Dr Katie Gibson Smith

Biography

Dr Katie Gibson Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), recognised by the British Psychological Society.  She is Co-Founder and currently Co-Leads the NHS Education for Scotland-funded Scottish Widening Access to Medicine Research Network.  

Katie’s research is driven by a commitment to equity in medical education and healthcare. Her work focuses on understanding and addressing structural and systemic barriers experienced by underrepresented groups in medicine, including students from widening participation backgrounds, minority ethnic and disabled doctors and medical students. She is particularly interested in generating evidence that informs meaningful, practice-based change.

She is currently leading a programme of research on widening participation to medicine, working closely with students and educators to document lived experiences and translate findings into actionable recommendations that support fairer access to, and participation in, medical education.

Alongside this, Katie’s research examines doctor wellbeing, with a strong emphasis on intervention development. She previously served as Intervention Development Workstream Lead on a Chief Scientist Office–funded project developing evidence-informed strategies to support doctors’ wellbeing during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

A mixed methods researcher, Katie has expertise in qualitative and quantitative approaches including interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, Delphi consensus methods, the Think Aloud method, and systematic reviews. Across her work, she applies educational, implementation and behaviour change theory to ensure research findings are not only robust, but practically relevant and capable of making a tangible difference in policy and practice.

External Memberships

Co-Lead Scottish Widening Access to Medicine Research Network

Co-Founded with Prof Colin Lumsden 2021

Member of Royal Society of Edinburgh Health and Wellbeing Community of Interest 

Invited 2023

Member of Royal Society of Edinburgh Social Sciences Sub-Committee

Invited 2023

Chartered Psychologist - British Psychological Society

Attained 2020

Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland

Membership 2020-2025

Member, Expert Reference Group - British Psychological Society 

From Poverty to Flourishing Campaign - January 2020 to December 2020

External Peer Reviewer

National Institute for Health Research - Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (Grants and Reports)

British Journal of Health Psychology

The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh

Perspectives on Medical Education

Pharmacy Practice

International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy

British Journal of General Practice

Rural and Remote Health

Australasian Medical Journal 

Academic Editor 

PLOS One

Prizes and Awards

Best Oral Presentation, Health Services Research and Pharmacy Practice Conference, 2017: Promoting and implementing self-care: A mixed methods study of offshore workers and remote healthcare practitioners.

Self-Care Journal and International Self Care Foundation Essay Competition Runner Up (Awarded £750), 2016: Self-care behaviour change: Reaching the unreached.

Institute of Health and Wellbeing Studentship, Robert Gordon University, 2013-2016: Promoting and implementing self-care: A mixed methods study of offshore workers and remote healthcare practitioners.

Research Overview

Katie’s research interests centre on equity in medical education and healthcare workforce wellbeing. She works collaboratively with students, doctors and educators to better understand the experiences of groups who are underrepresented in medicine, including those from widening participation and minority ethnic backgrounds, as well as disabled students and doctors. Her work is practice-informed and impact-driven, drawing on mixed methods approaches alongside educational, implementation and behaviour change theory to generate evidence that informs meaningful and sustainable change in policy, training and professional practice.

Current Research

• Equity in medical education and healthcare workforce wellbeing

• Experiences of groups underrepresented in medicine, including students and doctors from widening participation and minority ethnic backgrounds, and disabled students and doctors

• Co-produced and collaborative research with students, doctors and educators

• Evaluation of widening participation initiatives, including the Gateway2Medicine programme

• Development of evidence-informed approaches to support doctors’ wellbeing and resilience

• Application of educational, implementation and behaviour change theory to inform sustainable change in policy, training and professional practice

• Mixed methods research, including qualitative, quantitative and consensus approaches

Funding and Grants

Gibson Smith, K., Lumsden, C., Laidlaw, A., et al.  Scottish Widening Access to Medicine Research Network.  NHS Education for Scotland 2025. £77,665.56.

Laidlaw, A., Gibson Smith, K., Yilmaz, H., et al.  Doctors with disabilities: understanding challenges to career progression: a scoping review.  National Institute for Health Research 2025. £853,025.42.

Gibson Smith, K., Cleland, J., Walker, K., et al.  Staying in and getting on in medicine:  Career decision making in widening access students. Carnegie Trust 2023. £14,986.00

Gibson Smith, K., Bonner, C., Cecil, J., et al. Experiences of working and career progression of doctors with disabilities in the clinical workplace: a scoping review.  Association for Medical Education 2022. £4,917.82.

Gibson Smith, K., Lumsden, C., Walker, K., Poobalan, A., Laidlaw, A. Staying in and getting on: Developing strategies to support widening access students in their medical studies. 2022.  Centre for Academic Development.  Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme 2022.  Resilient Learning Communities. £732.94.

Chopra, C., Gibson Smith, K., et al. The lived experiences of racial discrimination in specialty trainees in Scotland Deanery: A qualitative study. 2021.  Scottish Medical Education Research Consortium. £3,000.

Faisal, N., Rattray, Z. Gibson Smith, K., et al.  STEMM Bank of Scotland.  2021.  Young Academy Scotland. £600. 

Walker, K., Gibson Smith, K., et al. Doctors wellbeing through COVID-19 transitions and beyond.  A proposal for consolidation and future innovation. 2021. Scottish Medical Education Research Consortium.  £75,000. 

Walker, K., Gibson Smith, K., et al. To develop evidence-based interventions to support doctors’ well-being and promote resilience during COVID-19 related transitions (and beyond). 2020. Chief Scientist Office. £197,080.

MacLure, K., Gibson Smith, K., et al. Promoting community pharmacy engagement with people experiencing homelessness by understanding health literacy. 2018. European Society of Clinical Pharmacy Research Grant, €10,000.

Stewart D, Tucker R, MacLure K, Gibson Smith K. Examining the real-world impact of a silicone-based gel (Dermatix®) on established hypertrophic and keloid scars in patients recruited in community pharmacies. Mylan, 2017, £30,000.

Stewart, D., MacLure, K., Cunningham, S., Gibson Smith, K. Evaluating pharmacy teams in GP practices. Scottish Government, 2017, £100,000.

Stewart, D., Tucker, R., MacLure, K., Cunningham, S., Gibson Smith, K. An uncontrolled before and after study of the impact of a smart-phone app on disease outcomes in children with atopic eczema. Dermal Laboratories, 2017, £30,000.

Stewart, D., MacLure, K., Cunningham, S., Gibson Smith, K. A mixed methods evaluation of the NHS Highlands telehealth pilot of pharmaceutical care provision to dispensing medical practices. NHS Highlands, 2017, £8,000.

Teaching Responsibilities

Course Coordinator - ME5513 Fundamentals of Data Management and Analysis.

Deputy Course Coordinator - ME5026 Planning and Design of Clinical Education

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

PhD External Examiner - University of Lancaster (2021)