Leanne Armitage | St George's University of London

At present I am a third-year medical student at St George’s University of London. Between my second and third year of medical school, I took a year out to study a BSc degree in Global Health at King’s College London. During this year, I also set up and piloted a medical outreach programme called ‘Leanne’s Amazing Medics’ (LAM) designed to increase diversity across UK medical schools. Lack of diversity in the field of medicine is a significant issue because less than 5% of medical students come from deprived backgrounds and half of all schools across the UK do not produce a single medical applicant (BMA, The Right Mix 2015). Personally, I believe statistics like these are shocking and the LAM programme is working towards changing them.

As well as increasing diversity across UK medical schools, I am also passionate about inspiring young people to achieve their full potential. As such, in my spare time I engage in various public/ inspirational speaking opportunities which enable me to do this.