Creating spaces where people belong and flourish.

I am a Reader in Medical Education at Cardiff University, Year 2 Director for the MBBCh programme, and Co-Chair of the Medical Schools Council EDI Alliance. I work on how future doctors learn, and on who gets the chance to.

Read the writing See Mind the Gap

Dr Sarju and a colleague at a community health careers event, with Community Gateway and NHS Wales banners behind them. — Community

Dr Sarju mid-sentence at a microphone in the Radio Cardiff 98.7FM studio, with two others at the desk. — Radio Cardiff

Dr Sarju with a student behind the We Are Donors stand, a bilingual organ and blood donation campaign, with leaflets and a QR code display on the table. — We Are Donors

Dr Sarju in doctoral robes and bonnet standing between two graduates in gowns on graduation day. — Graduation

Dr Sarju giving a double thumbs up behind an anatomical torso model while a group of school pupils crowd around the table at a Cardiff University widening access event. — Outreach

At Cardiff University, from research to institutional change: 30 years
Awards and nominations for education and inclusion: 20+
Founder and lead, award-winning widening participation: PACE
Accesses for recent educational research: 5,000+

Who I am

I came to medical education the long way round.

Dr Sarju smiling to camera in a studio portrait, in an olive shirt with a rainbow lanyard round his neck.

Dr Sarju Patel

Reader in Medical Education at Cardiff University

I have spent three decades at Cardiff University, first as a biomedical researcher and later as a medical educator. That journey has taken me from research into ageing and drug metabolism to curriculum leadership, student support, educational innovation, equality work and national policy. The subjects have changed, but the question underneath them has remained remarkably consistent: how do we create systems that work better for the people inside them?

Today I lead Year 2 of Cardiff University's medical programme, working with around 320 students and more than 30 academic and clinical educators. Nationally, I Co-Chair the Medical Schools Council EDI Alliance and lead its Anti-Racism Workstream. Alongside this, I develop practical resources, support widening participation, contribute to scholarship and public debate, and work with colleagues and communities to turn difficult conversations into meaningful change.

Cardiff University LinkedIn

Year 2 leadership

My teaching is grounded in active participation: students explaining, questioning and learning to think with other people, because medicine asks for judgement and communication as much as knowledge. As Year 2 Director I hold that across curriculum, assessment and operations, for 320 students and more than 30 educators.

Curriculum redesign

I led the transition from Case Based Learning to collaborative Team Based Learning, with a focus on active learning, peer explanation, clinical reasoning, health inequalities and inclusive practice. Following implementation, Year 2 recorded its lowest written examination failure rate, alongside strong student endorsement of the learning environment.

National guidance

I Co-Chair the Medical Schools Council EDI Alliance and chair its Anti-Racism Workstream. My work includes leading development of national antiracism guidance for UK medical and dental schools, contributing to national faith guidance, and working with sector partners to turn principles of inclusion into practical change across medical education.

PACE

I founded PACE, Promoting Academic and Community Excellence, in 2018: sustained engagement with university learning, healthcare and opportunity, across four Cardiff secondary schools and now PACE Primary. Its strength is continuity. Not a single visit but relationships built over time, between pupils, students, educators and families.

What I work on

Four strands, and the same question under all of them.

Medical education

I lead curriculum, assessment, operations and student experience across Year 2 of the MBBCh programme, but at the heart of the role is something more important: creating a learning environment where students feel challenged, supported and that they belong. My approach brings together active learning, psychological safety and intellectual curiosity. I led the move from Case Based Learning to collaborative Team Based Learning, bringing more than 30 academic and clinical educators together around a more engaging, inclusive and connected way of learning.

Equality, inclusion and culture

I am most interested in the point where values become visible, in what we teach, how we lead, whose voices are heard, and the decisions we make. My work moves beyond statements of intent to creating practical change, from institutional race equality and national guidance to inclusive education and the development of resources such as Mind the Gap and Critically Appraising for Antiracism (opens in a new tab), designed to help people engage with difficult conversations, challenge assumptions and turn reflection into meaningful action.

Widening participation and community

Opportunity should never depend on already knowing how to navigate higher education. I founded the award-winning PACE programme in 2018 to open doors, build confidence and create lasting connections between Cardiff University, schools, families and communities. What began as a widening participation initiative now works across four secondary schools and has expanded into primary education, creating a genuinely shared learning experience where pupils, students, educators and communities learn with, and from, one another.

Scholarship and public voice

I write and publish because evidence should do more than sit on a page, it should challenge thinking, shape practice and reach the people who can use it. My scholarship spans structural racism, inclusive medical education, collaborative learning and technology-enhanced education, connecting research with real-world change. I also take these conversations beyond academic journals through conferences, radio, television, public events and blogs, using these spaces not only to share ideas, but to amplify perspectives that are too often overlooked and help give a voice to those who are not always heard.

Why I write

I write the things I needed someone to say to me.

I grew up as the only one in the room more often than not, and I got good at reading a space before I said anything in it. Some of what I met was racism, plain and named. Most of it was quieter: the assumption I had taken a wrong turn somewhere, the surprise when I hadn't.

It was hard, and I won't pretend I always handled it well. But I'm here now, teaching, in rooms full of people working through some version of the same thing. So I write it down. Not to settle anything, but because the person sitting where I sat should know the room can change, and that they have a hand in what it becomes.

Read all posts

Higher Education

Visible, but not always valued, whose voices are heard, whose excellence is recognised, and who gets forgiven?

What happened to Jason Arday should not end with solidarity. On the conditions that decide whose excellence is questioned, and whose mistakes are forgiven.

27 August 20269 min read

Race Equality

The Country We Are Becoming

Silence should never be mistaken for indifference. On the arguments Reform politics has made respectable, and what they ask people of colour to give up.

10 May 20268 min read

Medical Education

From tolerance to truly knowing one another

A Voice of Islam Radio conversation on preparing doctors for communities rich in culture and faith. Most students manage tolerance; understanding is harder.

5 March 20265 min read

Race Equality

Colonisination of the UK

Sir Jim Ratcliffe said the UK has been “colonised by immigrants”. Racism never went away; what has shifted is how openly it is said, and how little follows.

13 February 20262 min read

Off the timetable