Skip to main content
Institute of Health Sciences Education - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Dr Riya George

Riya

Reader in Clinical Communication Skills and Diversity Education

Email: r.george@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 20 7882 8928
Room Number: 2.18 Robin Brook Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, EC1A 7BE
Twitter: @RiyaEGeorge

Profile

Dr Riya George is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Clinical Communication Skills and Diversity Education at Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Riya is a medical educationalist and academic, health psychologist. Riya has extensive and varied experience in leading innovations in how healthcare students and professionals can be taught diversity issues to ensure they deliver high quality care to a range of patients and understand how their own perspectives may influence the care they provide. Riya brings a range of experience teaching communication skills and is a strong advocate for faculty development, encouraging scholarship and involving patient educators in teaching clinical communication skills.


Outside the university, Riya has several senior, active roles externally, including being a Director of the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME), in the General Medical Council’s, Medical Schools Council and Health Education England Equality and Diversity Committees. Riya has also been appointed as an external examiner at Leeds Medical School.

Riya’s PhD explored how to support curriculum development and evaluation of diversity education in healthcare educational institutions and involved collaborations with eight healthcare organisations. Prior to embarking towards a PhD, Riya successfully completed a BSc Honours Degree in Psychology. This experience coupled with working in a variety of mental-health and palliative care settings spurred her to achieve a Masters in Science at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Riya’s key roles at the Institute of Health Sciences Education and nationally are outlined below:

Queen Mary University of London

  • Head of Academic Support for the Clinical and Communication Skills Unit
  • Lead for the Year 4 Clinical Communication Curriculum
  • Lead for Research and Scholarship for the Clinical and Communication Skills Unit
  • Chair of the Fitness to Practice Committee – Institute of Health Sciences Education
  • Deputy Academic Chair for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee – Institute of Health Sciences Education
  • Chair of the Anti-Racism Steering Committee (ARCS) – Institute of Health Sciences Education

National Engagement

  • Board of Directors - Director of Diversity and Inclusion and Honorary Secretary - Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME)
  • Board of Management - WILEY Journals - Medical Education and The Clinical Teacher
  • National Committee Board Member – Diversity in Medicine and Healthcare (DIMAH)
  • Equality and Diversity Educational Advisor – Health Education England Differential Attainment
  • Equality and Diversity Representative – Medical School Council Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Alliance
  • National Steering Committee Member – General Medical Council Equality and Diversity Committee

Riya continues to be inspired by diversity and clinical communication issues in healthcare and is passionate about promoting quality and excellence of teaching in medical education.

Teaching

Riya teaches across the MBBS, specifically in the areas outlined below.

  • Year 1 MBBS: Patient Centred Interviewing, Diversity and Clinical Communication and Hearing and Visual Impairment. Module Co-Lead for SSC in Bringing Resources and Awareness in Diversity Education (BRAIDE)
  • Year 3 MBBS: Clinical Methods (CM), Clinical and Communication Skills 1 (CCS1), Clinical and Communication Skills 2 (CCS2), SSC3b
  • Year 4 MBBS: Talking About Sexual Health
  • Year 5 MBBS: Breaking Bad News
  • Graduate Entry Programme (GEP) Clinical Communication Curriculum: Patient Centred Interviewing and Diversity and Clinical Communication
  • Direct Entry Students (St Andrews and University of Malaysia): Introduction into Clinical Communication Skills
  • Physician Associate (PA) Clinical Communication Curriculum: Years 1 and 2, also involved in the training of actors for OSCEs and OSCE examining and circuit supervision for PA students
  • Masters (MA) in Clinical Education: Facilitating Role-play and Working with Actors
  • Certificate in Teaching and Learning (CITL) and Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning (PGCERT): Teaching Clinical Communication Skills, Facilitating Role-play and Working with Actors

Riya is available to provide supervision on research (BSc, MSc or PhD projects) and undergraduate SSC projects in the following areas:

Clinical communication, diversity education and diversity issues in the curriculum, patient engagement and professionalism

Research

Research Interests:

Riya’s research interests include clinical communication, diversity education and diversity issues in the curriculum, patient engagement and professionalism. Riya is available to provide supervision on research (BSc, MSc, or PhD projects) and undergraduate SSC projects in the topics identified above.

Riya’s current involvement in recently funded or commissioned research includes:

  • Piloting and Evaluating the Use of a Situational Judgement Test

Raemdonck, L.V., Schelfhout, S., Vantieghem, W., George, R., Maesschalck, S.D., Derous, E., Willems. S. Exploring psychosocial mechanisms of diversity sensitivity in health care education. Collaborative project involving colleagues from Ghent University, Netherlands.

  • UKMED Differential Attainment in GP Licencing Exams

 Brown, V., Eldridge, S., Gregory, S., Siriwardena, N., George, R.E.

Collaborative project involving colleagues from Health Education England, University of Lincoln and Queen Mary University.

  • Health Education England Multi-Professional Faculty Development in Differential Attainment 

Macdonald Davis, J., McGuinness, A., Carter, A., Curtis, K., George, R.E., Robertson, S., Chowdhury, S., Chowdhury, S.

Collaborative project funded by Health Education England to develop a series of faculty development sessions exploring differential attainment and career experiences in the National Health Service.

  • Accent bias in medical consultations: exploring general public and medical examiner perceptions

Gopal, D., George, R.E., Sharma, D., Levon, E., Kozato, A., Shikino, K.

Collaborative project with colleagues in the School of Languages and Linguistics and The University of Japan.

Publications

Recent Academic Publications

D, Aitken, H, Shamaz, A, Panchdhari, S, Afonso de Barros, G, Hodge, Z, Finch and R.E, George. (2023, In Press). Twelve Tips for Developing Active Bystander Intervention Training for Medical Students. Medical Teacher Journal. 

George, R.E, Brown, M.E.L. (2023) Understanding integrated care through patient journeys. The Clinical Teacher. 2023;e13561. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13561

Li S, Miles K, George R.E, Ertubey C, Pype P, Liu J. (2023) A critical review of cultural competence frameworks and models in medical and health professional education: A meta-ethnographic synthesis: Best Evidence in Medical Education (BEME) Guide No. 79. Medical Teacher. Feb 8:1-23. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2023.2174419

Brown M.E.L, George R.E. (2023) Supporting critically conscious integrated care: A toolbox for the health professions. The Clinical Teacher. 2023. e13569. https://doi.org/10. 1111/tct.13569  

George, R.E., O'Reilly, M. (2023). A Healthcare Professionals’ Guide to Managing Atypical Communication Conditions. Meaningful Conversations in Challenging Circumstances. Routledge. 1st Edition, London.

George, R.E., Wells, H. Cushing, A. (2022). Experiences of simulated patients in providing feedback in communication skills teaching for undergraduate medical students. BMC Medical Education. 22, 339 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03415-6

George, R.E. (2022) Embedding equality, diversity and inclusivity at ASME. The Clinical Teacher. 2022; 19 (S2):e13538. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13538

Elsas Parish B, Dogra N, George R.E. (2022). A discourse analysis of General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines for the inclusion of cultural diversity issues in medical education and practice. Medical Teacher. 17:1-9. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2021.2020738.

Pype, P., Rowlands, A., Pype, K., George, R.E., Devisch, I. (2021). COVID-19 and touch in medical encounters. Patient Education and Counselling. 104(3):464-466., doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.10.023 

Bintley H, Easton G, George R, Raval D, Wells H, Ehamparanathan N, Le Voir H, Wright S,Evans D, Rowlands A, Shafi A. (2020). Twelve Tips for teaching clinical and communication skills online. MedEdPublish. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2021.000027.1

George, R.E., Smith, K., O’Reily, M., Dogra, N. (2019). Perspectives of patients with mental illness on how to better teach and evaluate diversity education in the National Health Service. Journal of Continuing Education in Healthcare Professions. 39 (2): 92-102. DOI: 10.1097/CEH.0000000000000250

George, R.E., Lowe, W.A. (2019). Wellbeing and uncertainty in healthcare practice. Faculty development review. Special Issue: Healthcare professionals’ and students’ wellbeing. The Clinical Teacher. 16: 298-305. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13051

O'Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Hughes, J., Reily, P., George, R., & Whiteman, N. (2018). Potential of Social Media in Promoting Mental Health in Adolescents (UK). Health Promotion International. Pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/day056

George, R.E. (2017). Doctoral thesis: How to better teach and evaluate diversity education in the National Health Service and health educational institutions in the United Kingdom. University of Leicester. Available at: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.733702

George, R.E., Dogra, N. and Thornicroft, G. (2015). Exploration of cultural competency training in UK healthcare settings. A critical interpretive review of the literature. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care. 12 (3), pp. 104-115.

George, R.E., Dogra, N., and Fulford, B. (2015). Values and ethics in mental-health education and training: a different perspective. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice. 10 (3), pp. 189-204.

George, R.E. (2014). Did you see? 'Why mental health matters to global health, Vikram Patel. Transcultural Psychiatry, 2014, 0(0), pp. 1-14.' Diversity and Equality in Health and Care. 11, pp. 275-6. 


Book Chapters

Bintley, H., George, R.E. (2020). Teaching diversity in healthcare education: Conceptual clarity and the need for an intersectional transdisciplinary approach. Clinical Education for the Health Professions: Theory and Practice. Springer Nature Elviser. DOI:10.1007/978-981-13-6106-7_57-1

Haque, E., Choudry, B and George, R.E. (2019). How can we improve health and healthcare experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities? Tackling healthcare inequalities: A Practical Guide. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781351013918-28/improve-health-healthcare-experiences-black-asian-minority-ethnic-bame-communities-enam-ul-haque-bushera-choudry-riya-george


Forthcoming Books

George, R.E., Keller, T., (2023). ‘Hear to Heal’ -The Simulated Patient. A Collection of Reflections on Being a Simulated Patient in Medical Education. Accepted for Publication by CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group.

Back to top