Afshan Sumera, PhD

Dr Afshan Sumera is an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Pathology at AUC School of Medicine's UK Track program. Dr. Sumera is on faculty at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, UK, where the program is delivered.

Dr. Sumera has more than 13 years of teaching experience and overall 20+ years in areas of medicine. She is a medical doctor with a Diploma in Tuberculosis and Chest Medicine, a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Pathology, and a PGCert in medical education from the University of Dundee.  She received a PhD in Pathology from the International Medical University, Malaysia, in 2022.  Dr. Sumera won the most prestigious teaching award at IMU in 2022, i.e., the John Simpson Trophy and Teaching Excellence Award (TEA). TEA has been established to acknowledge faculty who have demonstrated an exceptionally high standard of teaching.  

Before joining AUC, Dr. Sumera was the Chair of the Pathology department and eLearning lead for a school of medicine at the International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia. Her research interests include hematopathology (thalassemia), and health professions education (HPE). Her research at IMU was elucidating biological processes modulated by oxidative stress due to iron overload in transfusion-dependent thalassaemia using novel mass spectrometry-based bioanalytical and immunome protein-array methods.  She has published five HPE papers in indexed journals with 45 citations, enabling her to deliver her teaching activities enriched. In addition, publishing in medical education journals is evidence of research-oriented teaching focused on improving student learning through research. She has also presented four posters and two oral presentations on HPE.

Dr. Sumera is diligent, tenacious, and a detailed director problem solver. Apart from academics, she also has a highly creative bent of mind. Her innovations include a VRX (WebVR) RBC Morphology Project and an educational YouTube channel.