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Dr Edward Stephenson

Dr Edward Stephenson (BMedSci MBBS PGCert MRCP PhD)

Clinical Associate Professor – Lead for Foundational Clinical Skills
E: e.stephenson@bsms.ac.uk
Location: Room 344a, Watson Building, Falmer, BN1 9PH

Area of expertise: Cardiology, immunology, medical education

Research areas: Artificial intelligence in medical education

Other faculty positions: Module lead for 101 and 201, Assessment lead for Year 2 OSCEs

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Biography

Ed is a Clinical Associate Professor at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), where he is Lead for Foundational Clinical Skills and Module Lead for 101 and 201. Alongside his academic role, he is a Specialist Registrar in Cardiology and General Internal Medicine within the Kent, Surrey and Sussex deanery.

His academic interests developed during his undergraduate training, when he completed a BMedSci in Molecular Therapeutics and developed an interest in cardiovascular research. He subsequently undertook a PhD in cardiac immunology at Queen Mary University of London, supported by a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship. His doctoral research, supervised by Professor Federica Marelli-Berg and Professor Sam Mohiddin, investigated immunological mechanisms and molecular targets in myocardial disease.

Ed’s current academic work combines his clinical experience with interests in medical education, assessment and the application of artificial intelligence to education and clinical practice. At BSMS, his role focuses particularly on the development and delivery of foundational clinical skills teaching.

Outside work, Ed enjoys playing padel, listening to country music and spending time with his family.

Research

Ed’s current research interests centre on the application of artificial intelligence and digital technologies within medical education. His recent work has explored the use of AI to support assessment and feedback, including published research examining AI-assisted approaches to student assessment. He is particularly interested in how emerging technologies can be incorporated into medical education in ways that are educationally robust, practical and appropriately governed.

Alongside this, Ed maintains an interest in the interface between artificial intelligence and clinical medicine, including the potential for AI to support diagnostic imaging and clinical decision-making.

His earlier research focused on cardiovascular immunology and inflammatory heart disease. During his PhD, he investigated the role of inflammatory pathways in myocardial disease and subsequently contributed to research in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, including work examining the relationship between myocardial perfusion and cardiomyopathy phenotypes. These experiences continue to inform his broader interest in translational cardiovascular research.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Teaching

Teaching and medical education form a major part of Ed’s current academic role. As Clinical Associate Professor and Lead for Foundational Clinical Skills at BSMS, he contributes to the leadership and delivery of clinical skills education across the early years of the medical curriculum. He is Module Lead for 101 and 201 and is also involved in the development and delivery of the year 2 OSCEs.

His teaching draws heavily on his experience as a practising cardiology and general medicine registrar, with an emphasis on helping students connect fundamental clinical skills and scientific knowledge with authentic patient care. He particularly values case-based and clinically contextualised teaching that encourages students to develop practical reasoning alongside core knowledge.

Ed also has an interest in technology-enhanced education and the thoughtful use of digital and AI-based tools in teaching and assessment. He holds a postgraduate qualification in medical education and has taught across a range of areas including clinical examination, pharmacology, therapeutics and prescribing.

Selected publications

Stephenson E, Savvatis K, Mohiddin SA, Marelli-Berg FM. T-cell immunity in myocardial inflammation: pathogenic role and therapeutic manipulation. Br J Pharmacol. 2017 Nov;174(22):3914-3925. doi: 10.1111/bph.13613. Epub 2016 Oct 4. PMID: 27590129.

Stephenson EJ, Monney P, Longchamps D, Pugliese F, et al. Ineffective and prolonged apical contraction is associated with chest pain and ischaemia in apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Int J Cardiol. 2018 Jan 15;251:65-70. PMID: 29197461.

Protonotarios A, Wicks E, Ashworth M, Stephenson E, et al. Prevalence of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography abnormalities in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Int J Cardiol. 2019 Jun 1;284:99-104. PMID: 30409737

Fanti S*, Stephenson E*, Rocha-Vieira E, Protonotarios A, et al. Circulating c-Met-expressing memory T-cells define cardiac autoimmunity. Circulation. 2022 Dec;146(25):1930-1945. PMID: 36417924. (*contributed equally)

Malomo S, Oswald T, Stephenson E, Yip A, Alway T, Hadjivassilve S, Coombs S, Ellery S, Lee J, James R, Phillips C, Philips B, Hildick-Smith D, Parish V, Liu A. Characterisation of Post-Sepsis Cardiomyopathy Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. Diagnostics (Basel). 2025 Apr 14;15(8):997. PMID 40310393.

Stephenson E, Morrigan K, Irfan A, Bascombe K, Okorie M. Artificial intelligence-assisted feedback in pharmacology education: a pilot evaluation of a custom generative model. BMC Med Educ. 2026 May 30;26(1):1238. PMID: 42218453.

Stephenson E, Robinson S, Bascombe K, Okorie M. Secure AI-assisted Angoff standard-setting for single best answer questions: A non-inferiority validation study. Med Teach. 2026 Jun 11:1-11. PMID: 42274246