Regional award joy for Wolverhampton medic
Date of release: 3 October 2023
A Wolverhampton medic has won a regional award in recognition of her lecture highlighting support for international colleagues.
Dr Roopa Chopra, Interim Consultant and former Advanced Clinical Fellow (Diabetes and Endocrine) at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, was awarded the 2024 Turner-Warwick Lecture for the West Midlands region this month.
Dr Roopa Chopra
The Turner-Warwick Lecturer Scheme is the Royal College of Physicians (RCPs) prestigious lecturer scheme for trainee Physicians celebrating the life and achievements of Professor Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick, its first female president.
To take part in this scheme, candidates are required to submit a lecture abstract.
Winning trainees are able to reach beyond their specialty and present their lecture to a wide range of specialists and future collaborators. They are also presented with a plaque from the RCP president and feature in its annual Turner-Warwick yearbook.
The lectures will also be presented at RCPs Update in Medicine conferences which are designed to provide high quality education for those with an interest in medicine.
Dr Roopa said: “I submitted a 250-word abstract detailing the enhanced support programme we have developed over a period of time to improve the transitioning of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) into the UK healthcare system.
“I feel tremendous joy and pride to be awarded this from our region. This award is not just mine but for the whole of the Clinical Fellowship Team, which has worked tirelessly to develop these support systems for the IMGs over the years.
“I am looking forward to sharing our learnings from our struggles as IMGs and how we overcame them and this will hopefully inspire other Trusts to develop similar support systems for IMGs. This will also take me one step closer to my dream of seeing support services for IMGs replicated in the region and hopefully to the whole of the UK some day.”
The mother-of-one added: “My family and friends have always been my unconditional supporters, so this was a proud moment for them too.
“My colleagues were ecstatic to hear this great news and many of them share the same joy as myself as we have all worked together on developing these services.
“Special thanks to Dr Harit Buch, Deputy Lead for the Clinical Fellowship Programme for taking this programme to this level and for kindly providing the supporting statement to apply for this scheme.”
