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Dr Nighat Arif is a family NHS and Private GP, specialising in women’s health and family planning. Basked in Buckinghamshire, she is able to consult fluently with patients in Urdu and Punjabi which brings a great deal of trust from her community.
She is also a medical educator, providing training to local trainee GPs as well as at National conferences. She works as an outreach clinician, meeting with doctors, nurses and community teams to discuss the unmet health needs for Pakistani communities who are less likely to engage with health professionals.
She is also a freelance doctor providing tips on healthcare for TV programmes such as This Morning (2020-) and BBC Breakfast (2020-), where she has discussed the likes of organ donation, vaccinations and weight-loss jabs.
Having worked in the healthcare industry for over ten years, Nighat is now a popular professional speaker, with particular focus on different cultures and promoting diversity and inclusion in medicine.
Dr Nighat Arif’s medical history includes working as the lead clinician for residents at the Fremantle Dementia Residential home where she cared for over 60 patients with acute medical problems, as well as for Oxford Mental Health NHS Trust in adult and elderly psychiatry. She was nominated for the Bevan Prize for Health and Wellbeing for her exceptional commitment to advancing wellbeing in her community.
Her expertise is highly sought after and she contributes regular medical blogs to the DOCTORnow website which allows patients to refer to them for advice on common conditions. She has also had several medical papers published, as well as articles for magazines including British Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Medicine, OK, Red, Stylist and Women’s Health.
She has a particular interest in women’s health and the menopause. She made a guest appearances on BBC Breakfast for a campaign called ‘Wake Up To The Menopause’. She is passionate about making menopause less of a taboo subject for all, but particularly for women for whom English is not their first language.
She is a confident voice on the radio and has appeared on a range of radio channels including BBC Three Counties, Times Radio, Talk Radio, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Asian Network and BBC Berkshire. She has also appeared as an esteemed guest on a number of podcasts including Surgical Spirit, Diane Danzebrink, Sikh Forgiveness where she has discussed depression, anxiety, the menopause and other medical issues, HerSpirit alongside Louise Minchin, the ‘HuffPost’ podcast, the Alternative Health podcast where she discussed difficulties faced by women in healthcare, gender inequality and how stress can affect the compassionate capabilities of overworked medical staff, and Dr Louise Newson’s menopausedoctor podcast where she explored how the menopause is talked about (or not talked about) in cultures where women’s health issues are kept “under the veil”.
Unsurprisingly for someone whose passion is health and wellbeing, Dr Nighat is highly involved with a number of charitable organisations. She is an ambassador for charities including Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, The Good Grief Trust, Sikh Forgiveness and HerSpirit; she does a huge amount of work for NHS Blood and Transplant; is a member of Team Halo who work with the UN to spread understanding around vaccines; as well as NOON as their online health expert.
The cause she is most passionate about is that of organ donation. After her young son’s liver failed, there was a rush to find a match for an organ transplant. Unfortunately, she was aware that sign-up to the register from BAME residents was very low, and she even considered giving her son part of her own liver. She appeared on the likes of BBC Breakfast to encourage more people from BAME communities to sign up to the organ donor register.
Dr Nighat is confident in front of an audience and has hosted women’s health workshops and keynote speeches. This natural ability to connect with an audience has not gone unnoticed and in 2020 she hosted a talk about the effects of chillies on our bodies for BBC’s Food, Truth or Scare. She has spoken for the UK Commission on Bereavement, as an ambassador for Wellbeing of Women and presented data from Team Halo at the G7 Summit Vaccine Confidence Project.
She is incredibly relaxed and confident on camera and is keen to build on a career as an expert GP whilst remaining authentic to her values as a British Pakistani, Muslim woman and mother.
– Diversity and Inclusion
– Cultural Change
– Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing
– Women’s Medical Problems
– Menopause
– Minority Groups and Healthcare