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Staff Profile

Professor Steve Jones

Head of School of Medicine

  • Email: steve.jones@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 3991
  • Fax: +44 (0)191 208 6521
  • Address: Medical Student Office
    The Medical School
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH
Background

Background

My association with Newcastle University began in 1984 when I started the MBBS course as a first year medical student. Having intercalated I graduated in 1990 with first class honours and have practiced medicine ever since. I was a clinical research associate in The University, investigating kidney complications of diabetes completing an MD in 2000. I was also fortunate enough to spend a year as a senior research fellow at The Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney in 1999.  I continue to work clinically as an honorary consultant physician at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where I have also had a role as a teacher on MBBS course since 2001. Clinically my sub-specialty interest is in Diabetes and Endocrinology. 

As a teacher on the MBBS programme I have held a number of leadership positions including clinical assessment lead, course director for medicine and undergraduate lead for South Tees Hospitals. In 2011 I became the first Dean of Clinical Affairs at our branch campus in Malaysia. From 2015 I was the Director of Medical Studies with overall responsibility for the MBBS programme. During this time a major review of the curriculum was launched with implementation beginning in 2017.

Roles and responsibilities

The School of Medicine https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medicine/  is one of the five teaching focussed schools within the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Our vision is to provide excellence in teaching and learning of medical education, which is continuously enhanced by research and curriculum development work underpinned by pedagogic research. The School has responsibility for the management and delivery of the MBBS programme, a postgraduate Masters in Physician Associate studies and a Masters in Medical Education programme. The School of Medicine is responsible for the Anatomy and Clinical Skills centre which provides cadaveric anatomy and clinical skills teaching for the Faculty and has strong links with the Newcastle Surgical Training Unit at the Freeman Hospital. The School also manages Roleplaynorth, an organisation which trains and provides high quality role players for clinical teaching and assessment across the region and houses Medical Education research teams who work on nationally important projects in collaboration with the DoH, HEE-NE and the GMC. The majority of the full-time academic staff in the School are primarily involved in developing, delivering and supporting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and are on Teaching & Scholarship contracts. A strong pedagogic research culture amongst these staff underpins continuous quality advancement of our programmes.

The School of Medicine has close links with the University’s branch campus in Malaysia (NUMed) where students undertake the Newcastle MBBS curriculum and receive the award of a Newcastle MBBS degree at the end of 5 years. The MBBS programme at NUMed is managed by staff seconded from Newcastle and there is regular contact between the two campuses to ensure equity of experience and equivalence of outcomes.


Qualifications

B Med Sci, MBBS,  MD, FRCP, MSc (Medical Education), FAoMEd

Previous positions 

Director of Medical Studies, Newcastle University

Deputy Director of Medical Studies (Engagement), Newcastle University

Dean of Clinical Affairs, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia

Undergraduate Director, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Course Lead for Final Year Rotation in Medicine

Clinical Lead for OSCEs 

 

Teaching

I have taught on the MBBS programme since 2001. I helped to develop the teaching faculty in South Tees as part of the last large expansion of medical student numbers in England and the regionalisation of the Newcastle Medical School. As a teacher on the MBBS programme I have held a number of leadership positions including clinical assessment lead, course director for medicine and undergraduate lead for South Tees Hospitals. I completed a certificate and later, in 2011,  a Masters in Medical Education, with the latter focusing on work based assessments for medical undergraduates and am a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Educators. In 2018 was appointed to the position of Head of School of Medical Education and Professor of Medical Education Leadership at Newcastle University.

In the last decade and more my focus has been on medical education leadership beginning in 2011 when I became the first Dean of Clinical Affairs at our branch campus in Malaysia. This was the first overseas programme delivering a UK medical degree and the first cohort of students graduated in 2014. From 2015 I was the Director of Medical Studies in Newcastle with overall responsibility for the MBBS programme. During this time a major review of the curriculum was launched with implementation beginning in 2017.

I am a GMC Associate and have recently been Deputy Lead for the visit to Scotland (North) as part of the national review of medical education in Scotland. Currently I lead the GMC approval team for the new medical school at the University of Ulster. I am also a GMC lead for the Clinical and Professionalism Assessment element of the Medical Lisencing Assessment that is due for implememntation in the academic year 2024 - 25. I co-chaired a national working group with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management which developed a leadership curriculum for medical undergraduates. I have worked with the Medical Schools Council leading the clinical placements group through the COVID pandemic and now lead the MSC policy group that is developing the Applied Knowledge Test part of the MLA on behalf of UK Medical Schools.



Publications