Introduction The Pakistani Association of Medical Students and Academics (PAMSA) addresses the significant presence of the Pakistani community in healthcare. PAMSA was founded by medical students of Pakistani heritage on the principles of shared language, culture and barriers in medical education. We noticed that there was a significant gap in mentorship for medical students progressing to become junior doctors. By initiating the development of PAMSA, we aimed to improve confidence of medical students through mentorship programmes, teaching courses as well as clinically relevant social media campaigns. Leveraging social media, PAMSA has rapidly expanded, focusing on mental health, lifestyle medicine, and language, critical factors in providing patient-centered care.

Aims and objectives of the research project or activity Our aims are to empower medical students and junior doctors with the resources and mentorship to thrive in their careers facilitating them to play a direct role in improving patient care. Secondly, we aim to establish whether diversity in our leadership allows us to enhance patient care for underrepresented South Asian groups, particularly by addressing mental health, promoting lifestyle medicine, and enhancing language skills.

Method or approach We met our aims through creating a robust committee structure, with key domains necessary for large-scale operation. A key component was a dedicated social media team, responsible for engaging and expanding our online community. Another crucial team focused on networking and outreach, connecting with senior doctors to foster professional relationships and mentorship opportunities. Additionally, a dedicated team was tailored to address the unique needs and challenges of medical students, such as exam support. We also appointed ambassadors at each university, ensuring a localized PAMSA presence vital for grassroots engagement.

Our key operations included running teaching series for medical students and junior doctors, providing mentorship services for numerous competitive specialties, providing updates about key changes in application processes, and contributing to health promotion. Our health promotion activities include Urdu translations of clinical histories, discussions surrounding mental health in the South Asian community, and lifestyle medicine advice tailored to the cultural background of our audience.

Findings Social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, have been pivotal in outreach, creating a digital community that extends support and shares valuable resources. Through effective use of social media trends and harnessing the ‘algorithm’, PAMSA has reached over 214,000 people within four months earlier this year. The educational impact of this has been to help in widening participation.

To date, PAMSA’s mentorship scheme has supported 114 medical students across 6 specialties, facilitating a diversity of medical personnel in multiple fields. Students cited ‘having young, relatable mentors’, ‘working with mentors with a shared ethnic background’ and the ‘regularity of sessions’ as unique factors that provided additional benefit in this mentorship series. Our ‘Smash the Specialised Foundation Programme’ course, mentoring 200 applicants nationwide in their application for the Specialised Foundation Programme (SFP), resulted in 90% of the attendees achieving their first choice deanery and jobs.

On a larger scale, PAMSA’s impact extended to policy change, influencing the British Powerlifting Association to adopt motions for inclusivity in the dress code for Muslim participants, demonstrating that a diverse and inclusive environment within healthcare education is key to improve physical and mental health.

Key messages Through discussions on imposter syndrome, emotional overwhelm, adjusting to new healthcare settings and overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers, we have better equipped Pakistani medics with tools for personal and professional development. Furthermore, utilizing a shared heritage amongst doctors has allowed us to tackle the issues affecting underrepresented groups. Our initiatives demonstrate that understanding and embracing cultural nuances to facilitate personal and professional development enhances patient care, which is best delivered through diverse leadership.