'Medicine should be a career open to all' says incoming Head of School Dr Sanjiv Ahluwalia
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has appointed experienced health educator and general medical practitioner Dr Sanjiv Ahluwalia as the new Head of its School of Medicine in Chelmsford.
Dr Ahluwalia has been a GP in the north London borough of Barnet since 1999. He started his career in in clinical education in 2002 as a GP education programme director.
Most recently, he was the Regional Postgraduate Dean for Health Education England (HEE) in London, where he was responsible for the liaison with NHS England, and the promotion and support of regional and national healthcare programmes across the capital.
His research interests focus on the link between clinical education and patient outcomes.
He is a Fellow of both the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Higher Education Academy.
In joining ARU, Dr Ahluwalia replaces Professor John Kinnear, who recently retired after carrying out the role since the School's inception.
Dr Ahluwalia said:
"After more than 20 years as a GP, I am excited to be taking on this new challenge of ensuring ARU's School of Medicine delivers the workforce needs of the county of Essex and the Eastern region, through collaboration across the local healthcare economy.
"I am a strong believer that quality education delivers better patient outcomes.
Essex has one of the highest ratios of patients to GPs in the country, and also has pockets where rates of chronic disease are high.
"We have got to pull out all the stops to make sure the people we train here at ARU build their careers here in Essex and the Eastern region, and we do that by offering a quality education and making those careers rewarding ones. The School of Medicine is nested within a multiprofessional faculty which offers unparalleled opportunities for developing teams of professionals working together for better patient care.
"I was extremely impressed at how many students we have here that are from the surrounding area and are from diverse backgrounds. We have made an excellent start in widening participation and I hope to build on that still further in the coming years. Medicine should be a career open to all."
Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said:
"I am delighted that Dr Ahluwalia has joined ARU. Our School of Medicine is a source of great pride for ARU and Essex as a whole, and will play a vital role in delivering the county's healthcare workforce of the future.
"With our first cohort due to graduate in 2023, Dr Ahluwalia joins at an exciting time, and will build on the foundations that have already been put in place."
Professor Nigel Harrison, Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care at ARU, said:
"I'd like to warmly welcome Dr Ahluwalia to our faculty. Dr Ahluwalia brings significant and valuable experience in health education from his role as a General Practitioner and previous post as Regional Postgraduate Dean for Health Education England, London. He has a passion for ensuring medical education is available to all and understanding the influence of clinical education on patient care'.
"The School of Medicine is part of a wider faculty that is the largest provider of nursing, midwifery, health and social care students in the UK – committed to developing evidence based practice and preparing a skilled future workforce to improve patient outcomes."
ARU's School of Medicine took its first undergraduate Medicine students in 2018. It is the only undergraduate medical school in Essex.
According to data from the Nuffield Trust, out of 106 Clinical Commissioning Groups in the country, five of the 20 areas with the highest patient to GP ratios are in Essex.
