The Year 3 Early Career Programme is a selective opportunity for medical students who are interested in getting an early start in developing their careers. 


This programme will help you to learn about what you need to do to excel in medicine and is designed for students who want to begin building capability, awareness and perspective early in their careers, alongside the demands of medical school, in a way that is structured, realistic and genuinely useful.

The programme begins with a one-week, in-person Summer Internship in Devon from 13–17 July. This acts as the starting point for a wider Year 3 experience that continues throughout the academic year, combining leadership development, medical education, research, quality improvement, medical entrepreneurship and innovation, community engagement, networking and career guidance.

The programme is intended to provide a consistent and structured introduction to professional development, helping students begin to think more clearly about the

Instructors

Johann Malawana

Founder and CEO of Medics.Academy and the HLA

Johann has been in leadership roles for more than 20 years. He founded The HLA to address many issues he faced and witnessed in his career. Johann wanted to create focus and attention on developing students and professionals earlier in their careers. The HLA intends to support these individuals so they can take up leadership roles more confidently and improve the health systems they are part of.

Johann was a former President of Barts and The London Students’ Association, a former University of London Medical Students’ Officer at ULU and the founding Editor of The Medical Student. Following the crisis caused by Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) via Medical Training Application System (MTAS) in March 2007, Johann took over the Education and Training portfolio at the BMA in September 2007. He was responsible for a lot of detailed negotiations around the education and training environment in medicine for the next three years till 2010. Johann subsequently has held several roles including on the Boards of the General Medical Council, the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board, the Institute of Leadership and Management, the Healthcare Leadership Academy. He was also the lead for Education and Training at Healthcare UK at the Department for International Trade.

Johann served as an advisor on several reviews of the medical education environment with a strong belief in the need for strong medical leadership and the power of early stage clinicians and students to be a force for good in the NHS. Many of the engagement strategies developed for these reviews were a direct result of the work Johann undertook.

Pedra Rabiee

Director of Communication for the HLA

Pedra is the Director of Communication for The HLA and is also an Education Fellow in London. She acts as a Junior Advisor for the Gender Equity Initiative in Global Surgery and serves as a Trustee at Students for Global Health. With previous experience at international health organisations such as The World Health Organization, Doctors of the World UK, and THET, Pedra conducts research on global health. This includes authoring a policy paper on global health security with the former Special Advisor to the UK Health Secretary and serving as an Undergraduate Research Fellow at KCL's Global Health Department.

Dr Eleanor Morris

Academic Clinical Fellow and Core Trainee in Psychiatry in West Yorkshire. MBBS from Hull York Medical School with Postgraduate Certificates in Medical Education and Healthcare Research. Extensive teaching experience with Medic Mind and as Cohort Director for The Healthcare Leadership Academy. Chairs the Board of Trustees for Students for Kids International Projects.

Andrea Johnson

HLA Senior Management & Cohort Director

Andrea is the chair and co-founder of dental charity Den-Tech, an orthodontic and maxillofacial laboratory manager/highly specialised dental technician, quality improvement coach, healthcare careers ambassador and clinical research intern at Doncaster & Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust. She is an advisory board member, careers pathway reference group member and fellow of the College of General Dentistry. A Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA) Cohort Director & co-lead of the HLA Dental network and HLA mentor. She has a PgCert in charity management and 1st class BSc hons in Dental Technology. She is regularly called upon to sit on advisory committees and working groups with bodies such as the General Dental Council, Health Education East Midlands and many more.

Previous roles include Chair of the Orthodontic Technicians Association (OTA), council member of the Dental Technologists Association (DTA), associate lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), visiting lecturer at the University of Chester, sessional teacher at Nottingham College, a Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) ambassador and Chair of the Women in Healthcare Leadership Summit 2022.

Winner of a Star award, Pride of Derby award and the OTA Aldridge Medal Outside of her work and professional activities Andrea enjoys running, going to the gym, walking her dogs and adventure travel.

Organisation

The Healthcare Leadership Academy

The Healthcare Leadership Academy formed in response to demand from young clinicians and medical students to learn about leadership.

Founded by Dr Johann Malawana (Course Director), former leader of the Junior Doctor Dispute, and a team of like-minded professionals (Our Faculty and Assistant Course Directors) the Healthcare Leadership Academy launched on 20th December 2016.

HLA houses an exciting faculty from across the health sector and beyond. Their shared aim is to inspire the next generation of healthcare professionals and develop their understanding of leadership. Too often in healthcare, leadership is confused with management. Through a combination of mentoring, Socratic discussion, and philosophical exploration, HLA aims to inspire our scholars to change the world of healthcare, one small step at a time.

At a time when the world seems an ever more worrying place, it is important that the next generation of healthcare professionals truly understand how to motivate the people they work with in order to best look after the populations they serve.