Rune Dall Jensen is Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Head of Simulation at MidtSim, Centre for Continuing Professional Development in Central Denmark Region. His academic work explores how motor skills interact with intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies, with a particular focus on simulation-based surgical education. Rune emphasises a holistic approach to surgical performance, aiming to support skill development in surgical residents and strengthen team collaboration in clinical settings.

He serves as Associate Editor for Advances in Simulation, Advances in Health Sciences Education, and Medical Education. In addition, he is a board member of AMEE’s Simulation Committee, part of the AMEE Programme Committee, and Academic Co-Chair of the International Clinical Skills Conference.

In this episode of the KIMPRIME podcast, Rune speaks with Alina Jenkins about how simulation can be designed to support not just motor skills but also communication, confidence, and reflective practice. 

Dr Andrea Gingerich is an Associate Professor in the Division of Medical Sciences with the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, where she teaches for the University of British Columbia’s Northern Medical Program. She has a PhD in Health Professions Education from Maastricht University, a Master of Medical Education degree from the University of Dundee and before all of that, she practised as a naturopathic doctor in rural Ontario.

 In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Andrea talks to Alina Jenkins about how her research starts by noticing situations in which so many health professionals are not doing what they have been trained to do that their counter-normative behaviour has become the norm, and then seeks to determine why people believe their noncompliance is necessary.

Dr Mildred López is Head of the Division of Education & Innovation at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the country’s largest public healthcare institution, where she leads national faculty development, curriculum transformation, and educational research initiatives impacting thousands of healthcare professionals across Mexico.

Previously Associate Dean at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mildred continues her academic engagement as a researcher and educator in health professions education, drawing from a rich interdisciplinary background in engineering, psychology, and educational innovation. Her work focuses on reimagining learning through coaching, peer learning, and human-centred curriculum design, all while championing student wellbeing and faculty growth. 

She holds a PhD in Educational Innovation, a Master’s in Quality and Productivity Systems, and degrees in Mechatronics Engineering and Psychology.

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Mildred speaks with Alina Jenkins about how creativity, systems thinking, and a commitment to wellbeing can shape the future of health professions education.

Samuel Edelbring is a full professor of higher education at Mälardalen University in Sweden. He holds a degree in education, a PhD in medical education from Karolinska Institutet, and a docent title (Associate professor) in medical education from Linköping University. 

Since 2001, he has been engaged in development and research in health professions education. His fascination with digital possibilities led him to pursue research on pedagogical aspects of computerised virtual patients. In various studies, he has contributed knowledge on how virtual patients can be used to enhance students’ clinical practice and how online virtual patient activities can connect students from different professions in interprofessional learning. 

He is also engaged in strengthening the field of health professions education research on a national level to create and sustain arenas and networks for the next generation of HPE scholars and to highlight the field's importance at the policy level.

In this episode, Samuel talks to Alina Jenkins about how virtual patients can deepen clinical reasoning, why digital tools can bring learners from different professions together, and what it takes to build a strong, sustainable community of health professions education researchers for the future.

Dr Zareen Zaidi, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine at George Washington School of Medicine. She practices general internal medicine at the academic faculty practice in DC. 

Zareen completed the FAIMER fellowship from Philadelphia and has a PhD in Medical Education from Maastricht University School of Health Professions Education. 

At GW, she is the Co-Director of the Academy of Education Scholars and the Associate Director for Education Research and Scholarship. She has served as the chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Research in Medical Education committee for 2021 and is the founding chair of the MedEdSCHOLAR program. 

As a qualitative researcher, she has conducted research in culturally diverse contexts across three continents, using critical epistemological lenses. 

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Zareen talks to Alina Jenkins about her passion for using critical lenses in her research projects and how she works to challenge traditional perspectives in medical education research and practice. 

Neera Jain is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, School of Medicine, at Waipapa Taumata Rau – The University of Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand. She completed her PhD in Education at the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland in 2021. She completed a Master’s of Science in Rehabilitation Counselling in 2004 at Boston University

Before her research career, Neera worked as a vocational counsellor (in the US), managed a disabled people’s community law centre (in New Zealand), and led student disability services for health professions students at Columbia University and UCSF.

Her research focuses on ableism and disability inclusion in medical education, research, and practice. At present, her work explores disabled medical students’ intersectional and culturally specific experiences of ableism. 

In this episode, host Alina Jenkins speaks to Neera about what true inclusion means in medical education, how concepts like haunting and futurity can help us see systems differently, and how we might imagine a future where disabled learners are fully recognised, supported, and valued.

We’re back with a new season of the KIPRIME Podcast, exploring the ideas shaping the future of medical education.

In this first episode, host Alina Jenkins speaks with Dr Julián Varas Cohen, a surgeon and Associate Professor at the Catholic de Chile in Santiago, Chile. He leads simulation-based medical education research, using remote asynchronous feedback to accelerate healthcare skill acquisition.

He has developed and validated various training methodologies, reaching more than 40,000 trainees across 1000 skill-based disciplines (surgery, nursing, gastronomy, and engineering) in 13 countries. He now integrates AI to enhance teaching and scale accessibility to high-quality training. 

He has partnered with over 20 institutions, like MUHAS in Tanzania and UCSF, to expand high-quality, evidence-based training throughout America and Africa. His mission is to promote equitable access to simulation education and mentor the next generation of clinician-educators.

Their conversation delves into the power of feedback and how it helps learners grow, how technology is changing the way it’s delivered, and why creating equitable access to medical training remains at the heart of his mission.

Diantha Soemantri is a Professor and Vice Director of medical education at the Indonesian Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI), Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, where she graduated as a medical doctor in 2005. She acquired the Master of Medical Education title from the University of Dundee in 2007 and PhD in the same field from the University of Melbourne in 2013. 

 She is now the head of the Master in Medical Education Program at Universitas Indonesia and is also responsible for the multi- and interprofessional education of the Health Sciences Cluster. 

In this episode of the KIMPRIME podcast, Diantha talks to Alina Jenkins about her current research exploring the practice of delivering written feedback in a medical education context. She is also studying medical students’ acceptance and resistance towards e-portfolios as an assessment tool, especially in the context of specific cultural values of high collectivism, large power distance and high uncertainty avoidance. 

This is the final episode of series three. We hope to return for series four in 2025!

Dr Joanna Tai is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.

She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an active member of several professional associations, including the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professions Education, the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, and the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.

Joanna's research spans several key areas of interest. Her work on feedback for learning explores how students engage with and contribute to feedback processes. Since her early days as a medical student, Joanna has been fascinated by the challenges surrounding feedback, particularly from the student perspective. She focuses on developing evaluative judgment and peer feedback to enhance students' lifelong learning capabilities. This research has led her to collaborate with colleagues on various projects to understand and improve feedback literacy among students.

Joanna has also developed a growing interest in assessment for inclusion. She realised that the traditional approach to assessment often requires accommodations and adjustments, emphasising a "deficit approach."

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Joanna talks to Alina Jenkins about improving educational practices to ensure all students can thrive, regardless of their background or abilities.

Per J. Palmgren is an associate professor in medical education and assistant senior lecturer at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management, and Ethics (LIME) at KI. He has been the director of doctoral studies at LIME since 2022. Per works predominantly with higher education and pedagogy for doctoral and faculty development courses, and he also works partly as a pedagogical advisor and senior lecturer in higher education at the Scandinavian College of Naprapathic Manual Medicine.

Per’s primary line of research focuses on the environment in which students learn, and teachers work, but his approach has changed over the years. Since his Ph.D., his attention has shifted to researching educational environments with an organizational perspective. 

Today, Per is most interested in students' learning and teachers facilitating students' learning or simply in moving from introspecting “learning environments” to “learning in environments.” 

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Per talks to Alina Jenkins about his eclectic areas of research and how a background in dance led to a strong passion for teaching and learning.

Mandana Shirazi is a Professor of Medical Sciences at Tehran University (TUMS) and an Affiliated Professor at Karolinska Institute. She started her medical career with a BSc and MSc in midwifery from TUMS and subsequently began working as a faculty member of Midwifery at TUMS. After five years, she started working at the Educational Development Center (EDC) and was later promoted to the position of Executive Manager of the Continuous Medical Education Office.

Mandana then came to KI to study for her PhD, where her thesis focused on the diagnosis and treatment of depression by general practitioners. 

Returning to Iran around 15 years ago, Mandana founded the first Standardised Patient unit in the country at the Educational Development Centre of TUMS. 

Ten years after establishing the SP program in Iran, the Ministry of Health considered High Stake OSCE for the graduation of all medical students, the crucial part of which is SPs. 

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Mandana talks to Alina Jenkins about the importance of using SPs to maintain patient safety and why it was the main focus of her research on the healthcare system in Iran.

Ardi Findyartini is a medical doctor and a Professor in Medical Education, from the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta. She is currently the Head of Medical Education Unit and the Chair of Medical Education Cluster of Indonesia Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI) Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia. She is also the current chair of ASPIRE excellence in faculty development panel, an initiative of AMEE international organisation in medical education towards excellence in different areas, as well as being a member of the faculty development committee in AMEE.  

Ardi has a wide interest in research in medical and health professions education. Her areas of research started by focusing on clinical reasoning, critical thinking and how the two should be taught and incorporated in undergraduate medical curriculum. In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Ardi talks to Alina Jenkins about how her research has been transformed to studies in faculty development, humanism, and professionalism, interprofessional education and sociocultural factors in medical and health professions education. 

Söeren Huwendiek graduated from medical school at Heidelberg University in Germany, where he worked for 10 years as a physician and as a medical educator. He gained a Master of Medical Education degree from Bern University and a PhD in Health Professions Education from Maastricht University. Since 2012, he has been the head of the Department of Assessment and Evaluation of the Institute of Medical Education (IML) in Switzerland. Recently, he was promoted to Associate Professor for Medical Education.

He supervises PhD, MD (Dr. med.) and Master of Medical Education theses and is a member of several editorial boards including Perspectives on Medical Education.

Söeren has a broad interest in teaching and research in medical education, among his favorite themes are formative assessment, innovative ways of summative assessment, communication and practical skills, and blended learning. In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast he talks to Alina Jenkins about his passion in improving medical education to help medical students become the best doctors and clinicians, ultimately improving patient care.

Satid Thammasitboon is Associate Professor in Pediatrics, division of Critical Care Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas where he serves in various academic positions promoting research and scholarship across the continuum of medical education. He’s also Director of Centre for Research Innovation and Scholarship in Health Professions Education.

Satid grew up and went to medical school in southern Thailand and came to the USA for residency, fellowship, and an advanced degree in medical education.

His scholarship philosophy centers on the conviction that medical education research is socially constructed and context-specific: namely that scholarship is a product of systematic inquiry and meaningful engagement of multidisciplinary educators and scholars with shared domains of interest. To advance the field of medical education, research is the critical component for providing practical solutions to real-world problems. 

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Satid talks to Alina Jenkins about how he has developed a departmental foundation in innovative medical education research that has international extensions.

Gabrielle Finn is Associate Vice President for Teaching, Learning, and Students at the University of Manchester, where she was previously Professor of Medical Education and Vice Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health.

She has a track record in establishing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. In an earlier role, Gabrielle was the founding Director of the Health Professions Education Unit (HPEU) and Chair of the Postgraduate Board at the Hull York Medical School (HYMS), where she worked extensively on widening access and curriculum development, including the implementation of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships into medical programmes. She was also Programme Director for the blended and distance learning courses for the MSc, Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate in Health Professions Education at HYMS, working with AdvanceHE to deliver this accredited programme.

Gabrielle has a diverse research portfolio which spans both qualitative and quantitative paradigms.  She initially conducted her doctoral research exploring anatomy, pedagogy, and medical professionalism. Gabrielle has over 150 peer-reviewed outputs, including books, book chapters, journal articles, and over 140 international conference presentations. 

She is an advocate for the use of arts and humanities with curricula, researching their use. She has a keen interest in exploring the hidden curriculum, publishing a body of work with Professor Fred Hafferty, and challenging the notion of teaching by stealth. More recently, Gabrielle has been working on a range of areas pertaining to equality, diversity, and inclusion.

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Gabrielle talks to Alina Jenkins about an evidence base for innovative methods of teaching anatomy, Professionalism and the Conscientiousness Index and novel research methods using the development of love and breakup letters to help research empathy and empathic dissonance.

Dr Sandra Monteiro is a scientist in the McMaster University, faculty of health sciences program for education, research, innovation, and theory (known as MERIT). She has a faculty appointment in the faculty of health sciences, Department of Medicine, Division of Education and Innovation and a second appointment to the Centre for Simulation Based Learning as the Director of Simulation Scholarship.

The foundation of her training is in cognitive psychology, and she is known internationally for her research program on clinical reasoning and her expertise in measurement principles and competency-based assessment. 

At McMaster University, she teaches and supervises students in various graduate programs, including Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Sciences Education and Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour. In 2021, she was recognised for her contributions to education and mentorship with a Canadian Association of Medical Education Meridith Marks New Educator Award.

In this episode of the KIPRIME Podcast, Sandra talks to Alina Jenkins about working alongside one of the giants of medical education research, Geoff Norman, and her research into breaking down assumptions in how we look at clinical reasoning.

Anders Sondén trained and is still active as a surgeon in Stockholm, yet for many years, he has devoted most of his time to medical education, being a clinical teacher, director of studies in undergraduate and postgraduate education, researcher, and educational leader.  

He is interested in the whole spectrum of medical education, with his prime focus in clinical sciences, especially workplace-based education, and he is dedicated to the understanding and improvement of uni and interprofessional workplace-based learning. Consequently, he’s been involved in several projects within medical education, from the course level, creating new learning activities, to the curriculum level in the development of the new medical programs at Karolinska Institutet.  

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Anders talks to Alina Jenkins about his approach to the field of medical education research, where his research questions have often emanated from a problematic element in his work as a teacher, faculty member, or surgeon.  

Veena Singaram is Associate Professor in HPE and has recently been appointed as the Head of the Inaugural Health Professions Education (HPE) Unit at the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

She began her academic journey as an anatomy lecturer and then transitioned into the field of medical education. This path eventually led her to complete a PhD in Health Professions Education from Maastricht University. In 2022 she received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Southern African Association of Health Professions Educationalists.

Her current research focuses on utilising digital tools to create a psychologically safe environment for formative assessment feedback, enabling healthcare trainees to learn and progress without fear of failure. 

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Veena talks to Alina Jenkins about how this area of research also delves into addressing power dynamics and hierarchy in clinical training environments, aiming to foster a constructive feedback culture and inclusive learning settings.

Dr Dan Schumacher is a tenured professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he also serves as co-director of the CCHMC Education Research Unit and Education Research Scholars Program. His career has been dedicated to residency administration and medical education research, and he holds a PhD from the Maastricht University School of Health Professions Education. His research focuses on competency-based assessment, including milestones, EPAs, and resident-sensitive quality measures that he developed as part of his PhD work. 

His research on competency-based assessment has garnered substantial external funding and made important advances in patient-focused assessment approaches, such as EPAs and RSQMs. The goal of his research is to ensure that training and educational outcomes prepare physicians to achieve the outcomes that patients need.

Dan is one of a select number of Americans who are members of the International Competency-based Medical Education Collaborators. He received Academic Medicine's Excellence in Reviewing Award as well as multiple top reviewer awards from the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. He was also Cincinnati Children's first recipient of the prestigious and competitive Macy Faculty Scholar Award from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and received the Cincinnati Children's Educational Achievement Award in 2018.

Yoon Soo Park is an Educational Data Scientist and currently serves as Department Head and Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He trained at Columbia University, where he earned an MS in Applied Statistics and PhD in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics. He began his career in the testing and assessment industry, working as an educational and operational statistician.  

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Yoon Soo talks to Alina Jenkins about his transition to working in the field of medical education research and his two key areas of research: applying validity research to guide innovative educational assessments and developing methodologies in learning analytics. 

Ahmed Rashid is Professor of Medical Education at University College London, where he is Vice Dean for the UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences, and he leads the UCL Centre for International Medical Education Collaborations (CIMEC).  

Ahmed is also involved as a chief examiner for the General Medical Council PLAB exam that international doctors must sit to practice in the UK. On top of all that, he’s a part-time NHS doctor at a busy surgery in St Albans, Hertfordshire.  

His research in medical education is inspired by the international collaboration projects he leads and examines the impacts of globalisation on medical education, with a particular focus on power, politics, and migration.   

In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Ahmed talks to Alina Jenkins about his areas of research and his interest in the role of diaspora physicians and medical educators, including unintended consequences of their (almost exclusively well-meaning) involvement in medical education systems in their origin countries. 

Dr. Sayra Cristancho is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery and a Scientist at the Centre for Education Research & Innovation (CERI) at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. She received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.  

Sayra’s research program investigates how action teams navigate and respond to disruptive events. Her research program aims to show how best to support training and practice for resilient teaming in healthcare. To this end, she developed a unique research approach that cross-pollinates qualitative research, sociobiology, and engineering principles with insights from various industries, including healthcare, tactical, emergency response, business, and music.  

In this episode of the KIPRIME Podcast, Sayra talks to Alina Jenkins about her unique disciplinary background as the first engineer to join the medical education research community in Canada and how that has allowed her to pioneer theoretical and methodological innovations. 

Professor Kevin Eva is Associate Director and Senior Scientist in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship and Professor and Director of Educational Research and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medical Education. 

Kevin’s research is diverse. It has impacted medical school admissions by introducing multiple mini-interviews as a rigorous process to select trainees based on their interpersonal skills. His work has also advanced the understanding of clinical reasoning, guided improvements in experts’ ratings of student performance, and fundamentally altered how the field thinks about self-assessment, feedback, and their role in performance improvement. The core theme of Kevin's diverse research interests is how we can improve decision-making in the context of health professional training and practice. 

Kevin has tremendously influenced health profession education for 25 years by providing innovative ideas, perspectives, and scientific writing skills. His work as editor of a leading research journal in medical education has had a remarkable impact on health profession researchers worldwide, highlighting the importance of scientific rigour. 

In this first episode of series three of the KIPRIME podcast, Kevin talks to Alina Jenkins about his career, his research areas, and his advice for anyone wanting to develop a career in medical education research. 

Rola Ajjawi is Professor of Educational Research at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, Australia. She has a Bachelor's Honours Degree in Physiotherapy and worked as a physiotherapist and clinical educator before moving into academia full-time with the completion of her PhD in 2007. Since then, she has led a program of research centred on work-integrated learning with an interest in inclusion, assessment, and feedback in the workplace. 

Rola is Deputy Editor of the journal Medical Education, on the editorial board of Teaching in Higher Education and is lead editor of an edited book, Assessment for Inclusion in Higher Education: Promoting Equity and Social Justice (Routledge). She also has over 140 publications, including peer-review journal articles, book chapters and books. 

She has been researching health professions education since starting her PhD in 2003, building an international research portfolio in feedback, clinical supervision, and assessment-for-inclusion. Her research has shed light on social, relational, and cultural influences on learning to promote student success.

Professor Samar Abdelazim Ahmed is Vice-Dean for Education at Dubai Medical School for Girls, having previously been full professor in forensic medicine at Ain Shams University, Cairo. She is the Founding Director of the FAIMER Fellowship in Health Professions Education ASU-MENA-FRI and the associate editor for Medical Education in the Frontiers.  

Samar has extensive experience in quality assurance and evaluation in medical education, including strategic planning and implementation and the development and implementation of educational initiatives.  She has worked to develop an organisational culture and a community of practice in the Middle East and North Africa. 

Her research areas are broad and range from polarity mapping to transformation and program evaluation methodologies. In this episode of the KIPRIME podcast, Samar talks about her research and her unique approach to cultural contextualisation.