Forty-two Imperial students will enter the Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) for 2014/15, the highest number of students from any UK Medical School.

The AFP offers the brightest and most academically able newly qualified doctors an opportunity to develop research, teaching, and leadership skills alongside clinical training in their first two years after graduating.

Of the 42 students, 22 will be staying in London, six will go to Oxford, one to Cambridge, four to the West Midlands and the others dispersed over the country. Six gained a surgical academic place, six in GP, two in Medical Education, and the rest in different aspects of medicine.

The AFP offers the brightest and most academically able newly qualified doctors an opportunity to develop research, teaching, and leadership/management skills in addition to the competences outlined in the Foundation Programme Curriculum over a two year period.

The AFP was established as a stream within the Foundation Programme with the aim to increase the opportunities available for the most junior doctors to gain access to research training alongside gaining their basic clinical competencies.  About 6% (approximately 400 posts) of all Foundation Posts in the UK are AFP.

AFP trainees usually undertake a four month research placement in their second year, and many are successful in presenting at conferences and getting published.  Several doctors who complete the Academic Foundation Programme go onto secure Academic Clinical Fellowships and follow the academic pathway.

Miss Philippa Shallard, Foundation School and Undergraduate Services Manager in the Faculty of Medicine said: "At Imperial, we have always encouraged our medical students to apply for the AFP. A key USP of Imperial and its students is their academic ability and we believe that the AFP offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop academic skills that would facilitate easier entry into the Integrated Academic Training Pathway."

Application to the AFP is very competitive and applicants are interviewed if shortlisted (unlike applicants to the standard Foundation Programme.)  Imperial has taken the view that if a student is keen on an academic path then they need to start thinking early during their medical school career about how to be in a position to provide evidence of their experience in, and commitment to, research, leadership and/or medical education by the time they are applying in their final year.

For more information about the Academic Foundation Programme please refer to the UKFPO website. You may also contact Dr Liz Lightstone, Reader in Renal Medicine and Academic Director, NW Thames Foundation School, or Philippa Shallard, Manager, NW Thames Foundation School.