Ms Manraj Phull

Manraj Phull is a specialist urology registrar in training (ST5) within the East of England Deanery. After achieving an undergraduate BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Sciences and Tissue Engineering from the University of Sheffield, she pursued her medical education and graduated from Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2012. Her foundation and core surgical training was completed in the London Deanery. After successfully completing the MRCS exams and becoming a member of The Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked in Cape Town, South Africa as a Urology Registrar. She then applied for a national training number and started her higher surgical training in 2018, most recently working for the West Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

Throughout her education and training she has maintained a passion for Global Health. She has worked on Global Health projects and research in The Gambia, South Africa, India, Sierra Leone and most recently Zambia. She has completed an MSc with Distinction in Global Health & Global Surgery from King's College London. Over the last year she has been volunteering as an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Health & Health Partnerships, King’s College London. She is passionate about tackling structural health inequalities by combating climate change and working on health system strengthening.

Reason for applying for the scheme

This quote by Margaret Chan, then Director-General of the WHO reflects Manraj’s motivation for becoming a Chief Sustainability Fellow: “Responding to climate change is not a distraction from the business of protecting health: it is part of the same agenda”. This philosophy has influenced her daily work within the NHS and shaped the direction of her professional career.

From a leadership standpoint, she has been able to develop experience and skills during her urology traineeship, especially as part of the COVID-19 response team at her hospital. This period has given her the motivation and confidence to pursue more leadership roles, while also revealing some of the difficulties of leadership in complex emergencies like climate change.

Manraj intends to use the leadership skills and experience gained in this fellowship to take her surgical career beyond the operating room through work with sustainability and environmental teams. She is committed to the Greener NHS agenda to help deliver the world’s first net zero health service.