Keep up to date with OxPal
To keep up to date with our programmes and content please join the OxPal Community WhatsApp group chat via this link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FYRwwVKrqu3LE0Fu2W89Le
and follow us on Facebook , Instagram (@oxpal.medlink) and Twitter (@OxPal_Medlink)
Don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list, by completing the form on the website, to stay updated!
Adapting to the needs of Gazan Students
Looking to the future, OxPal is supporting Palmed’s GEM (Gaza Educate Medics) scheme, which aims to support Al-Azhar (AUG) and Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) faculties by delivering online teaching and mentoring and finding students clinical placements. Content delivered by the platform aligns with the curriculums of both AUG and IUG and is accredited by both medical school faculties, allowing students to continue their medical education before their universities can be rebuilt. OxPal have been asked to lead the Student Engagement Committee for the GEM scheme. We will be gathering feedback from 4 different channels, and have recruited representatives from each year group to help facilitate this. We are also looking forward to develop a platform to help fill in the gaps of medical education platforms, that Gazan students may be facing.
Medical Community Outside Gaza
Back in November 2023, amidst the destruction of both the medical schools in Gaza, we started gathering the medical students who were displaced outside of Gaza to find solutions on how to help them pursue their medical education i.e. clinical placements abroad. In January 2024, we started compiling a database of information on all Gazan medical students who are externally displaced and those who get displaced daily. Currently, we have over 200 students in our groups.
Moreover, we built a network of physicians in the UK, Jordan, Turkey, and others who collaborated with us to connect with the students, explore options, and provide inputs on how to execute. Also, our connections were with the deans of both medical schools of Gaza.
There were several barriers to finding clinical placements abroad for the students that will be accredited by their home universities – for example, visas and immigration issues. Our network expanded by connecting with more parties and associations with the same goal like the Oxford Gaza Group and PalMed Academy. The latest created a project called the Gaza Educate Medics Scheme (GEM) Scheme in which we are part of the Clinical Placements Committee.
OxPal Mentoring Programme
The OxPal Mentoring Programme brings together UK doctors and Palestinian medical students for a unique and enriching mentoring programme. Our students are able to gain professional and personal insights into life as a doctor, as well as make the most of opportunities provided by these mentors. At the same time, mentors gain fresh perspective and gain meaningful, long-lasting connections. Both mentees and mentors gain so much from this programme, and we are excited to launch the 2025 cohort soon!
Summer School 2025
OxPal is in the process of organising the annual Oxford Summer School for Palestinian medical students. The course will be for thirty-three medical students from the AAUP and PPU medical schools, who have completed three years of pre-clinical studies and will be starting their first clinical year. We are also pleased to announce that the Summer School to continue to be offered to a group of displaced medical students from Gaza.
Whilst in Oxford, students will attend classes on clinical communication skills and medical ethics, receive clinical skills teaching at the John Radcliffe Hospital clinical skills lab and simulation training with OxSTaR (Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research), and attend a surgical skills course facilitated by senior surgical trainees and consultants.
OxPal is supported throughout by Dr Richard Harrington, Dr Elize Richards and Dr Katy Boncey. We’re very excited to run this summer school again and look forward to giving as many students as possible this learning opportunity in the future.
Virtual Reality and Medical Simulation Programme
We have secured the right for ALL medical students in Palestine to use world-leading medical-simulation software for free, turning powerful medical training software from financially inaccessible to a core area of training. We are taking the next steps to branch into nursing and hopefully integrate nursing VR into medical schools, starting with AAUP. We are also working to improve the current VR relationship with An Najah and gauging whether other universities would like to introduce VR into their curriculums.
We would like to thank OMS for providing this software, the medical schools for helping administer this project and our technical team for supporting students to make the most of it.
Obstetrics and Gynaecology Lecture Series
OxPal is proud to announce its first lecture series of 2025: Obstetrics and Gynaecology. This course is will include lectures from top academics and clinicians at Oxford University and will be accompanied with a case-based workbook to support learning. We have taken on board feedback from previous lecture series so hopefully this will be the best yet! Sign up by following this link: https://forms.gle/bN6cZvLNQxPv4PLv9
Collaboration with BTK and JOMI
OxPal are proud to have partnered with the world-leading Behind The Knife (https://behindtheknife.org/premium/trauma-surgery-video-atlas) surgery educational platform to provide high-quality trauma surgery videos free of charge to medical students and surgeons who are currently in Palestine (Gaza, West Bank or Jerusalem). Those who are currently outside Palestine are excluded, but there may be further opportunities in the future.
We are circulating the sign-up form on OxPal’s private Whatsapp and Facebook groups, please get in touch if you don’t have access to these!
OxPal are also proud to have partnered with JOMI Surgical Video Journal.
JOMI have published 230+ professionally-filmed peer-reviewed videos across general surgery, O&G, ENT, orthopaedics and more. Each video provides instructions from incision to closure with key animations and expert insight. These videos are intended to support learning on surgical rotations and foster interest in surgical specialities. JOMI have granted access to all their videos for medical students and doctors currently in Palestine
How to sign up
1. “Sign-up” for an account on the JOMI website >> https://jomi.com
2. Students and doctors in Palestine will be automatically granted access to all JOMI videos
We would like to thank JOMI and BTK for their collaboration for supporting students to expand their surgical interests.
Research programmes
We regularly collect and analyse data on ways to improve medical education and medical care in Palestine. If you think you could contribute to our data-driven approach or have ideas for research studies, please get in touch – oxpal.medlink@gmail.com
We are currently in the process of organising a research skill virtual course. More information will be uploaded soon!
We have previously run multiple courses on research & research methods, and videos of some of the lectures are available on our YouTube channel.