Date: Thursday 10 November 2022
Time: 13:30 - 14:30
Join us on Thursday 10 November from 1.30-2.30pm for our first Alumni Perspectives event of the 2022-23 academic year, when we will be in conversation with Physiotherapy alumna and three-time European Paratriathlon Champion, Fran Brown and lifestyle medic and long-distance triathlete, Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi.
The event will be an opportunity to hear from Fran and Hussain about their career paths and achievements since they graduated from St George’s, and the challenges they overcame on their road to success. Those with an interest in pursuing sporting ambitions alongside their degree or career may find the conversation particularly insightful. There will also be an informal Q&A for guests to ask their own questions.
Please register for this online event via green button below, and we will be in touch ahead of the event with joining instructions. For any questions about the event, email us at alumni@sgul.ac.uk.
About Fran Brown
Fran has taken part in several European and World Championships, including the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games), and won Gold for Great Britain in the Para-cycling Road World Championships in Canada in August this year.
Fran was passionate about sports from a young age, developing a love of indoor and outdoor climbing and taking part in junior competitions during her time at school.
An accident at work in 2006 left Fran with a C4 incomplete spinal cord injury, but she was determined to find a way to take part in the sports she loved, and she began climbing again five years later following a period of rehabilitation. Speaking about what helped her adapt to her disability, Fran says, “A wish to be independent day to day really pushed me to find ways to adapt and overcome the limitations imposed by my injury.” By 2012, she was crowned British Paraclimbing Champion in the neuro-physical disability class.
Fran decided to combine her love of sport and an interest in anatomy, re-training as a physiotherapist at St George’s in 2013, where she was one of the first wheelchair users to train in this profession in the UK. Alongside her degree, she also continued to pursue her career as an athlete, taking up swimming, cycling and running over the subsequent years.
Fran continues to balance her commitments as an athlete with a role as a Locum Physiotherapist and hopes to take part in the Paris Paralympics in the future. She adds: "In terms of Physiotherapy, I’d like to find a role when I retire as an athlete that will allow me to use my experiences of overcoming challenges to help motivate others. I'd like to put my Sports and Exercise Medicine Master's to use, too.”
About Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi
Dr Al-Zubaidi is a lifestyle medic and long-distance triathlete. He has a varied portfolio career across different sectors, and is the lifestyle and physical activity lead for the Royal College of GPs as well as a SWIM England clinical advisor.
He runs a pioneering NHS-based fitness club & lifestyle clinic helping to educate & support patients to eat better, move more and connect with their community, and also heads up the social prescribing team at the Leamington primary care network, which assists people holistically to promote, protect & improve their health.
A key passion for Dr Al-Zubaidi is to use lifestyle to tackle health inequalities. He volunteers at the mental health charity Run Talk Run as the West Midlands regional leader, which uses movement to help forge conversations and peer support.
He says: “It is my strong belief that lifestyle can be a powerful tool in the fight against many conditions both physical and mental, while being a great way to socialise and stay connected with our community. I am a keen triathlete & UK Athletics leader in running fitness and try to use my own personal journey of taking up physical activity from a previous sedentary lifestyle & improvement in my own nutrition & knowledge of food to promote its benefits for our wellbeing.”
Dr Al-Zubaidi delivers numerous talks & lectures to various audiences, both professional and public, including a regular slot on the channel 4 show, Steph’s packed lunch.
Register