Louise is a practicing General Practitioner and Clinical Reader in Medical Education at Queen Mary University of London. She is involved in Faculty Development and Innovation within Community Based Medical Education. During Covid-19 she has been working co-creatively with students, tutors and faculty to humanise the virtual experience. She leads CIRCA Med Ed, a Medical Schools Council group, sharing challenges and best practice in the field of virtual clinical learning across medical schools.
Louise has been pioneering creative enquiry methodologies in medical education for the last fifteen years with national and international reputation and a website in the field www.creativeenquiry.qmul.ac.uk . Through her masters and doctoral research, the arts have been found as an excellent vehicle for student-centred transformative learning, engagement with patient lived experience and expression of student voice. As well as focusing on the care of the patient, she has also been developing the concept of flourishing in medical education.
Flourishing moves the conversation beyond ‘resilience’, (bouncing back and toughing it out alone) towards a more metaphorical, ecological approach which focuses on meaning-making, shadow work (connection with difficult parts of our lives/selves/teams), growth and the interconnected nature of our wellbeing. Invited positions include Arts and Health South West trustee, Royal Society of Public Health Arts and Health SIG steering group, Royal College of General Practitioners Arts and Health SIG and Pharmacy Arts and Health SIG.