Tutor of the Month #6: Mostafa Ahmad

Mostafa is one of our hard-working and friendly tutors on the MSc Internal Medicine. Check out this post to learn more about his role and expertise.

Please tell us a bit about your academic background and how you came to be a tutor on the MSc Internal Medicine.

I qualified in Medicine from Assiut University in Egypt, where I also completed an MSc in Internal Medicine. I worked in Kuwait as a Medical Registrar and senior Registrar before moving to the UK.

Teaching has always been my interest and passion. That's why I have been actively involved in teaching medical students and junior doctors at Assiut University, Sabah Hospital in Kuwait, University of Leicester and Edinburgh University.

As a Rheumatology trainee in Edinburgh, I had the chance to take a year out of programme to develop my teaching skills. I found this academic teaching fellow role a fantastic opportunity to nurture my lifelong passion.

This new post was started a couple of years ago. It enables one NHS medic to join the Internal Medicine team at Edinburgh University for one year to help with teaching, support the students, and develop the programme. It was the perfect match for what I was looking for.

Which area of expertise do you teach? How will students benefit from learning about this particular subject?

In addition to teaching Internal Medicine, my subspecialty is Rheumatology. This is the field of medicine that deals with diagnosing and managing musculoskeletal conditions that affect the joints, muscles, bone and blood vessels.

The WHO recognises musculoskeletal disorders as a major cause of disability worldwide, so helping the students understand and get in-depth knowledge of the common rheumatology disorders will greatly impact their decision-making and the management of these conditions.

In this respect, I am glad that I created a new six weeks' interactive rheumatology module for the internal medicine programme. One of the strong points for this module is the excellent contributions from the rheumatology experts at the Western General Hospital, and the students received it extremely well.

What do you feel are the main advantages of online learning?

There are so many advantages to online learning. You can fit it well into your schedule. Still, it needs a high level of commitment, but you can enjoy the study on your own specified time from the leisure of your home with high-quality learning.

The technology tools available for use in online education, if utilised well, can significantly make the learning so interactive and enjoyable. Moreover, it can help highlight the key points and consolidate learning by using various interesting methods.

What do you enjoy most about being a tutor?

I enjoy facilitating learning by simplify the knowledge, sharing experience and supporting students. Furthermore, it is so rewarding to see how your teaching can spark curiosity and interest in the subject and inspire the students in their life learning journey.

Why would you recommend the MSc Internal Medicine to potential applicants?

It is a fantastic programme that develops the students' critical thinking and clinical decision-making through various interactive modules covering a broad range of Internal Medicine subjects.

You get the chance to connect with leading experts in their fields and with diverse students from all around the world with a great sense of community facilitated by creative activities from the programme's team.

It is entirely online and very flexible as you can exit after the first year with a certificate, the second year with a Diploma or the 3rd year with an MSc.

One of this programme's unique features is that you can choose either to have the 3rd year as a dissertation to carry out a research project of your interest or to continue with taught electives that cover a wide spectrum of medical subspecialties.