Unit for Undergraduate Medical Education

Unit for Undergraduate Medical Education is an academic unit within the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. As part of a public research university established in 1922, the unit focuses on undergraduate medical training within a complex, resource constrained health system shaped by historical inequities and a diverse disease burden.

Its scholarship centers on medical education reform, primary health care training, and socially accountable curricula. Publications highlight integrated primary care, community oriented learning, online clinical education, and patient participation. Strong emphasis is placed on equity in admissions, decentralised training, and preparing graduates for responsible practice in underserved settings.

A distinctive strength lies in advancing professional identity formation through African perspectives such as Ubuntu, interrogating professionalism, activism, race, and gender in medical training. The unit also addresses preparedness for internship and ethical clinical engagement, contributing contextually grounded insights that shape transformative health professions education in the Global South.