Meet your teachers
Our teaching methods are developed using practical evidence of what works best from medical education across the world.
We actively ensure we give our students the best teaching possible to enable them to succeed.
Our teaching is delivered by people who are clinicians and researchers of international renown – you'll be learning from and working alongside some of the leading experts in their fields.
Here are a few of our teaching staff...
Professor Steve Riley MD, FRCP, FAcadMed
Dean of Medicine
Attention to detail, the challenge of making the rare diagnosis and developing a long-term doctor-patient relationship are the key points of my career in nephrology.
Couple this with the highest quality care of all patients – whether the problems are common or rare – and you have the beginnings of a long and fruitful career in medicine.
My teachers and mentors instilled these characteristics in me and allowed me to develop my skills and interests during my training. I am keen to show the same enthusiasm to the students I teach and give them the ability to look for the unique and the unusual in their day-to-day practice.
My job is to equip you with the knowledge and skills to unlock the fascination of clinical medicine and strive for excellence at every opportunity.
If you have done this and made it fun then you know you have been trained in Wales.
Professor Rhian Goodfellow
Clinical Reader and C21 Director
As an inherently chatty, inquisitive and perhaps some may say nosy individual, medicine was the ideal career choice for me and to date it has surpassed all expectations.
The privilege and thrill of listening to patients, making a diagnosis and subsequently being able to treat individuals continues to excite me and makes going to work every morning easy.
As a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology, there is never time to become bored or complacent.
Every day brings a different challenge, from discussing cutting-edge bench-to-bedside medicine (combining basic science theory and clinical practice) and treating an elderly person's bad back to teaching and enthusing the next generation of doctors.
I could never imagine myself doing anything else.
Dr Sarju Patel
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Associate Dean for Equality Diversity and Inclusivity
As a medical educator with over 20 years of teaching and research experience here, I play a key role in the design, delivery and assessment of your undergraduate medical curriculum.
Medical students have always been bright and inquisitive but clinical knowledge alone is not enough for success in today’s world: good learning environments also provide strong pastoral support, with inclusive, enabling and safe learning opportunities. I bring my beliefs and values to this task, working hard to empower fairness, respect, truthfulness and equality for my colleagues and for our students.
I also have a passion for Widening Access, encouraging young people from all backgrounds to consider a career in Medicine; my leadership roles in this led to a Medic Star Award for Outstanding Contribution to Engagement Activities.
Personal development never stops, and when I teach, I learn. Small group sessions, where I can engage with my students, are just one of many reasons I love teaching.
Professor Marcus Coffey
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
I teach the subject of Pharmacology to our undergraduates on the Medicine (MBBCh) degree programme.
Understanding how drugs work is a vital component of training doctors to become safe prescribers. Although we only ever want the drugs we use to have a therapeutic effect, we also have to recognise that all medications have the potential to cause unwanted side effects, so our greater understanding drug actions can help to reduce the incidence of 'adverse drug reactions'.
To help our students learn about the drugs that can be considered across all the different medical specialities covered in the course, I use a range of teaching techniques that help explain the effects of drugs. This involves contextualising the use of drugs that target a specific system or tissue within the Human body, so I create teaching materials that cover everything from cardiology to immunology to psychiatry... and everything in between!
I have won a number of awards for my innovative approaches to teaching, and I have a particular interest in creating interactive and visually stimulating e-Learning Resources that Medical Students can use to enhance their knowledge of a particular subject area.
Professor Susan Wong
Professor of Experimental Diabetes and Metabolism
My teaching focuses on diabetes, which you probably already know is not just one condition. Working with people who have different types of diabetes is challenging but rewarding and I enjoy sharing these experiences with my students. What you will learn with me draws upon my clinical work with people who live with diabetes as well as my work as a clinical academic, researching the causes of Type 1 diabetes.
Knowledge is power in healthcare and a vital part of our work as doctors is to engage and educate the public to understand medical issues and scientific research. My students work with me to do this in different ways, including contributing to an exhibition at a hospital art gallery, celebrating the centenary of use of insulin.
I look forward to meeting you.
Professor Paul Frost
Director of Clinical Skills and Simulation & Honorary Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, Cardiff and Vale, UHB.
As a consultant in intensive care medicine, I look after critically ill and injured patients. It’s a varied and fulfilling job involving the clinical management of every conceivable type of medical emergency.
There is little in medical practice that is more satisfying than rescuing a person from the brink of death and seeing them recover, to return to their homes and families.
Before taking up my current post at Cardiff University, I was fortunate enough to have spent 10 years in Australia and New Zealand working in major trauma centres, burns units, paediatric intensive care units and in the aeromedical retrieval of critically ill patients.
I understand only too well how anxious trainee doctors and medical students are about managing these very sick patients, but at Cardiff University we pride ourselves on teaching our students how to do this well.
It is my privilege, as director of clinical skills, to lead on this part of the curriculum.
Dr Naomi Stanton
Lecturer and GP
Graduating from Cardiff med school prepared me for a meaningful career, with multiple roles where I can make a difference to my patients and help my students to succeed.
I am now a Lecturer, with a focus on Health Inequalities, meaning I develop teaching sessions and resources on social aspects of health and health inequalities, as well as clinical teaching for all years. This includes lifestyle medicine and sustainability and health. Realising health and wellbeing are not simply ‘medicines’ is essential in providing good care and treatment.
As a Rhondda Valleys GP too, I really enjoy helping my students to put their learning into practice.
I am a member of the School of Medicine Admissions Group because I am passionate about helping young people into Medicine. I work with med students and schools, developing interesting activities to encourage pupils who might not yet realise that they will be great doctors someday.
Outside work, I love walking in the Brecon Beacons or on Ogmore beach with my children and dog / wookie.
Professor Paul Morgan
Systems Immunity Research Institute and Dementia Research Institute
I am a Clinical Biochemist with a strong research record in Immunology.
I was formerly Dean and Head of the School from 2008 to 2013 but made the decision to step back allowing me to spend more time on research and clinical work. I then stepped back from my clinical role in 2018 and now have the great pleasure of being a full time researcher leading a team working on inflammation and brain inflammation in particular.
I enjoy teaching, particularly one-to-one and small groups, and have relished the challenges of the new curriculum. I have learned an enormous amount from interacting with students and come to realise that our students are the medical school - our most valuable resource and best source of advice on improving the course and student experience.
A modernised curriculum with more small group teaching, more patient contact and earlier finals.
