Professor Curran is Vice Dean, Education at Duke-NUS Medical School and Co-Director of Academic Medicine Education Institute (AM.EI), a joint institute of Duke-NUS and SingHealth.

Professor Curran has a distinguished track record in medical education leadership, policy and professional regulation and is recognised as an expert in the field of medical education and transformational leadership.

Professor Curran graduated from King’s College London in 1992 with an intercalated BSc in Basic Medical Sciences with Anatomy. He completed his house jobs in the King’s College Hospital Liver Unit and Professorial Surgical Unit before he explored an academic career as a histopathologist. He trained as an anaesthetist and pain physician at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospitals. In the late 1990’s, he discovered his true passion and developed pioneering work in healthcare simulation, faculty development and medical education, while working as a Clinical Lecturer in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He concluded his clinical training by completing a fellowship at the renowned INPUT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Pain Management Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital, London before taking up a consultant appointment as an anaesthetist and pain medicine physician at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.

He was appointed as Senior Lecturer (2007) and then Reader (2012) at St Bartholomew’s Medical School in London where he was responsible for Medical School Final Examinations. In 2014, he was conferred the title of Professor of Innovation and Excellence in Healthcare Education by Queen Mary University of London. He has also been Associate Dean for Postgraduate Medicine in London, Director of Education and Workforce Capability at Bart’s Hospital, Head of Innovation and Postgraduate Dean of Educational Excellence for NHS London, London’s Strategic Health Authority leading major educational workforce and service reforms.

Prof Curran holds ten professional fellowships including the Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetist and Fellowship of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Educators. He was awarded the President’s Medal by the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2018 for his contributions to medical education, policy reform and promoting mental health and well-being in the UK.

Prior to joining Duke-NUS, Professor Curran was Assistant Director of Education and Professional Standards at the General Medical Council (GMC), the UK medical professional regulator where he was responsible for education policy, regulatory and quality assurance in postgraduate medical education across the UK overseeing 55,000 doctors in postgraduate training.

Over the last 20 years, he has championed human factors in healthcare, promoted patient safety education and driven clinical service reform. He has been extensively involved in health professions, undergraduate medical education, postgraduate medical education and training, as well as continuing professional development and executive leadership development. He has been a professional regulator, education commissioner, national policy adviser and international consultant in education and leadership development. He has been a clinical adviser to the UK Departments of Health, NHS England and NHS Health Education England.

Prof Curran has given a wide range of prestigious national and international keynotes, plenaries and lectures including “The Royal College Lecture” at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2011. He has completed a number of international fellowships and invited professorships. He has also advised the European Commission and consulted for several national and international governments on educational reform, workforce innovation, simulation, technology-enhanced learning and transformational leadership. More recently he was appointed visiting Professor at the King’s Learning Institute, King’s College London (2016). He was the Distinguished Academician for the Academy of Medicine Singapore when he gave the Inaugural AM.EI Tan Yew Hock Distinguished Lecture at the SingHealth Academia in November 2016. He is a Harvard Macy Scholar (2010) and was appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Boston, USA in 2017.

Professor Curran has received the prestigious BMJ Award for Excellence in Healthcare Education in 2011 for his work leading London’s Simulation and Technology-Enhanced Learning Initiative (STELI). He received a UK National Clinical Excellence Award in 2010 and the national HSJ Award for Patient Safety in 2009. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2018 for his pioneering education work supporting development of the East, Central and Southern African College of Physicians. He has been awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Australian Orthopaedic Association and Fellowship of the US Society for Simulation in Healthcare. Closer to home he has also been elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, College of Clinical Educators.