A new year messgae from Professor Amudha Poobalan, Academic lead for SMMSN masters programmes!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to 2025! I took a couple of weeks off over the festive period and it was great to spend time with family and friends.
The title of this piece reflects my snail's pace in everything! I have been meaning to write this since I got my Principal Fellow of the HEA (PFHEA) in 2022, my promotion to a professor in 2023 and I tried again after winning an award in Dec 2024!! This break has given me time to reflect on my career at the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition and the University of Aberdeen.
I was born and brought up in South India and was privileged to attend a reputable medical school called Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, India. After graduating, I worked as a chief medical officer and managed a small hospital for 4 years. At that point, life and career progression seemed seamless but then life happened!! I became a wife and moved to the UK, became a mother, which included physical, educational and emotional transitions. My educational transition, trying to study in the UK after coming from a different education system, was tough. After getting my Masters and PhD in Public Health my career stagnated, where I was at the same level for 12 years. That was tough too! For many of us life does happen: either with caring for others who need our help, our own health or sacrificing our career to support our children or our loved ones....but we do get there.
Things have changed now for me...probably at a snail’s pace but I am happy because my small research projects have made an impact in resource-limited settings and as an educator, I see my students being successful in many countries in a fantastic way. I received many New Year wishes from my students from way back as far as 2016 from across the world telling me about their career successes and their families and it does make me VERY proud.
Sometimes, we need the ‘salt’ that brings out the best in us. I had that in my life and career. There were many who encouraged me when I did good, corrected me when I made mistakes, picked me up when I fell, nudged me when needed (I needed a lot!) with gentleness and compassion, and provided opportunities when at crossroads. There are still my mentors and guardian angels around me and I give thanks for them quite often.
The commitment to come to the University of Aberdeen with a passion for learning and doing well is the same for all our students, no matter where they come from. For us as staff, our passion for teaching well, ensuring every student has a wonderful learning experience, and seeing that trajectory of improvement is our commitment. I continuously strive to be that mentor...be that salt to bring out the best in my students, who are the future workforce and with the capacity to change things to better our communities.
Best wishes everyone!
