A Warwick medical student has been awarded a prestigious prize by the Junior Association for the Study of Medical Education (JASME).

Sachin De Stone, a third year student on our MB ChB course, was named the Association’s 2019 Foundation Innovation Prize winner for his work supporting non-biological science background graduate medical students.

Having come to Warwick following an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Mathematics, Sachin saw an opportunity for more peer support for students with little or no prior exposure to biological teaching, and set up the ‘Non-Science Teaching Group’.

The group provides weekly teaching, seminars, revision sessions and mentorship and has had fantastic results so far, with students from the group’s first cohort coming first and second in both written and practical examinations of Phase I, the first part of the course.

As well as helping the students academically, the group provides a supportive community where students can ask questions they might not feel comfortable asking in front of their peers. Teachers of the group also started their medical degree with no background in biological science, and being involved gives them an opportunity to revisit and expand on their own pre-clinical knowledge as well as develop their teaching skills, with students providing constructive feedback.

Reacting to the prize, Sachin said: “I am incredibly honoured to receive this prize but more importantly, very pleased that the medical education of students from non-biological science backgrounds (NBSB) is gaining national endorsement from one of the biggest medical education associations, ASME. As more medical schools close their doors to NBSB students it falls to us to push this agenda so that tomorrow’s doctors have the diverse skill sets required to run an excellent, multi-disciplinary, modern national health care system.”

You can find out more about the Non-Science Teaching Group here and see a poster that the group presented at the Warwick Education Conference here.