in this case includes all education and training for any health science profession. Co-financed by the Gunnar Höglund and Anna-Stina Malmborg Foundation and Karolinska Institutet, the Fellows initiative aims to nourish the next generation of KIPRIME winners by offering an inspirational curriculum of mentoring and development activities for midcareer medical education researchers.
Nominated by past KIPRIME winners, the fellows are an elite group of highly promising global talents who meet the criteria of leading strong scientific programmes and whose profile and impact could be heightened through nurturing and networking.
Passionate about seeing Medical students thrive, succeed and excel, Singaram said: ‘I am grateful and honoured to be awarded this prestigious fellowship and I look forward to spending time in Stockholm in Sweden. This a great opportunity to network and be mentored by global experts and leaders in medical education research.’
In her new role as Head of the HPE Unit Singaram will focus on advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning and health professions education research in the college. In addition to facilitating and conducting extensive peer reviews, she actively mentors postgraduate students and staff to strengthen the research capacity of the College.
As a medical educationist, her scholarly activities focus on improving medical training and the quality of graduates and, ultimately, patient care. She has a special interest in formative assessment for learning, constructive feedback and collaborative learning environments within a transformative learning paradigm.
Words and photograph: Lunga Memela