Presenter Bios

Lisa Alexander - EdD, MPH, PA-C

Experience PA educator who has served as the programme lead for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland PA programme since August 2020. Professor Emeritus at George Washington University (USA) and past-president of the PA Education Association (USA)

Ria Agarwal - PA-R, FHEA, PGCert (Medical Education)

PA in primary care since 2013, currently working in a dual role between primary care and as a lead PA for South Yorkshire

Kate Bascombe - BSc, PGDip, PGCert

"Kate Bascombe is the Course Lead for the Physician Associate (PA) MSc at BSMS. She undertook her PA training at St George’s University of London (SGUL) as the second cohort qualifying in 2011. Clinically, she has worked in secondary care across medical and surgical fields and primary care where she currently practices. 

Kate has been involved in PA education since 2014 and served on the boards of the UK PA national organisations from 2010 – 2016. Her proactive and vocal advocacy of the PA role started as student representative to the national body. She is an active member of the PA Schools Council, a PA National Exam (PANE) OSCE examiner, Associate Editor at the Future Healthcare Journal (FHJ), adjunct teaching staff for the RCP and member of the FPA Research committee. 

Student experience, patient safety and staff development are at the heart of Kate’s work. She aims to build a cohesive, open and supportive environment for the teaching team, thereby ensuring students have an optimum experience and are empowered to bring about positive change in their chosen areas of work."

Abby Chisholm - MBChB, PGCert in Clinical Education

I attended medical school at the University of Sheffield and worked clinically in South and West Yorkshire for several years before transitioning into my current role as a Clinical Educator. I am currently in the process of completing a MEd in Clinical Education, which I have undertaken alongside my role at the University of Leeds. I am involved in teaching students from multiple different programmes including our Physician Associate Studies MSc. I facilitate sessions for first and second year PA students on various topics including examination and communication skills. My interests include simulation and the use of TEL. 

Adam Dalby - BSc (Hons), MB BCh BAO, PGCert, MBA

"I am an Emergency Medicine Specialty Doctor, Governance and Quality Improvement Lead for Scarborough Hospital Emergency Department and The Emergency Assessment Unit. I am a Senior Lecturer in Patient Safety and Improvement Sciences, and the Module Lead for the Quality Improvement Module on the MSc Physician Associate Studies course at Hull York Medical School (HYMS), in my second year of leading the module. 

I hold a BSc (Hons) in Medical Sciences with Management from Imperial College London Business School, a PGCert in Health Economics from the University of Aberdeen and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Hull, in addition to my degree in Medicine from The Queen's University of Belfast. 

I have previously had roles as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at HYMS, as well as a role as a Leadership and Management Trainee for the Chief Medical Officer at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. 

I am passionate about Quality Improvement - especially the opportunity it offers within the HYMS course to allow PAs to differentiate themselves from other professions within the NHS, providing them with many opportunities to develop services as part of their ongoing commitment to improving care. "

Claire Darling-Pomranz - PA-C, MSc, FHEA, Pg Cert Med Ed 

I am a US trained PA and relocated to the UK in 2016. I have been working clinically in Acute Medicine at the Northern General in Sheffield since I arrived and began working in PA education at the University of Sheffield in October 2018. In the past year I have become the Deputy Director of the PA programme and Deputy Director of Assessment for the MBChB course. 

Michael Dillon - PhD in Cellular & Molecular Biology

Michael is the Deputy Programme Lead for the MSc Physician Associate programme at Peninsula Medical School. He is also a Lecturer in Infection and Immunity, teaching infectious disease pathogenesis and immunology across a wide range of programmes, including MSc PA, MSc Global Heath, and BMBS. Michael has a research background and has previously developed multiple diagnostic test kits for early human and veterinary disease detection in resource-poor settings. 

Jia Doulton - MA MBBS MSc FFPH PGCE FAcadMEd

Programme Director for PA PGDip since 2017. New role: Faculty Lead for IPE and Collaborative Practice in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at Surrey. Co-Chair of the Education Subgroup of the PA Schools Council.

Kirsty Elliott - BPharm hons MSc (advanced clinical practice) 

Kirsty is a clinical pharmacist who teaches on a PA programme leading on aspects of medication safety and prescribing. They are keen to develop the PA medicines curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of the physician associate role in practice.

Amy Feather - BSc (Hons) PGCert Clin Ed PG Dip FHEA 

I am a Healthcare Professional Lecturer and clinical educator working across a number of programs within the University of Leeds School of Medicine. The programs I teach on include MSc Physician Associate Studies, MBChB, Gateway to Medicine (widening participation scheme) and other health professional undergraduate degree courses such as Nursing and Diagnostic Radiography. My research interests include interprofessional education within healthcare and admission related research. 

James Gray -  MEd MBChB FRCGP FIMC.RCSEd DUMC.RCSEd MRCSEd DCH SFHEA

Course Director of the MMedSci PA studies at the University of Sheffield since 2016. General Practitioner. PA Schools Council research SubGroup lead. Director of Student recruitment School of medicine and Population Health. Interests in Clinical Reasoning and Physician Associate Development and Education. He is a National Panel RFU match official and 

Philippa Guppy - BMBS MRCP LW

Senior lecturer, chief OSCE examiner.

Matt Hardy - BSc (pharmacology with toxicology), MSc (biomedical and forensic studies in Egyptology), PhD cell physiology and pharmacology research, PGCert in learning technologies.

Matt Hardy is an Assistant Professor in Human Biology, with a background in biomedical research and academic skills guidance. These experiences have led him to develop a focus on teaching academic writing skills to students of the Life Sciences. Matt also enjoys creative writing and has been a member of the Leeds Writers’ Circle since 2010. He enjoys writing short fiction and the occasional poem.

Helen Harty - BSc, PhD

Helen Harty has a BSc and PhD in Physiology and has worked in academia in the UK, Ireland and USA.   Helen has been a lecturer on the PA course at Ulster University since it started in 2017 and is particularly interested in evidence-based portfolios, work-based assessments of competence and student well-being.   Helen is keen to maximize the student learning experience and develop crucial competencies such as resilience and confidence along with clinical skills knowledge and behaviours.

Helen also works for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and sits on the Northern Ireland Research Ethics committee.  

Rebecca Horne - BSc Medical Genetics, PGDip Physician Associate Studies

Hello! My name is Rebecca Horne, I am a Lecturer on the Physician Associate programme at the University of Manchester. I am the lead for Pastoral Care and Student Welfare and have a particular interest in communication skills in medicine. I also work clinically as a Physician Associate in Respiratory Medicine, after graduating from the University of Manchester in 2018. 

Oluyinka Idowu - MBBS, MSc., Dip.RSA, MCIPD, Pg.Cert SWP, Pg. CertHE, SFHEA, PTLLS

Dr Oluyinka Idowu is a qualified medical doctor who has worked in various areas within the UK Health and Social Care System for over 25 years. Amongst other qualifications She has a Masters in Healthcare Leadership, is a Strategic Workforce Planner and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has a special interest in the Learning and teaching experiences of BAME students within medical programmes and in New Models of Care. She leads the Physician Associate programme at the University of Hertfordshire.

Pauline Joyce - BNS, MSc, EdD.

My professional background is in nursing. I moved to full-time education in 1997 and have worked across all professions in postgraduate education over the past 24 years in RCSI. My teaching expertise is in leadership and research. I set up the PA pilot project with the Irish Department of Health in 2015 and worked as Academic Director, prior to my current position, on the MSc in Physician Associate Studies. I have been actively carrying out research in the PA role since 2015 and have a keen interest in interprofessional learning.

Attakrit Leckcivilize - PhD in Economics

Attakrit is working as a research fellow at Health Systems Collaborative (HSC), University of Oxford. His current research plan explores different frameworks for long term strategic planning to addresses workforce scarcity and imbalance in the healthcare system through task sharing and task shifting, human resource management, and the role of wellbeing on workforce performance and retention. Attakrit received a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Lara Menon - MD PGDip (Pub Health) PGDip (Med Ed) MRCEM MRCPath(ME)

A lecturer to health care professionals for over a decade and an Emergency Medicine specialty doctor in a major trauma unit and Medical Examiner in Bristol. I have a strong interest in interprofessional learning and curriculum design within healthcare. Co-organised the largest UK multi-professional disaster simulation (over 550 participants) and contributed to national projects on frontline response training of professionals and students.  A keen foodie and frequent international traveller who can always be found with a book in hand.

Bella Penny - PG Cert in Med Ed (in progress), MSc Physician Associate Studies, BSc Anatomy

Currently, I am the module lead for PA Clinical Placements at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and responsible for ensuring students are provided with the right amount of support, resources, and opportunities within general practice and hospital placements during their master’s degree. These roles encompass a responsibility to ensure students are supervised by clinicians that understand and support their role, which is why I have chosen to study the literature around the development of PA’s professional identity. 

By uncovering the existing literature, I hope to learn how to better serve my students in helping them build upon their professional identities, and in turn, better understand my own identity as a Physician Associate by background. 

Ross Raymond-Jones - BSc (nursing), PgDip PA Studies, PgCert ClinEd

I am a physician associate working in acute frailty and education. As of April 2023 I will be doing a PhD focused on medical remediation.

Ann Rigby-Jones - PhD BSc

Dr Ann Rigby-Jones is Programme Lead for the MSc Physician Associate Studies programme in Plymouth. She is also Plymouth’s PA curriculum lead for professionalism and pharmacology. Ann has ten years of experience of curriculum development, teaching and assessment within Physician Associate education. 

Mary Showstark - MPAS, PA-C

Mary Showstark is a Physician Associate/Assistant (PA), an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine Physician Assistant Online Program, and an affiliate faculty member of the Yale Institute of Global Health. Showstark is involved in growing the healthcare workforce for the PA profession globally. She is Vice President for PAs for Global Health, a global ambassador to American Academy of PAs (AAPA), member of GACOPA, communications lead for International Academy of PA Educators, and consulted with the World Health Organization on the Global Framework for Universal Healthcare. She is also the creator of the International Federation of Physician Assistant/Physician Associate and Clinical Officer/Clinical Associate/Comparable Students’ Association (IFPACS). Showstark also spearheaded the curricula mapping of the PA/PA comparable professions around the world via LOOOP technology. She is also editor for JPAE’s Global Perspectives and creator of JAAPA’s Global Insights. Mary is also the Director of Virtual Interprofessional Education and on the Interprofessional.Global committee. She is also Chief Liaison Officer to Health Tech Without Borders and a PhD candidate in Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham. Mary Showstark is a physician associate with clinical experience in trauma surgery, emergency medicine, urgent care, disaster preparedness, wilderness, event, and mass gathering medicine. She has extensive experience with online education, group learning, organizational culture, and utilization of extended reality and artificial intelligence.

Chantal Simon - PhD MSc MA BM BCh FRCGP DRCOG SFHEA

I am Professor of Medical Education and Programme Lead for the PA Programme in Bournemouth. Previsouly I was Medical Director for Professional Development at the Royl College of Genral Practitioners for 14 years, and founder Editor of their journal for GPs in training, InnovAiT. I was a GP Partner in Dorset for 20 years and now work a a GP in urgent care alongside my academic role. 

Justine Tomlinson - MPharm, PGDip (community pharmacy), PhD, PGCert in medical education 

Justine Tomlinson is an Assistant Professor in Medical Education and is a pharmacist by background, with experience in both hospital and community settings. She has, since 2016, been involved in research and teaching within the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of Bradford. Her area of interest lies within medication safety, and in particular at transitions of care, and for older people but she has a growing interest in Educational research.

Mathavi Uthayanan - MBBS, BSc, PGCert FHEA

Mathavi joined the faculty as a lecturer in masters in physician associate studies, at St George's University, in September 2020. She became the sub module lead for reflective practice, in September 2021, and for the professional practice workshop sub module, in September 2022. She initially started out as the Year 2 university days deputy, and is now the Year 2 foundation in clinical medicine lead.

Kim Walker - Ph.D

Dr Kim Walker  is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Health Education Research and Innovation (CHERI) at the University of Aberdeen  with a responsibility for faculty development.  She has been involved in research for over 30 years, with significant experience in qualitative and quantitative data.  Her main areas of research are career choice and decision making, impact of generational issues, faculty development, doctors wellbeing and physicians associates.   Kim is the Director of Publications for the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) and a co-editor of the recently published book Starting Research in Clinical Education.    Kim is also a GMC Education Associate.   

Lisa Wolff - MBBS MRCGP

Lecturer, responsible OSCE examiner and module lead