Women and medicine: Inequalities past, present and future

Nuthana became the youngest Vice President of the Medical Women’s Federation in April 2021. She is incredibly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and has used her role in the MWF to advocate for medical women and patients. In February 2022, to celebrate 105 years of MWF, Nuthana launched The Medical Women Podcast which she hosts and produces to support and empower as many medical women in their careers as possible. Now in it’s third season, the podcast has had over 5,100 listens and explored topics including leadership, speaking confidently, looking after ourselves, being an ally and coaching ourselves.  

Nuthana has been an academic trainee specialising in paediatrics. She is interested in advocating for all children and particularly health promotion and health protection for children.  

She will be speaking about the history of gender inequalities in society and medicine. Nuthana believes that through understanding how we got to where we are, we can change the course of where we are going. She is also keen to acknowledge the barriers faced by pioneering women in medicine, and believes that learning how they paved the way helps us to be inspired and step up to ensure we do the same for those who come after us. 

Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatric doctor, health campaigner and TV broadcaster.  

As a specialist in neurodevelopmental and social paediatrics Guddi is interested in the broader factors that contribute to overall mind-body health in children, and is currently researching how we might reimagine the role of the doctor to better meet 21st century healthcare challenges for her PhD at King’s College London.    

Passionate about social justice and health equity, Guddi’s policy experience at the World Health Organization and Health Education England, as well as working in clinically in several countries, has given her a global perspective on health despite being based in the UK. Guddi advocates for her patients through her board roles for the National Centre for Creative Health, and the Centre for Health and the Public Interest.  She is also the founder and director of the Wellbeing and Health Action Movement Project, a ‘social incubator’ to inform, empower and unite conscious clinicians addressing health inequalities.  

As a TV broadcaster, Guddi has appeared on BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Al-Jazeera and Sky News, including as the host of BBC Two’s ground-breaking ‘Babies: Their Wonderful World’, which was the largest study on early child development ever attempted, and in the Royal Television Society award-winning ‘Why is COVID Killing People Colour?’ alongside actor David Harewood. 

Professor Partha Kar is National Specialty Advisor, Diabetes; co-lead of the Getting it Right First Time (Diabetes) and Lead for the Medical Workforce Race Equality Standards with NHS England. He currently works as a Consultant in Diabetes & Endocrinology at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, and has won multiple awards for his pioneering of the Super Six Diabetes Model, which is recognised as one of the good examples of integrated care. 

His other work has involved the introduction of frailty into Quality Of Framework (QoF) treatment targets, Diabulimia pilot projects in the NHS; championing “Language Matters” and helping to create an overview of Diabetes care in Primary Care Networks. Recent work has focussed on transitional care models- as well as tackling inequalities in technology access based on deprivation & ethnicity. Beyond diabetes, he has recently taken a role in tackling issues of racial disparity in the medical workforce as the Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard lead for NHS England. Additionally, in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the Healthcare Service Journal recognised him as one of the most influential individuals from the ethnic minority population in healthcare.

Dr Simon Fleming is a founding member and the trainee representative for the International Orthopaedic Diversity Alliance (IODA). He is on the Executive board for the NIHR Clinical Education Incubator and Associate Editor for Medical Education and The Clinical Teacher. In the past, he was the Vice Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Trainee Doctors' Group (ATDG), and past President of the British Orthopaedic Trainees' Association (BOTA). Currently, he is a Clinical Advisor to the Methuselah Foundation, supporting the NASA Deep Space Food Challenge. 

While passionate about Orthopaedics, clinical education and mentoring, he has special interests in hand surgery, competency decisions and combating bullying, discrimination, harassment, and the lack of diversity and equity in healthcare. 

Dr Louise Brennan is a Public Health Registrar based in Cumbria and Lancashire.  

Her first degree was in Geography; after a short stint in HR she moved into project management of health projects within the Voluntary and Academic sector.  

Louise managed the WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Health in Deprived Communities, before becoming a Clinical Trials Research Manager at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, whilst undertaking her PHD on the barriers and facilitators to undertaking research with children and families at the University of Liverpool.   

After maternity leave in 2017, Louise joined the Public Health training scheme, completed an MPH and has split her training between academia and service work, pursuing her interests in health inequalities and the wider determinants of health.  

Louise recently wrote and delivered a poverty action plan for Cumbria in response to the cost of living crisis. She is currently working on a research project on behalf of the Children’s Hospital Alliance investigating how Children’s Hospitals can best address health inequalities