Congratulations to Bhavesh Tailor and Tanya Ta (Ngan Hong Ta) for their Highly Commended Zeshan Qureshi Award for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Education.
As presidents of the Norwich and Cambridge Undergraduate ENT Societies, Tanya and Bhavesh recognised the limited exposure to ENT training at their medical schools and have addressed this issue with a number of innovative medical education projects. Together, they founded the East of England Undergraduate and Foundation Otorhinolaryngology Conference – the first national student-led ENT conference in the UK. The conference was a great success, delivering keynote talks from eminent speakers and ENT workshops, and will be running again in 2020.
“The conference also provided a unique opportunity to break down misconceptions and myths regarding ENT and academic medicine, with talks on collaborative research, surgical portfolio and the academic training pathway.”
Following on from this, they founded ASCENT – Advancing Student / foundation doctor Collaborations in ENT. This is a national student-led collaborative with the aim to design and implement pioneering ENT research and educational projects. For more information, visit https://entascent.org.
“We believe in the importance of nurturing a diverse and supportive network in the specialty.”
Their most recent development included an open-access online ENT question bank, in collaboration with Quesmed.com. This resource consists of both single-best answer (SBA) practice questions and flashcards, with an emphasis on active recall and structured repetition of essential knowledge. For more information, visit https://app.quesmed.com/sample/ascent/questions.
Finally, Bhavesh and Tanya have also designed and launched the first simulation-based ENT course for medical students that has been formally accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons England and quality assured by ENT UK. The course is the first in the UK to provide hands-on, simulation-based learning and assessment to prepare medical students & foundation doctors for managing common ENT emergencies.
It’s clear that both Bhavesh and Tanya have exciting ENT careers ahead of them and we look forward to hearing what they get up to next!