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Institute of Health Sciences Education - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Dr Pedro Elston (he/him)

Pedro

Senior Lecturer in Digital Education Head of Learning Innovation Team (LIT)

Email: p.elston@qmul.ac.uk
Twitter: @DrPedroElston

Profile

Pedro has been with Queen Mary since 2021, and holds a PhD in Skeletal Biochemistry, with an extensive background in medical education. He currently is the head of the Learning Innovation Team, responsible for curriculum development and use of technology in education, and chairs the Medical Schools Council's Digital Education Group.

He is currently responsible for delivering the UK's first blended medical programme in partnership with NHS England, developing the use of augmented and virtual realities in medical education, and providing leadership to the university on technology in education.

Teaching

Pedro currently delivers educational sessions on his areas of scientific expertise across the Physician Associates and MBBS programmes, as well as acting as a Problem Based Learning tutor, and academic supervisor. He is currently open to PhD opportunities.

He is also an external examiner for the University of East Anglia's MBBS programme, and the Health Sciences with Foundation Year course at Nottingham University.

Research

Research Interests:

Pedro is collaborating with Lancaster university on the causes of poor mineralisation in humans which leads to life-altering conditions such as osteoporosis. His PhD work focused on the chemical composition of bone material, including post-translational modifications of collagen in healthy bone tissues, and its impact on mechanical strength.

He is interested in the development of new technologies and their role in the rapidly changing education landscape, such as virtual and augmented reality, hybrid and blended learning, the increasing role of well-designed asynchronous resource, and the humanisation of online learning.

 

Publications

Publications

Elston, P., Canale, G. P., Ail, G., Fisher, N., & Mahendran, M. (2023). Twelve tips for teaching in virtual reality. Medical Teacher, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2285396 

Higher Education England and the Australian Medical Council et al, 2022. Building a Digitally Capable Medical Workforce - Digital Health Literacy and AI Literacy for Medical Practitioners. https://tinyurl.com/debe4kvv 

Higher Education England and the Australian Medical Council et al, 2022. Levers of Change – Maximising Integration and Uptake of Digital Health in Medical Education and Medical Practice. https://tinyurl.com/4ec7uvua 

Elston, P., 2022. ‘Hybrid’ Learning in Medical Schools: A report from the MSC Digital Education Group. Medical Schools Council. https://www.medschools.ac.uk/our-work/education 

Elston, P., 2022. Attributes of a Successful Learning Technologist: Why Empathy and Initiative are Desirable Skills for eLearning. Association for Learning Technology. https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2022/09/attributes-of-a-successful-learning-technologist/ 

Elston, P., Churchwell, J., Goodship A., Kerns, J.G., Birch H., (2016). The Relationship between Mineral to Collagen Ratio, Ultrastructure and Mechanical Properties: Differences within a Single Species. Orthopaedic Proceedings, Vol. 98-B. 

Speaking

  • Co-creation for Blended Learning (2023, Technology CoP day) 
  • Use of Virtual Reality (2023, NHS England Blended Learning Conference) 
  • Blended Learning (2023, Australia Health Professions Education Standing Group) 
  • Augmented Realities (2022, Medical Schools Council) 
  • Digital Education – Hybrid Learning (2022, Medical Schools Council) 
  • Technology in Medical Education Keynote (2022, York & Humber GPs) 
  • Digital Education (2021, Queen Mary UoL) 
  • The Impact of Attendance on Attainment (2019, St George’s UoL) 
  • Raman Spectroscopy in Research (2018, Lancaster university) 
  • British Orthopaedic Research Society (2015, 17, 18) 
  • Infrared and Raman Discussion Group (2015, 16, 17) 

Poster Presentations

ASME 2023 - C.S. Chan, F. Freer, G. Ail. J. Leeney J.Broad M. Jones, G.P. Canale, P. Elston, P. Vickerton. Out with The Old, In With The New? Virtual Reality vs. Cadaveric Based Teaching Materials for Anatomy Education.  

Funding

Year 

Award 

Amount 

Results to date  

2023 

CODE: Evaluation of Blended Learning in Medicine 

£5,000 

Project not yet started 

2023 

QMUL President and Principal’s Fund: Skill-based Education in Virtual Reality 

£20,000 

Project outline set & external company engaged 

2023 

QMUL President and Principal’s Fund: Role of AI in Education 

£10,000 

Internal website co-created with students launched for QMUL 

2022 

QMUL Westfield Fund: Introducing VR teaching to MBBS 

£10,000 

Anatomy and mental wellbeing sessions reaching over 500 students. Two papers in submission, one paper accepted, one presentation. 

2022 

ASME: Post-covid Benefits in Education Practice 

£20,000 

Paper to be submitted 

2021 

NHS England: Blended Learning Project 

£250,000 

Course has launched 2023, evaluation due August ’24. 

2018  

Lancaster University: Career Bridging for Exceptional Scientists 

£15,000 

Successful supervision of two masters students 

 

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