Fourth Jordanian Women’s Physicians Conference
Over the summer, I had the pleasure of attending the fourth Jordanian Women Physician's conference (23–25 August 2025) in Ammam, Jordan organised by Dr Maisam Akroush, an RCP fellow. Maisam and I share the passion of empowering and supporting the next generation of physicians, particularly female physicians, and enabling their progression to senior leadership positions.
During this conference, we delivered sessions on our RCP Global Women Leaders programme, e-learning, leadership and research. I did an RCP networking session led by our international adviser for Jordan, Dr Ala’ Al Heresh, which went very well. I was privileged to meet with and be on the stage with HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, who was hugely appreciative of our RCP collaborative work. During my visit, I had very productive meetings with the British Embassy, and the international committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, who are doing amazing work to support the humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Syria and regional conflict zones.
The speech I gave for the opening ceremony was titled Growth and excellence.
Growth in the sense of seeing the conference grow from strength to strength over the last 5 years since the first Jordanian Women’s conference in 2021 to the development of the Pan Arab Women’s Association in 2022 and now to the breadth of activities and the programme of work that has followed as part of it. We launched the Global Women Leaders Programme in Jordan on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023 under the patronage of Princess Dina and have since delivered workshops to help individuals develop and support them in their early career journeys.
The Excellence aspect represents what has been achieved so far. The development of the Jordanian Women Physicians Conference, the development of the Pan Arab Women’s Association and their activities have achieved the highest quality of excellence. The programmes have been so innovative and breadth of activities has been amazing; from the prevention agenda, leadership, supporting the next generation, AI to sustainability.
I am looking forward to building our partnerships, supporting the next generation of physicians, reducing the gender equity gap and addressing the health inequalities in Jordan and beyond. Thank you, Maisam and the whole team for being such wonderful, dedicated physicians and partners to work with.
10-year anniversary of ECSACOP
I was delighted also to be able to go to Mombasa, Kenya to support the East, Central and Southern African College of Physicians (ECSACOP) exams, conference and join their 10-year anniversary celebrations (26–29 August 2025).
ECSACOP has been our key organisational partner in sub-Saharan Africa for a decade now. It has been a privilege and pleasure to support ECSACOP in their efforts to advance postgraduate medical training and support the next generation of physicians in sub-Saharan Africa. ECSACOP covers Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania.
The founding aspiration of ECSACOP was to double the number of physicians being trained in the region by 2030 and this includes clinicians, leaders and educators. The RCP has been part of their journey since its inception and supported development of the common curriculum, standardised training pathways, quality assurance of the programme and educator development. The ECSACOP programme aims to increase medical capacity, harmonise standards across the region and positively impact 200 million lives.
During this visit to Mombasa, I examined for the FCP Part 2 examinations on 26 August 2025 which went very well, and I supported the ECSACOP conference, Council, annual general meeting and committee meetings during my visit here. It was wonderful to be part of the graduation ceremony of those resident doctors who had just completed the programme and share the celebrations and achievements. Thank you to Professor Jowi (president of ECSACOP), Dr Christopher Pasi (president-elect), Dr Erick Njenga (president of the Kenyan Association of Physicians) and the whole team for their kind hospitality. A massive thank you to the whole ECSACOP team for their brilliant work, unwavering efforts and commitment towards the programme. We are proud to be on the journey with you and will continue to support you in your future endeavours.
This article was produced for the August 2025 edition of Commentary magazine.