RUMS Review Networks Interviews (May 2025)

Written By Arnav Rustogi

1. Can you tell us a bit about your network — what you do and what your main goals are?
2. Looking back over the past year, what achievement or milestone are you most proud of?
3. What has been the standout event or initiative this year that you think best represents what your network is all about?
4. What exciting plans or ambitions do you have for the future of your network?

RUMS Spectrum

1. Spectrum is a student-led charity offering a befriending service to disabled children and those with special educational needs in Camden, London. We are registered with the Charity Commission and UCL Volunteering. To fund our activities, we host events like fun runs and bake sales.

Our goal is to give children access to new experiences while helping them:

• Build confidence
• Improve social skills
• Recognise their strengths
• Gain independence

Most importantly, we strive to make them smile!

2. This past year, we’ve focused on enhancing the quality of our events for the children. After years of expansion—growing sevenfold—we shifted back to our core mission: boosting the children’s confidence and nurturing their strengths. Recognising the challenges they face, we organised a talent show during our annual residential. Despite the difficulties in planning, our fantastic socials committee (Chuka, Avni, and Yatfei) made this possible. It was truly moving to watch the children bravely take the stage, building confidence and sharing their talents. I’m incredibly proud of each one of them.

3. The highlight of the year was definitely our residential trip to Grosvenor Hall. This fully-funded, one-night getaway gave the children access to experiences they wouldn’t usually have, such as zip-lining, archery, and climbing walls. It was inspiring to see them overcome fears, such as tackling the 3G Swing or the Leap of Faith. Beyond the activities, the trip helped them develop social skills and form new friendships. For example, I saw one typically reserved child bond with another, and another child show care by checking on a friend with back pain. These connections and personal growth moments are what Spectrum is all about.

4. As Spectrum expands, maintaining service quality becomes more challenging. Therefore, we’re adapting. We introduced a new scheme pairing two sets of volunteers with each child, allowing for weekly visits instead of bi-weekly. This change was driven by feedback from parents and carers during our visits, helping us to better address their needs. Moving forward, we aim to increase communication with parents and carers, gathering their insights to refine our services. Although we couldn’t host the coffee morning we planned this year, we hope to make it happen next year, offering a space for parents and carers to connect and support one another.

RUMS Review

1. The RUMS Review is one of the leading Medical School Magazines, achieving national recognition, and student-written and designed to serve the UCL Medical Community and beyond. My job as editor in chief is to guide the overall direction of the magazine, from helping set thematic threads, to overseeing creative vision, and organising sponsorship. 

2. I’m incredibly proud of the RUMS 25th anniversary commemorative edition we published, delving into over 250 years of the history of our medical school and reaching out to previous RUMS presidents. It truly reflected the heritage and history upon which all our medical school experiences are built. One of our pieces was even successful at the national journalism awards, winning best science piece. 

3. I definitely think the journalism meetings are a highlight. Connecting like-minded, out-of-the-box thinking, creative, multi-disciplinary medical students together to bounce around ideas, concepts, and arguments is special. It’s this element of collaboration, heightened when design joins the party, that makes our publication special. 

4. We’re excited to have a launch party for the release of our summer edition and may even be sending an entourage down to the National Awards in Exeter for the first time this year!

RUMS Islamic Society

1. RUMS Islamic Society is the medic branch of the UCL Islamic Society. Our main goal is to support Muslim medical students throughout their time at university, helping them to balance their religion and studies. One of our most important goals is fostering a supportive and welcoming community that spans all six years. We do our best to provide academic support through tutorials, bring people together at socials, and offer opportunities for personal development through our outreach programmes and speaker events.

2. One of our proudest achievements this past year has been inspiring the next generation of medics through our outreach initiatives, AspireMed, and teaching life-saving skills to our local mosques in Project SHIFA. These programmes let us give back to the community and remind us what a privileged position we’ve found ourselves in to help people who might not otherwise have the opportunities. Our next project, Suture the Future, will also be up and running very soon!

3. We hosted two key events that reflect our network’s mission. In February, our Humanitarian Aid Conference featured doctors with firsthand experience in Gaza and Syria. With many in our community affected by ongoing conflicts, the event explored advocacy for the oppressed, the realities of practicing medicine in crisis zones, and the challenges doctors face. Open to both medics and non-medics, it fostered meaningful connections around humanitarian causes. Additionally, our mock Y2 CPSA brought older-year volunteers as examiners, helping second-year students prepare for their exams. Knowing the stress of Y2, it was a rewarding way to support them through this intense period.

4. Looking ahead, we want to strengthen our academic and welfare support for Muslim medical students at UCL, ensuring they have the resources and community to thrive both spiritually and academically. Our events are always open to everyone, so we hope to continue to build our community. Keep an eye on our Instagram stories for takeovers from different students sharing a day in their lives too!

UCLMS EDI

1. The UCLMS Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Network is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment within University College London Medical School. Our mission is to engage students in meaningful and enjoyable projects that promote equity, increase representation, and address systemic barriers within medical education and healthcare.

2. Over the last year, we have collaborated closely with Dr. Mayurun Ramadas to incorporate more EDI-focused initiatives into the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). Our aim has been to ensure assessments fairly represent diverse patient demographics and real-world clinical challenges. In addition, we have been leading a research project to identify gaps in the current system and propose data-driven solutions to improve inclusivity in medical education.

3. One of our standout initiatives this year has been the EDI Podcast, which exemplifies our commitment to driving meaningful change in medical education. This event brought together students, faculty, and external experts to discuss pressing EDI issues and explore actionable strategies to create a more inclusive learning environment for future clinicians! If you are interested in getting involved in the podcast or any of our initiatives, please do get in touch with us!

4. Looking ahead, we aim to:

• Expand our research efforts by publishing findings from our ongoing projects and using data to advocate for systemic changes.
• Develop new student-led initiatives, such as mentorship programs and workshops, to support underrepresented groups in medicine.
• Enhance representation in medical curricula and assessments, ensuring future doctors are well-equipped to care for diverse patient populations.
• Collaborate with other institutions to share best practices and broaden the impact of our work beyond UCLMS.

RUMS Afro-Caribbean Medics’ Network

1. UCL African Caribbean Medical Network (ACMN) was founded to support medical students of African and Caribbean descent studying at UCL. Despite being a significant minority group of students on the course, our goals are to help all of our members thrive by providing mentorship, tutorials, and mocks throughout the year. We are also involved in outreach to inspire the next generation of medics.

2. An achievement over the last year that we are most proud of was setting up a Pre-Clinical and Clinical Resources Bank, collated by older students within the network. We have also planned Mock CPSAs for our clinical year members to provide valuable practice and feedback prior to exams.

3. The standout event this Year was hosting our first in-person ‘Brother-Sister Mentorship Scheme’ link-up at the end of 2024! We had an excellent turnout with lots of snacks and refreshments. I think it represents that our Network at its heart is a community of students of similar backgrounds, just looking out for each other along the tough journey that is medical school.

4. In the future, we hope to collaborate with some of the other African Caribbean Medical Networks and Societies in the UK. This may include Medical Conferences for current medical students to hear from doctors of a similar background or students in sixth from looking to apply to medical school.

Read the rest of the edition here