Biography
Kirsteen is a Consultant in Public Health registered with the FPH, and has a medical degree from Cambridge and GKT, London. After a couple of years working in Paediatrics and Neonatology, she completed her Masters in Public Health at Harvard University in 2008 (focussed on child public health) followed by postgraduate training in the East of England. She previously worked as a Public Health Consultant for Cambridgeshire County Council, creating an Outcomes Framework for driving improvement in health care for Older People and leading the Child Public Health portfolio.
Kirsteen gained a Masters in Medical Education with distinction from the University of Bedfordshire in 2009, focussing on faculty development and leadership in education and is a fellow of the HEA. Kirsteen’s other key role is as Training Programme Director and lead for quality and faculty development, for the EoE Public Health Training Programme. Committed to developing public health skills amongst the clinical workforce, she has recently led on the expansion of Public Health training posts to establish a thriving programme of Public Health teaching and training for GP trainees in the EoE region.
Experienced in delivering regional faculty development training, she is also a tutor on the PGDip and Mst in Medical Education courses at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education and facilitates leadership development courses for PH trainees.
Research
Her medical education research interests include faculty development (especially for students and trainees as educators), the role of assessment, and social learning approaches in medical education. She was one of the lead authors of a consensus for an ‘Undergraduate Public Health curriculum for UK Medical schools’ endorsed by the FPH in 2014 (Updated in 2019 – https://www.fph.org.uk/media/2685/phems-updated-consensus-statement-2019-with-foreword_final.pdf).
With a background as a national debating champion, both at school and University, Kirsteen is also interested in utilising communications methods and debate in facilitation and teaching to develop critical discourse and leadership skills amongst students.
Teaching and Supervisions
Kirsteen is the lead for the Improving Health Systems strand for clinical medical students in Cambridge. She has been a Lecturer, teaching on the Public Health Cambridge course since 2009. She also leads the new ‘Leadership and Management in Public Health’ module of the new MPhil in Population Health Sciences (Autumn 2021 onwards).
Other Professional Activities
As Assistant Director, her role within the Public Health Education Group includes:
- leadership of health systems strand (clinical students);
- contribution to leadership and quality improvement teaching (clinical students);
- leading ‘Leadership and Management in Public Health’ module (MPhil);
- leading formative assessment of the IH course;
- development of faculty development & quality assurance within PHEG;
- supporting the Director of the Public Health Education Group and leadership of Clinical School in further development of medical teaching programme.