As part of our ongoing commitment to changing our campus culture, we recently appointed Dr Maria Christodoulou as the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science's relational coach. She has been tasked with helping us create a social learning environment that is inclusive, transformative and culturally competent; one that acknowledges our individual and collective humanity and fosters a deep sense of belonging and acceptance for all.
More about Dr Maria Christodoulou
Maria completed her MB,ChB at this faculty in 1990 and also obtained a diploma in practitioner coaching in 2005. She has worked extensively in both the public and private sector, initially as an integrative medical practitioner and subsequently as a health, wellness and leadership coach. She combines her medical training and coaching skills with a wealth of knowledge of different healing traditions and theories of relational psychology, identity construction and human development.
Her practice includes coaching individuals with cancer and chronic diseases, facilitating health and wellness-related workshops, and serving as lecturer and coach in the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, where she designed and implemented a postgraduate certificate course in Integrative Medicine in 2009. Maria is also a faculty and advisory board member of The Coaching Centre and supervises and mentors both medical and coaching colleagues and students.
In the past few years, she has focused primarily on coaching both individuals and teams of medical specialists in the public health sector, with an emphasis on leadership, resilience and equipping agents for change. Her combination of medical skills and extensive coaching experience afford her substantial insight into the complex challenges faced by health professionals in our context today. This, along with her passion for social artistry – which seeks to bring new ways of thinking, being and doing to social challenges in the world – makes her uniquely qualified to assist us in our commitment to transform the lived experience of students and staff on our campus.
