Ground-breaking course will drive forward empathic healthcare

A mission to put empathy at the heart of healthcare will get a huge boost from recognised authorities in evidence-based healthcare during a ground-breaking course.

Professor Jeremy Howick, Director of the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare based at the University of Leicester, and his colleague Dr Andy Ward will deliver key sessions at the centre’s Educating for Empathy in Healthcare course for healthcare professionals and educators in April.

Professor Howick, co-founded the Global Network for Empathy in Healthcare and is a best-selling author who is regularly asked to speak on radio, television and at high profile events to inspire change in healthcare practices worldwide. He will deliver a session on ‘Educating for Empathy: An Evidence-Based Approach’.

He said: “My talk will challenge the assumption that empathy is either innate or best left to informal role-modelling. Instead, it will present empathy as a teachable, measurable, and evidence-based skill that is central to high-quality, person-centred, and evidence-based care.

“It will help educators, curriculum leaders, and researchers looking for scalable, academically credible methods to foster empathy while supporting learner wellbeing and improving patient outcomes – using language and strategies that resonate across disciplines without sacrificing methodological rigour.”

Dr Ward is the Director of Education and Training at the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, an Associate Professor in Medical Education, and Honorary Senior Academic General Practitioner. He has wide experience in producing teaching around patient-centred care, has presented his work at international conferences and in peer-reviewed journals and will deliver an interactive session on ‘Teaching Empathy in Clinical Settings’.

He said: “My session will invite clinical educators to reflect on how empathic healthcare education can be meaningfully integrated into everyday clinical settings. 

“Using evidence and real clinical examples, we will explore what therapeutic empathy is, why it matters for patients and clinicians, and how it can be taught through supervision, feedback and role-modelling with medical students and postgraduate trainees. The emphasis will be on making empathy visible, teachable and sustainable within normal clinical teaching and practice.”

Other speakers will include award-winning doctor Dr Rabia Imtiaz, who made history when she became the first female Muslim Medical Director of South Asian origin in an acute NHS Trust. The multi award-winning doctor is a Medical Director at NHS England and transformational coach who mentors emerging healthcare leaders. She will deliver a session called ‘Beyond Expertise: The Golden Key from Good to Great Compassion – the ultimate differentiator in healthcare leadership’. 

The course will also feature highly respected Australian medical doctor, lawyer, researcher and disability advocate, Dr Dinesh Palipana, who has received numerous honours and awards, including the Medal of the Order of Australia and Queensland Australian of the Year. He will deliver a session called, ‘Unparalysed: How a spinal cord injury and depression shaped a doctor's thinking’.

The three-day Educating for Empathy in Healthcare course will take place from Monday, April 20, to Wednesday, April 22, at the Sir Bob Burgess Building at the University of Leicester.

The early bird deadline for tickets is Tuesday, 20 January.