RUMS Review Vol. V No. II (2020 Online Edition)

team
RUMS Review Editorial Team
2020
Editor-In-Chief
News Editor
News Editor
Features Editor
Interviews Editor
Interviews Editor
Interviews Editor
Perspectives Editor
Demystifying Medical School Editor
Sports & Societies Editor
Sports & Societies Editor
RUMS In Lockdown Editor
RUMS In Lockdown Editor
English Team
English Team
English Team
Finance & Administration
Finance & Administration
Special thanks
Special thanks
Special thanks
Special thanks
Special thanks
Special thanks
Special thanks
Justina Cheh Juan Tai (Y4)
Niraj Kumar (Y2)
Anjana Lakshmi Narasimhan (Y2)
Benjamin Choudhury (Y3)
Victoria Ngai (Y2)
Ameerah Parvez (Y1)
Isis Gaspar Calado (Y2)
Tharanika Ahillan (Y5)
Ishika Bansal (Y4)
Anji Zhang (Y2)
Anika Koithara (Y2)
Shazmen Jan (Y1)
Emma Lloyd (Y2)
Maria Stoica (BA History)
Ajinkya Kumar (Y6)
Samuel Goh (MPharm)
Meron Yalew (Y4)
Shazmen Jan (Y1)
Professor Deborah Gill
Ms Deanne Atreed
Yousif Ali (Y3)
Somar Albani (Y3)
Stephen McWilliams (Y2)
Eng-O-Charoenrat (Y6)
Adam Selway (Y4)
CONTACT
rums-review@ucl.ac.uk
The RUMS Review, founded in 2015, is the official student-led publication
serving the staff, students, and alumni of UCL Medical School.
https://rumsreview.com/

welcome.
What a year it has been! 2020, for the RUMS Review, began with a new team of
editors and a myriad of ideas for what we then thought would be our Term 2 issue.
Regrettably, things took a sharp turn when we were caught unawares by the COVID-
19 pandemic. We soon found ourselves socially distant, each bearing an unexplained
lack of motivation for non-academic duties, and university life disrupted.
Consequently, we shifted gears and made new plans to produce an issue that would
best serve our present circumstances. This, dear readers, is the product -- RUMS
Review’s first online-only edition.
This time of year, we sorely miss the atmosphere of anxious preclinical students in
the Cruciform Hub, cramming the last of the Krebs Cycle before their dreaded
summative exams; iBSc students sending their supervisors follow-up emails about
data sets that have gone haywire; and clinical students roaming the wards
desperately trying to commit the swoosh of an ejection systolic murmur to memory.
With the RUMS community physically segregated, and life nothing like it was just a few
months ago, this instalment of the RUMS Review sets out to bring some sense of
familiarity to the end of our third term at UCLMS.
Within these pages, you will find pre-pandemic news (in a surprising turn of events, I
find that there was indeed a time that existed prior to this pandemic), from the
pioneering use of iPad Minis in clinical education, to the iconic RUMS Take Me Out
event. We also cover current affairs, such as our Features Editor’s take on social
inequalities accentuated by COVID-19, and the online graduation of our latest cohort
of UCLMS doctors. Our customary Sports & Societies updates are back, along with
high-yield exam guidance from our Demystifying Medical School Editor. On top of all
this, we are proud to unveil a new section, RUMS In Lockdown, where we catch up with
students around the world, gaining insight into what life has been like for them in the
places they call home.
Finally, as we wrap up another year for the RUMS Review, I appeal for students with a
predilection for writing, editing, or designing to consider applying for roles in the
2020/21 team, for the legacy of RUMS Review can only be upheld when there are
successors who rise to the challenge.
Justina Cheh Juan Tai
Editor-in-Chief
Facebook: RUMS Review
Twitter: @UCLRUMSReview
Website: https://rumsreview.com/

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Professor Deborah Gill
CONTENTS
3 Yousif
Ali 2019/20
Somar Albani 2020/21
6 RUMS
Mental Health Week 2020
UCL Neurology Club invites Henry Marsh
RUMS Take Me Out
Culinary Medicine at UCL
Unitu - The Social Way to Student Feedback
Graduation 2020
UCL: A Pioneer In Global Sustainability
iBSc Prize 2019/20

Health Inequalities As Evidenced by COVID-19
Clinical Skills Teaching: Reimagined During A Global Crisis
RUMS Committee Statement On Racism
Josie Elliott - London
Yath Premadasan - London
Sharmaine Sim - Singapore
Aleksandar Radulovic - Serbia
Adam Turna - Slovakia
Accessing Mental Health Support at UCL
Last Minute Revision Checklist
Two terms in: What do students think about the free iPads?
Alex Ng
Indrajeet Mandal
Spotlight on: Medics4Medics
The RUMS Societies Updates
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31
37
40
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director's
update
What a year it has been! Life has changed in so many
ways for all of us that it now seems difficult remembering
our ‘old lives’ when we could bump into each other on
Tottenham Court Road. We have all missed something
special this year (it would have been my 30-year alumni
reunion in June!) but we are quickly learning new ways of
working with technology and I have no doubt these
strange times will produce some fantastic innovations
and doctors as a result.
We just about managed to get final exams done before
lockdown. The 303 who passed were fast tracked to
graduation as part of the national COVID-19 response.
As the usual visit to the Royal Festival Hall was not
possible, we arranged the first ever UCL virtual
graduation ceremony via Zoom. Graduands and faculty
wore improvised hats and DIY mortar boards, families
were able to watch together from their homes, with some
students even participating from hospitals where they
are currently volunteering.
The Medical School featured highly in the Provost’s
Education Awards this year, with a team award going to
the MBBS Curriculum Mapping team – a student-staff
collaboration who produced a bespoke map of the
curriculum. Huge congratulations to the team,
particularly Dan Ntubiane who also won Student Rep of
the Year for our Faculty!
Congratulations too to our students who featured highly
at the SU’s Volunteering Awards 2020. Spectrum, a
befriending charity for young people with disabilities, won
Organisation of the Year for their work mentoring and
supporting children in Camden. Many who know Yiorgos
Stathopoulos, Spectrum’s Chairperson, will be
unsurprised to hear that he won Most Committed
Volunteer. I am so proud of how our students help
others, from Spectrum’s work to those contributing to the
COVID-19 effort: thank you.
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UCL has launched an ambitious Sustainability Strategy,
including commitments for all buildings to be net zero
carbon, and for every student to have the chance to
study sustainability by 2024. UCLMS is really keen to
play its part and we have already developed a new SSC
in Climate Change and Health and plan to look into
how we can integrate sustainability throughout the
curriculum. Our students and alumni will lead
innovations here as usual, so if you can think of ways to
recycle Anatomy Lab gloves please do get in touch as
Wendy Birch needs you!
Many in our community have been profoundly affected
by the horrendous murder of George Floyd and the
Black Lives Matter protests. We are rightly being held
to account for the structural inequality and white
privilege that exists in our institutions and we
recognise we have much to learn. This has motivated
us to commit to act on improving race equality in the
Medical School environment: we have signed up to the
BMA Race Equality Charter and established a staffstudent
advisory group on race equality who will look
at actions UCLMS can take; we will expand our work on
Decolonising the Curriculum; we recently held a
Schwartz Round exploring personal experiences of
discrimination; and UCL has begun the process of
renaming buildings. I look forward to working with
students on building a kinder, more inclusive Medical
School in the future.
Professor Deborah Gill
Director, UCLMS
Follow me on Twitter:
@doctordeborah
@UCLMS
3

president's
letter
Dear all,
As the year draws to a close, I would like to start the piece by
saying how much of a pleasure it has been being RUMS
President. The experience has given me the utmost
appreciation for the family we call RUMS. Each year brings
about its challenges and hurdles, however, I take pride in
knowing my committee has worked tirelessly for our fantastic
student body to develop the student experience and run a
union people are envious of. I know for a fact that next year’s
committee will strive to build our community further… They are,
after all, RUMS medics!
Our academic representation over the past year has gone from
strength to strength with the introduction of Unitu. We worked
hard over the summer to introduce the platform and provide a
forum where students can discuss ideas, feedback to staff, and
see their suggestions being actively worked on. It would not
have been possible without Somar, Dan and the academic
representatives who ensured feedback throughout the year
was actioned rapidly and thoroughly. The platform has also
provided a window into the great work that staff at UCLMS
carry out to support students and develop the course based on
feedback. With the student voice stronger than ever, great
changes are being implemented throughout the six years of the
course!
As always, our RUMS sports clubs and societies continue to
excel, whether that be on the field, off the field with charity
work, or through great events that are recognised nationwide.
We have seen solid performances from our clubs through UH
head and Varsity fixtures, flying the RUMS flag high and proud,
proving once again, our sporting dominance! Chris has worked
to champion our sports and societies and we cannot wait to
build our new RUMS display in the Rockefeller Hub to showcase
this. Wrapping up the sporting year, we recognised the
achievements of our members with the RUMS Colours Awards
booklet.
Medical school is not without its challenges and work can often
be daunting, especially with other commitments. Precious and
the Medics4Medics team have continued the great welfare
work we do at RUMS to support the student body through
difficult times. This materialised in the introduction of weekly
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yoga sessions at a discounted rate for RUMS students and a
highly successful Welfare Week. We hope you have developed
new methods to deal with difficult periods and gained an
insight into the importance of mental wellbeing. Furthermore,
Precious has introduced our Mental Health Pledge this year,
which was overwhelmingly supported by our clubs and
societies!
RUMS events have always set the standards of what a great
event should be, and this year was no different. From a
successful Fresher’s Week to RUMS love at Franco Manca Take
Me Out dates, we have seen it all. George and his
subcommittee have not only upheld the high standards set by
previous committees but also worked to develop the events
further and cater them directly to students. This year saw the
introduction of our RUMS Charity Initiative, with the student
body deciding to support the great work of RUMS Spectrum.
We were able to raise nearly £1,000 from our Take Me Out
event alone. We hope this provides a strong foundation on
which future committees are able to build and expand charity
support in RUMS.
All this and more would not have been possible without our
Operations & Finance team led by Adam, enabling us to bring
our calendar of activities to life. We strive to make RUMS events
as affordable as possible and have taken measures to ensure
cheaper events and consistency of pricing with previous years,
pumping profits back into RUMS and our new initiatives. Adam
and his team have enabled this to happen through their
procurement of substantial sponsorship deals, while
developing relationships and setting the groundwork for future
years to increase our reach and financial standing.
The RUMS Executive works together on all aspects of our
association. This embodies our student community and what it
means to be a UCL medical student. Collaboration, peer
support and initiative: these maintain RUMS as an inspiration to
all. Since this is the last piece I will be writing as president, it has
been an honour taking on the role. Thank you to all those who
have been supportive, especially my committee. Thank you to
the UCLMS staff who work tirelessly and are always there to
provide guidance. I wish you all the best of luck for the years
ahead. Believe in your ability to change the world and never
cease.
With RUMS love,
Yousif Ali
RUMS President 2019/20
4

incoming
president's letter
My tenure as your RUMS Years 1-3 Education VP has been fantastic!
This year has been a delight with so much to do and so much
accomplished, even before the pandemic stormed by and changed
how we lived our lives.
In terms of representation, I rolled out ‘mid-module meetings’, an
informal chat between module reps and module leads to complete
the feedback loop more immediately, on a smaller scale. After a
positive response from both staff and students, these catchups
have become a key connection between your thoughts and
receptive faculty. Unitu’s rollout has also been transformational in
mobilising your feedback. With Yousif & Dan, we moderated and
evaluated the state of Unitu in its infancy. I hope Unitu has
demystified the journey your feedback takes, and that the SSCC
open forum threads have made our meetings more transparent.
With your reps, we have continued to make resources and exams
better for everyone. We’re laying the groundwork for key summary
lectures throughout the academic year, in the style of I&D summary
lectures. We’ve also lobbied faculty to reconcile the Amnesty overlap
with current formatives. Lastly, we built a student-led iBSc Booklet
from the ground up: for the first time, every Year 2 student has
equal access to honest student opinions from the whole iBSc roster.
Initial feedback has been warm, and I am optimistic its delivery will
only improve in future years.
Advocating on our behalf on many fronts – from iBSc feedback
deadlines, and online assessment & feedback, to mental health
teaching, animal ethics teaching and personal tutoring – I am
privileged to have worked alongside many staff members who truly
care and advocate for us, and especially alongside reps, all of whom
have been indispensable as the conduit between you and staff.
Massive shoutout to every one of them!
As the current RUMS committee hands over to their successors,
many challenges lie on the road ahead for our Union. Though the
next academic year will be unlike any that we have seen, I am
excited to tackle these challenges alongside a committed team of
wonderful individuals. Now more than ever, my commitment to
diversify our community events, strengthen the welfare safety net
and evolve the Charity Initiative have never carried more weight.
With these goals and the goals of my committee in mind, I look
forward to making RUMS operate in your interests as best as it can!
5
Somar Albani
RUMS President 2020/21

01
N E W S # 1
(unless stated otherwise)

R U M S M E N T A L H E A L T H W E E K 2 0 2 0
In January 2020, RUMS Welfare organised “Welfare Week”, a return of a popular
series of events with the aim of encouraging students to talk about mental health,
and to provide support. Events ranged from “Meet UCLMS Support & Smoothies” on
Monday, to “The Finale: Therapy Petting” on Friday, the highlight and most popular
event of the week, featuring cute rabbits! These events were led by RUMS Welfare VP
Precious Gestopa, who sought to carry on the work of her predecessors and to
encourage students to be comfortable reaching out with possible mental and
sexual health problems they may have, and to showcase the ways in which UCLMS
may support them. Wednesday sportsnight saw students wearing blue in the spirit
of this week . If any of you students are in need of mental health support, or are
looking for a safe place to de-stress, do contact Medics4Medics, or UCLMS support.
U C L N E U R O L O G Y C L U B I N V I T E S
H E N R Y M A R S H T O U C L
7

R U M S T a k e M e O u t
George Khalil
RUMS VP Events 2019/20
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U C L F I R S T I N E U R O P E T O M A K E
C U L I N A R Y M E D I C I N E M A N D A T O R Y
9

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" T H E S O C I A L M E D I A
F O R F E E D B A C K I N
R U M S "
U n i t u - T h e S o c i a l W a y t o
S t u d e n t F e e d b a c k
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12

RUMS
GRADUATION
Congratulations,
class of 2020!
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U C L : A P I O N E E R I N G L O B A L
S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y
I B S C P R I Z E
2 0 1 9 / 2 0
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02
F E A T U R E S
By Benjamin Choudhury

HEALTH
INEQUALITIES
AS EVIDENCED
BY COVID-19
By Benjamin Choudhury
1 16

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"The need for radical action is pressing;
reform is needed such that social
determinants are no longer determinants."
The full article, including references, can be
found on our website https://rumsreview.com/
or our Facebook page.
1 18

CLINICAL SKILLS
TEACHING:
REIMAGINED DURING
A GLOBAL CRISIS
By Justina Cheh Juan Tai
"... cucumbers were
catheterised, oranges were
injected, and wounded
bananas were sutured close."
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RACISM HAS
NO PLACE IN

Dear RUMS family,
We hope you have been keeping healthy and working hard during this
extraordinary exam season.
Racism has no place in our society.
The horrific murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American
man, at the hands of US police officers, is unfortunately not the first and
has rightly led to mass demonstrations against injustice and racism. For
far too long our black community has suffered the brunt of toxic,
abhorrent and fatal racism. Your RUMS committee strongly believes in
the importance of speaking up and reflecting on how this event affects
all of us.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to
do nothing.
We strongly condemn the racially motivated killings, injustices and
oppressions that the black community in the US and around the world
continue to face. We strongly condemn all forms of racism. We stand in
solidarity with those around the world seeking an end to injustice and
demanding equality. We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement.
As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world,
none of us can truly rest.
At RUMS, we pride ourselves in our diversity, we are blessed to have
individuals from all walks of life and backgrounds. Our diversity enriches
our understanding of different cultures and life experiences, it enhances
the shared human experience within our society. This mutual
understanding undeniably makes us better people, and better doctors.
It is imperative for us as a community to stand firmly in the face of racial
injustice now and forever. The time is present to take a stand, educate,
and be vocal against all despicable acts of discrimination.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Racial inequality is not confined to one nation or organisation, we see
injustice daily in our society, media and our healthcare systems.
Discrimination affects our colleagues, our patients and our delivery of
healthcare. The truth is: racism kills. We must do more.
Whoever kills an innocent life it is as if he has killed all of humanity.
We have collated a variety of sources that we hope will be useful in
raising awareness and making change happen. Please take a moment
to reflect, understand and speak up. This issue affects us all. We must be
vocal in the face of adversity.
In Solidarity,
RUMS Committee

03
R U M S
I N
L O C K D O W N
Updates from UCLMS students around the world.
By Shazmen Jan & Emma Lloyd

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04
D E M Y S T I F Y I N G
M E D I C A L
S C H O O L
By Ishika Bansal

ACCESSING
MENTAL HEALTH
SUPPORT AT UCL
By Ishika Bansal
with the help of Davina Puri and Srishti Agrawal from Medics4Medics.
Within the Medical School
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medsch.student-support@ucl.ac.uk
UCL-wide Resources
“Notes from all appointments are
emailed to you so as a reminder of the
agreed plan of action or contact details.
This note will be retained on student
files but will not be shared outside of
MBBS Management without your
permission, unless it relates to Fitness
to Practise issues."
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REVISION
CHECKLIST
year 1
Embryology
While embryology may not be
something you need to devote hours to,
learning the basics (like what Sonic the
Hedgehog actually is) might be helpful.
Understanding basic processes such as
neurulation, gastrulation, and somite
formation would be a good start.
Library quizzes and other selfpaced
learning (SPL) topics on
Moodle
Those unnecessarily-detailed ‘Use of
Technology’ online quizzes at the
beginning of the year may have seemed
dispensable at the time. Nevertheless,
those topics can be examined quite
easily, so make sure you know how to
find books, write references, and search
in databases.
Transporters in the kidney
Body fluid compartments
Histology
Histology CALs in the dry lab can be,
well, a little dry. Nevertheless, being able
to identify cells within various shades of
pink is a very important skill that could
come up in both OCAPEs and SBAs.
Pharmacology
Although this is quite an oddly-placed
topic within 1st year, make sure you
cover the main drugs this year. For each
drug, it is good to know its mechanism of
action, uses, and the specific receptors it
acts on.
Diuretics
Arterial blood gas (ABG)
interpretation
CPP: Medical ethics (including
consent, capacity and euthanasia)
CPP: Types of statistical studies
CPP: Sensitivity and specificity
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year 2
CPP: Systematic reviews and Forest
plots
As you may have realised from your firstyear
exams, CPP is something that
comes up frequently, so don’t get caught
guessing what the different shapes on a
Forest plot mean.
As you found in Year 1, histology is
still very examinable.
Pelvic anatomy
Unfortunately, there is slightly more to
the pelvis than the pudendal nerve, so
try and take a deeper look before the
exams.
Some OCAPE specific suggestions:
Examinations
It might be a good idea to practise
examinations on your friends or willing
family members. Remember, even if you
were only taught an examination on the
lower limb, similar principles apply to
your upper limb, so practise on both!
Practise looking for drugs in the
BNF
Testing reflexes in the eye
Using a urine dipstick
35
Image by: Wellcome Collection

year 4
Prescribing drugs on a drug chart
The Good Hospital Drug Chart, which is
available on Moodle, is a great template.
Clinical documentation
This is a multi-tasking challenge and is
harder than it looks; attempting it on a
real-life ward round can be disastrous,
but it is an invaluable skill for the future,
so it’s worth practising now.
Niche examinations: Cerebellar, fluid
status, peripheral vascular, diabetic,
and thyroid examinations.
Explaining common procedures and
medications to patients
Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
There’s a reason you have to complete
two VTE assessments this year. Make
sure you know the risk factors, how to
manage them, and how to prescribe
prophylaxis on a drug chart.
The Advanced Life Support (ALS)
algorithm
A few more specific topics:
Congenital heart conditions
Neurocutaneous syndromes
Types of haemolytic anaemia
Antibiotics (types, mechanism of
action, side effects)
Oxygen and fluid administration
Explaining the use of inhalers and
spacer devices
Sensitivity and specificity in the
context of explaining evidence to
patients
year 5
ENT and otoscopy
The content of this short week accounts
for a significant proportion of
consultations in General Practice, so
make sure you know the basics.
Female catheterization
Male catheterization comes up more
often than female, but it could still come
up.
Referral guidelines for General
Practitioners
A significant portion of the year should
have been spent in General Practice,
and one of their most important roles is
knowing when to refer patients to
secondary and tertiary centres. Make
sure you know the criteria for common
referrals.
Electrolyte imbalances in the
elderly
One of the most common presentations
in the elderly is electrolyte imbalances,
which may be life-threatening, so know
the common types and how to treat
them.
Mental state assessments including
the AMTS, MMSE and GPCOG
Infertility
Image by: Wellcome Collection
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05
P E R S P E C T I V E S
By Tharanika Ahillan

two terms in.
What do students
think about the free
iPads?
By Tharanika Ahillan
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06
M E E T
T H E
H U M A N S
By Ameerah Parvez, Victoria Ngai, & Isis Calado

What are five words that best describe you?
What was your study routine like?
How did you find time to make such
detailed notes?
Meet Alex Ng.
Known as ‘ABCDN’, Alex is the creator of
the staple set of notes used by medical
students at UCLMS. Outside of being a
fourth-year medical student, Alex is also
the 2019/20 Urology Chair and 2020/21
Academic Surgery Chair for UCL Surgical
Society, a committee member of the
BURST Research Collaborative, and is
involved in several research projects across
London.
What motivates you in medical school?
What is the best part about clinical years at
UCL?
41

Looking back at your time as a preclinical
medical student, what are you
most proud of?
What are your plans after medical
school?
Do you have any book
recommendations?
What are you currently working on?
What is an interesting fact about you?
Do you have any advice for students
hoping to get into research?
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Meet Indrajeet
Mandal.
Although now an alumnus of UCLMS,
Indrajeet is one of the earliest
contributors to the trove of UCLMS’
notes. Alongside working as an F1
doctor at Oxford University Hospitals,
Indrajeet is also the founder of ‘IR
Juniors’ and a representative for the
British Society of Interventional
Radiology Foundation.
Looking back at your time as a medical
student at UCL, what are you most proud
of?
What was your study routine like? Do
you have any tips for studying at medical
school?
What was your favourite study spot?
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What was your biggest takeaway from
your elective in the USA?
Having moved to Oxford for foundation
training, what was the transition from
life as a student to that of a junior doctor
like?
If you could give a piece of advice to
current medical students, what would it
be?
What’s it like being a representative for
the British Society of Interventional
Radiology?
What are you currently working on?
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What advice would you give to budding
medical entrepreneurs?
Go to as many events and meet as many
people as you can. I did this as part of
UCLentrepreneurs during my BSc year, and
I found that successful entrepreneurs tend
to start by identifying a problem and
building solutions to it. Just being in the
presence of these people is 80% of it – you
don’t have to do something revolutionary,
just listen to people with an open mind
and you’ll pick up more than you think.
What are your plans after foundation
training?
What is one issue in medicine that you
are passionate about solving in your
medical career?
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07
S P O R T S
&
S O C I E T I E S
By Anji Zhang and Anika Koithara

Spotlight on:
Medics4Medics
S p e c i a l t h a n k s t o A r i f J a l a l
Medics4Medics is a group of medical students
dedicated to opening up discussions on mental
health and wellbeing in medical students and
alleviating the associated stigma in medical
school. Our peer navigators are medical
students trained to signpost and guide students
to the appropriate support services for their
individual needs.
We hold fortnightly events on a range of topics
surrounding mental health including burnout ,
perfectionism, and eating disorders. Each event
varies in structure and content, featuring talks
from experts in their respective fields or
students speaking from personal experiences.
This year’s event on burnout gave participants a
chance to even play a board game designed by
Dr Asta Medisauskaite, which was designed to
educate doctors about burnout . In addition to
continuing our collaboration with RUMS Welfare
for Welfare Week, we were also delighted to
host a feedback session with Medical Student
Support. This gave us the opportunity to gather
and present student feedback on their service.
We also learned about the common challenges
faced by medical students with regards to
mental health. We are currently documenting
our the information we received from the
session, and we look forward to releasing them
soon - do keep a lookout for this on our
Facebook page ‘Medics4Medics’.
This year, we’ve also launched a blog on our
website. We hope this will act as a space for
medical students to be open about their
experiences anonymously. Additionally, we aim
to understand the dynamics of mental health
specific to UCL medics, and possibly push for
changes if specific patterns emerge. We also
hope to show the rest of the medical school
some of the amazing events and speakers we
host.
Our events are open for all students, not just
those struggling with mental health, so we hope
to see all of you soon. If you find yourself
struggling, please know that you are not alone
and that UCL has a variety of student support
services that will be able to help. Feel free to
approach our peer navigators (listed on our
website) and they’ll do their best to direct you.
For more information on our events, to view our
blog, or to find out how you can get involved,
please find us on social media:
Website: https://www.uclm4m.co.uk/
Facebook: Medics4Medics
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RUMS Men's
Hockey
Tanvir Duhra, President
RUMS Men’s Hockey club has had an incredible
season both on and off the pitch. The 3rd team
produced the best result we’ve had over the last
three years, despite being in a very competitive
league. The 2nd team had an amazing season in
a newly promoted league, almost achieving a
double promotion! They also won the UH
reserves cup in January in a nervy 1-0 win
against imperial. The 1st team ended the season
with an unfortunate narrow loss to GKT in
varsity, in one of the closest games I’d seen in
my 5 years. Socially, we carried on our traditional
events with a very successful tour and Christmas
dinner but also increased the amount of sober
socials we had as a club to make sure everyone
felt welcome; from mini golf to comedy shows,
we did the lot! Overall it’s been great running
this club over the past year and I’m excited for
what next season holds.
RUMS Women's
Hockey
Emily Williamson, President
This year has been a cracking one for
RUMSWHC. We retained our Varsity title for the
4th year in a row, our mixed 1st/2nd XI got to the
semi-final of the LUSL Cup and our 3rd XI have
won more BUCS matches than ever! Hockey is
not all we do though – we’ve had plenty of
socials (both sober and less sober) to keep us
entertained throughout the year. Pub Crawl, two
mixed tours to Sheffield and Southampton,
Christmas Dinner, curries, ice skating, a movie
night and team socials are among the
highlights. Our charity initiatives have been
strong this year – we’ve collected many sacks of
food for food banks and raised hundreds of
pounds through charity sportsnights, carol
singing and our annual Ceilidh! Welfare has
been improved with our new fresher buddy
scheme and welfare gatherings such as our
Yoga evening. Overall it’s been a great year for
RUMSWHC; we can’t wait to see what next year
brings!
48

RUMS Music
Katie Lumb, President
RUMS Music has had an incredible year! At the
start of the year, we created the new RUMS
Music Forum, a page for the use of musicians
within the RUMS community to find and contact
other students with similar musical interests,
through which we were able to form a new
RUMS Flute Ensemble. The society has
continued to become more integrated between
groups, with the start of a new Thursday night
social, and a very successful curry and quiz night.
We’ve also tackled some society-wide numbers
for our Concert In A Day in September,
Christmas Concert, and Spring Concert, such as
Toto's Africa, and the ELO classic Mr Blue Sky. It’s
been a year of great progress for RUMS Music,
not only for the quality of the performances, but
also for the community spirit and cohesion of
the society, and I hope that everything we’ve
worked hard to achieve this year can be
maintained for years to come.
Chordiac Arrest
James Cai, Chordiac Arrest Manager
One of the highlights of the year was performing
at UCL’s It’s All Academic Festival, which had us
bursting into impromptu song in the atrium,
and singing along with kids! Around Christmas
time, we took to the wards of the Royal Free
Hospital to bring Christmas cheer to the patients
and staff. We were lucky enough to receive a
Heller bursary this year, enabling us to buy new
recording equipment, and it was a great
pleasure to perform for the guests at the Heller
Reception.
AccaRhythmia
Daniella Wu, Accarhythmia Manager
AccaRhythmia has had a hugely successful year
with multiple performances, socials and
fundraising. We had a wonderful time singing
Christmas carols for patients at the Whittington
Hospital – seeing patients, visitors and staff join
in with us was incredibly heart-warming. One of
the highlights of this year was our Christmas
tour to Brighton, where in just one weekend we
raised an incredible £692.58 for Age UK, beating
last year’s amount by more than £150!
Heartstrings
Daniel Ly, Heartstrings Manager
The RUMS Heartstrings have achieved so much
this year! From a rebranding, to exploring
different styles of music - from Bach to
Pentatonix, it has been the start of a new
adventure for us. We were ambitious this year,
and are excited to grow and perform even more,
so look out for us next year!
49

Flute Ensemble
Nafisa Barma, Flute Ensemble Manager
This year has seen the formation of RUMS
Music's newest and first woodwind ensemble:
the Flute Ensemble! We've had so much fun this
year, starting with some feel good ‘Christmassy’
tunes and then on to widening our repertoire to
include some Faure and a RUMS Music
favourite... Africa! It has been a privilege to meet
and work with such a wonderful group of people
and I am so excited to see what we do next year!
RUMS Tennis
Jayden Patel, President
RUMS Tennis has had a mixed season this year
compared to the highs that we achieved last
year. Our Men’s 1st team, after getting promoted
last year to an all time high, met some tough
opposition and found that the going did get
tough. However, with some determination and
great tennis, they’ve managed to secure another
year in BUCS Southeastern 2B. Silver linings
have come far and few beyond recently for our
Men’s 2nd team these past years, however this
year it came in the unlikely shape of COVID-19.
As a result of further matches being cancelled,
we have secured 2nd place in our division! Our
Men’s 3rds and Women’s team have both played
some nice tennis in their leagues respectively as
well. Finally, now that the sun is shining once
again, our UH season can begin. It is quite
astonishing what we have achieved in the past!
We currently sit holding the UH trophy for the
last 5 years and it looks like we are going to win
it for a 6th time as well. Even Nadal has only won
the French Open 5 times consecutively before.
50

RUMS Women's
Football
Rachel Cocks, President
RUMS WFC has had yet another wonderful and
wholesome year. We’ve had lots of keen freshers
join us as well as getting new members from
almost every year who have finally seen the light
and joined the best RUMS club. Some first term
highlights include Fresher Tour to Cardiff in
November and a Christmas meal that was
somewhat overshadowed by a certain boxing
match. The weather was not on our side in
second term, with most of our matches being
cancelled. Despite that we managed to squeeze
in enough football fun to see us through to next
year. I’m sure everyone is in agreement that the
tragedy of the year has been the cancellation of
RUMS Champions League, but fear not it will be
back next year and we’re excited to see who will
come out on top after this unexpected hiatus!
MDs Comedy
Revue
Who is officially the funniest medical school in
London 2020? Barts! Oh well; the MDs Comedy
Revue put up an incredible fight at the UH
Comedy Competition this term, with an epic rap
battle, some very witty puns, and a pinch of drag
(of course). All this topping their weird and
wonderful Christmas Show, Journey to the
Centre of the Birth, featuring a ‘yaasss’ on
camera from none other than our very own
Professor Deborah Gill, plus the debut
performances of some very talented Fresh.
There is still more to come from the MDs this
year, with their Edinburgh Fringe show
‘Deathbed Confessions of a Hypochondriac’
currently in the works. Watch this space, RUMS!
51

RUMS Men's Football
Chris Pantelides, President
On the whole, the 2019/20 season has been a
great one for RUMS FC! We were buoyed by our
newly-recruited freshers, who were a fantastic
bunch, both socially and in terms of footballing
ability. We heard the classic lines at Freshers
Fayre, "I used to play for Tottenham… Arsenal..
Barcelona when I was eight" but were pleasantly
surprised to see that a lot of them actually were
very good at football.
Unfortunately, three storms in a row and COVID-
19 meant the season on and off the pitch was
disrupted and had to be cut a lot shorter than
we would have liked. As such, we already are
looking forward to next year. We’re only losing
two men to the NHS, so if we can get another
great fresher intake and carry on the hard work
from this year it could be another successful
season for the club.
This injection of fresh talent invigorated all four
teams, and led to the 1sts having their most
successful season in recent times. This included
winning their BUCS league; getting to the UH
final (still to be played); thrashing arch rivals GKT
in varsity 1-0, subsequently winning the varsity
series for UCL (although RUMS Netball may
argue this was them) and most proudly of all,
beating UCL 1sts for the first time in the clubs
memory. The 2nds, 3rds and 4ths also had much
improved seasons, all avoiding relegation.
The future is most certainly bright for RUMS FC!
52

THE ROYAL FREE ASSOCIATION
STUDENT BURSARIES
AND AWARDS
President:
Dr James Dooley | 07967 013810 | j.dooley@ucl.ac.uk
Treasurer & Secretary:
Dr Peter Howden | 01205 260601 | peter.howden1@gmail.com
The Royal Free Association provides financial help to UCL medical students in various ways.
1. A distress fund to assist students who are having difficulties
funding their studies, accommodation or living costs.
2. A student elective support fund to assist final year students who are
undertaking electives abroad in third world countries.
3. The new Royal Free Awards for graduate students in their penultimate
year who have already taken a degree before entry to medical school.
All information can be found on Moodle under the heading 'bursaries'.
Alternatively you can contact MBBS Student Support at medsch.student-support@ucl.ac.uk.
Dr Peter Howden. Honorary Secretary and Treasurer.
RFHSM 1983.
www.royalfree.nhs.uk/rfa | rfassociation@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this
magazine are solely those of the authors and
do not reflect those of the editors, UCL
Medical School, RUMS Medical Students
Association or our sponsors.