Welcome to my website. Below you will find information & links of some of the past and ongoing projects and educational opportunities in leadership, advocacy, teaching, medicine & global health & development that I have had the pleasure to be involved with. Above you will find some of my favourite photos from my adventures – just refresh the page to see a new one!
I have provided links to some of the many wonderful institutions and organisations I have worked with, in the hope that you might be interested in supporting or working with them, so many thanks if you do!
Namaste!
Dr Claire Marie Thomas
MRCGP DFSRH DTMH MBChB BMedSCi
Medicine & Healthcare
I am a General Practitioner (also known as a Primary Care Physician or Family Doctor in some countries), and a member of the RCGP here in the UK. I believe in available, accessible, acceptable, quality healthcare as a human right, and that it is the responsibility of the State to fulfil, protect and respect that right. I am passionate about the often underestimated value of effective Primary Healthcare. Investment in Primary 
Healthcare strengthens healthcare systems, reduces health inequities and ultimately leads to better outcomes and quality of life for patients (as exemplified in the work of the late great Barabara Starfield).
I had the pleasure of undertaking a Bachelors in Public Health alongside my Bachelors in Medicine and Surgery, both from the University of Birmingham, where I graduated in 2008. Preventative medicine and public health are vital components of any successful sustainable health system. In an era of escalating elderly populations and widespread migration, both minimising the severity and complications of chronic disease and preventing the spread of communicable disease, become all the more pertinent and urgent.
I have a Diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and am a keen advocate for Women’s Rights and access to Family Planning Services and a member of the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum and the Vasco da Gama Women’s and Family Violence groups.
My interests in Primary Care led me to start attending the World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) Conferences, where I became involved with the European young family doctors group; the Vasco Da Gama Movement (VdGM). Having worked within different projects and groups including #FMChangeMakers, WONCA Rural Working Party and the ASPIRE Global Leader Program, I was honoured to be elected President of VdGM in June 2016. Over the next 3 years I hope to improve the function and governance of the movement, whilst retaining its core values, energy and passion. The movement is a network for passionate young doctors to connect, share and learn together and a platform for their voices to be heard locally and internationally.
Global Health & Development
Since 2002 I have been involved in founding and developing the UK registered charity Students for Kids International Projects (SKIP). During this time I have held roles from Project Coordinator on the ground in Zambia, to Health and Safety Executive Officer and Chair of the Executive Board. Having stepped down from Trusteeship in 2014, I was honoured to be elected as a Patron for the charity and continue to support their work to this day. SKIP is a thriving, vibrant organisation contributing not only to the capacity of the communities they work with, but also to the personal and professional development of their student volunteers. SKIP has no paid workers and depends on the passion and commitment of our volunteers and has operates with a strict ethical fundraising policy.
In 2010/11 I took time out of full-time training to complete the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. This was followed by a stint working in Nepal, at Bajhang Community Hospital, in a remote area of Western Nepal and Megh Bahadur Parajuli Community Hospital in the East in the town of Ilam. Alongside clinical activities, I designed and ran educational workshops for clinical staff, local public servants and students on topics such as Leadership, Staff Motivation, Quality Improvement and Compassionate Care.
I had the great pleasure of working in Sierra Leone in July 2013, before the tragedy of Ebola hit, working to deliver a project for the Kambia Appeal. We designed and delivered a one-week training course for health staff to enable them to train new Community Health 
Workers attached to their health centres. Participants included Maternal and Child Health Aides, Community Health Nurses and a Community Health Officer. The course was designed for participants to develop dynamic teaching skills and was focused on 14 core health topics for Community Health Workers in Kambia.
In 2015/16 I spent a year volunteering as a Primary Care Physician at the award winning Bwindi Community Hospital, at the edge of Uganda’s Impenetrable Forrest. The post combined both clinical and quality improvement work, as well as the opportunity to contribute to developing the family planning training and education project USHAPE. You can see a short video of this experience here. Since leaving Bwindi to return to the UK I have maintained my relationships there, continuing to return for shorter trips conducting teaching, research and systems support. My colleagues and I are currently crowd funding an important piece of research into healthcare staff cultural attitudes to Gender Based Violence in order to develop a suitable intervention program.
Teaching & Training
I was a certified Advanced Life Support Instructor and spent time tutoring medical students at the University of Liverpool, as a Problem Based Learning Facilitator in 2011 and 2012.
I have > 10 years experience of designing and delivering leadership and personal development workshops as well as providing mentoring and coaching for students and young professionals around the globe. This began as an undergraduate providing training for the International Medical Students Association and it’s UK counter part Medsin.
I then went on to co-found the Zero Generation Foundation, with a passionate group of colleagues from across Europe. We offer low cost, mostly non-profit workshops, summer schools and consultancy in the fields of leadership, management, organisational and personal development for students, NGOs and young professionals.
I provide freelance training and coaching in the UK through New Leaf Enterprises. We specialise in leadership & personal development skills for young professionals, with a particular focus on healthcare workers and NGOs. We believe that effective learning requires the engagement of both sides of the brain, and strive to develop dynamic educational experiences that encourage reflection & experimentation and facilitate group networking & sharing.
I have also taught on the Healthcare Leadership School program with Humans of Health, highly recommend this to any budding healthcare leaders with a sense of the value of compassion and collaboration.
Leadership & Advocacy
As a young Foundation Doctor at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, I established a peer mentoring program for the new junior doctors, and took part in quality improvement/change management work with the NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement. After winning a spot to attend the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum in Orlando, Florida in 2009, my interest in medical leadership and management flourished. I have long felt that the answer to many of our challenges in healthcare lies with investing in developing the leadership and management skills of healthcare professionals. Indeed, research has gone on to suggest that doctors truly do make better managers, and this achieves greater health outcomes for patients!
I worked as a BMA representative to our Local Negotiating Committee, before going on to 
be elected Chair of the North West Junior Doctors Committee. When moving to Mersey Deanery to start as a GP trainee I took up the role of chair the BMA GP Registrar’s Committee for 2 years.
As a trainee GP in Liverpool I had the pleasure of helping establish the Mersey Medical Leadership School, where I was Communications Officer for 2 years. Their mission is to bring together a community of emerging clinical leaders empowered with the common goal of strengthening clinical leadership and driving transformational change within the NHS.
From there I went on to join the Trainee Steering Group of the new Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, starting as a Trainee Rep for the Northern Region, before going on to spend a year as the Personal and Professional Development Lead. Although no longer a trainee, I remain a member of the Faculty and have delivered several Webinars on topics such as Mentoring, Public Speaking and Time Management. If you are a doctor interested in leadership and management I highly recommend signing up to the faculty, where there are plentiful learning resources and a community of like minded colleagues!