Blog by Yasmin Yamak, MSc in Molecular Pathology of Cancer graduate

Introduction

Patient involvement is increasingly recognised as an important part of healthcare education, helping students connect scientific knowledge with the lived realities of illness, care and recovery. Within the MSc Molecular Pathology of Cancer programme, the opportunity to engage directly with people affected by cancer offered a particularly meaningful dimension to my learning.

Before taking part in these sessions, I had not fully appreciated how powerful patient involvement in teaching could be, or how willing patients might be to contribute to education by sharing deeply personal experiences surrounding their diagnosis, treatment and wider cancer journey. Yet after 12 months of lectures, seminars, meetings, and assignments throughout my master’s course, the one thing that has stayed with me most is a conversation with breast cancer survivors who reflected on the important role early detection played in their prognosis.

It was through these conversations that I not only became passionate about the importance of early detection in breast cancer, but also about the value of integrating patients into healthcare education itself.

Bridging the “translation gap”

Patient involvement helps bridge the “translation gap” between education, research and real-world impact that many students are not fully exposed to before entering the healthcare sector, industry or continuing within academic research. According to Dijk, Duijzer, and Wienold’s (2020) systematic review on patient involvement in medical education, involving patients in teaching helps students connect scientific learning with the realities of illness and patient-centred care, while also developing communication and professional skills.

Across all areas of healthcare teaching, this encourages students to ask important questions: Why does this mechanism matter clinically? What outcome actually improves quality of life? Rather than simply reading and analysing quality-of-life data, students are able to hear directly from those living through these experiences.

This is especially important in increasingly molecular and data-driven fields, such as molecular pathology, cancer biology, precision medicine and AI-driven healthcare. The more specialised and data-focused healthcare teaching becomes, the more intentional we must be about keeping patients visible within it.

A different kind of learning environment

Patient involvement creates a different type of learning environment compared to traditional lectures or smaller seminars. Students are often required to engage more actively, ask questions and take greater ownership of their learning in order to fully benefit from these conversations.

In doing so, patient involvement can encourage empathy, communication and clinical reasoning. These skills are essential for students who may go on to work in healthcare, research, diagnostics, industry or academic settings, where decisions are often shaped by scientific evidence but ultimately affect real people.

Hearing directly from patients also adds a dimension to learning that cannot easily be replicated through textbooks or lectures alone. It reminds students that behind every dataset, pathway, or diagnosis is a person whose experience can shape how we learn and how we think about care.

What meaningful involvement looks like

When involving patients in healthcare teaching, it is equally important to ensure that the experience is mutually beneficial for everyone involved. In the past, patients were sometimes brought into teaching spaces simply as an “object” of disease or observation (Bennett-Weston, Bostock and Howick, 2024), rather than as active contributors, able to encourage discussion, reflection and critical thinking among students.

Meaningful involvement may also look different depending on the learning structure and cohort. From a student perspective, I recognise the value of patients delivering guest talks or lectures; however, these formats can sometimes be less interactive. Other approaches may include discussion panels, case-based workshops, or co-designing teaching sessions and curriculum content in collaboration with educators or providing structured feedback on teaching materials. In these settings, involvement extends beyond students alone and becomes a collaborative process between patients, educators, and learners.

The intention behind patient involvement may also vary across different stages of education. At the secondary school level, it may help raise awareness and encourage students to consider careers in healthcare. Within undergraduate education, it can strengthen communication and empathy, while at the master’s or research level, it allows students to better understand the translational relevance of their work and the real-world impact of research.

Ethical and practical considerations

For patient involvement to be effective, it must be approached thoughtfully, with careful consideration of both ethical responsibilities and practical challenges. These include consent, emotional burden, appropriate compensation, accessibility, and diversity of representation.

There are also practical barriers such as time, funding, and recruiting patient contributors. However, these challenges are not reasons to avoid patient involvement. Rather, they highlight the need for careful, sustainable collaboration and continued institutional support if patient involvement is to be implemented meaningfully.

It is also important that involvement remains authentic and patient contributors should be recognised as partners in learning, with valuable expertise drawn from lived experience.

Conclusion

Patient involvement in healthcare plays a crucial role in keeping teaching connected to real clinical practice and real patient experience. It helps bridge the gap between molecular understanding and lived experience, strengthening not only scientific learning but also communication, empathy and clinical reasoning. As healthcare education becomes increasingly data-driven and specialised, patients must remain visible within it in a meaningful, not superficial, way.

At its core, patient involvement reminds us that behind every dataset, pathway, or diagnosis is a person. Moving forward, the challenge is not whether the patient should be involved in healthcare education, but how this involvement can be embedded in a way that is ethical, sustainable, and genuinely collaborative.

Additional information

About Yasmin

I recently graduated with an MSc in Molecular Pathology of Cancer from The University of Manchester and hold a BSc in Pharmacology from Nottingham Trent University. I am a Lebanese international graduate with a strong interest in cancer research, patient-centred healthcare and the integration of patient voice into healthcare and medical education. I am currently building my career in medical communication and writing, where I aim to bring a patient-centred lens to how cancer research is communicated, ensuring it remains both scientifically accurate and personally relevant.

Further reading

These conversations between cancer patients and students like Yasmin are a part of an initiative to embed PPIE into learning. This is led by Dr Grace Lipowska-Bhalla, Programme Director for the MSc Molecular Pathology of Cancer course, who was a winner in the 2025 PPIE Awards. Read our blog post from February 2026 to learn more.

To find out more about PPIE watch our short film, sign up to the monthly Public Engagement Digest, explore other posts in the PPIE themed categories on this blog, or contact srbmh@manchester.ac.uk.

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