Healthcare leader wins apprenticeship award

A University of Exeter apprentice who works as an NHS doctor has been named the Chartered Management Institute’s Apprentice of the Year 2024.

Dr Hiba Khan is an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor with a broad range of experience, including sitting on higher education boards as well as being chief revenue officer at healthcare training provider Medics.Academy.

She applied for the CMI-accredited Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship after noticing gaps in healthcare management practices that she felt needed addressing through targeted leadership training.

Motivated by an ambition to improve her leadership skills and to lead diverse teams, Hiba started her apprenticeship in August 2022, achieving a distinction in her End Point Assessment portfolio and presentation earlier this year.

From leading a team of three Hiba now directly manages 15 people and says the apprenticeship has helped her refine her approach to leadership and optimising operational performance. 

Hiba said: “I’m thrilled to have won this prestigious award and grateful to those at the University of Exeter who nominated me as well as the wonderful team at Medics.Academy and The Healthcare Leadership Academy for supporting me throughout the programme.

“Doing a degree apprenticeship has been incredibly worthwhile – for me, my team and my organisation. It has helped me develop my leadership skills and teach some of my team how to follow in my footsteps as leaders.

”More than that it has helped me understand myself and what I needed to do to get the most out of people to help them become future leaders.”

Rachael Johnstone, Dean of Professional Education and Director of the Centre for Degree Partnerships at the University of Exeter, said: “We congratulate Hiba for this well-deserved achievement which recognises her dedication, talent and contribution throughout the programme. We look forward to watching her career go from strength to strength!”