MedAscend Featured on BBC Tech Now

MedAscend has been featured on BBC Tech Now, giving audiences an inside look at the technology, the story behind the company and how students are using the platform to prepare for clinical practice.

The feature first aired on the BBC News Channel on Saturday 25 July 2026, following a visit from the BBC production team to the University of Dundee last month.

During filming, the team interviewed MedAscend founders Ahmed Sharaf and Hana Woods, observed students using the platform and spoke with Dr Kevin Stirling, Lecturer at the University of Dundee, about the role of technology in healthcare education.

Bringing the MedAscend story to the BBC

Founded by University of Dundee medical students Ahmed Sharaf and Hana Woods, MedAscend was created from first-hand experience of the challenges healthcare students face when preparing for clinical practice.

While simulation is one of the most effective ways to develop clinical communication and reasoning skills, access can often be limited by faculty time, patient availability, facilities and cost.

MedAscend addresses this challenge through AI-powered virtual patient simulations that allow learners to practise realistic clinical conversations, receive personalised feedback and build confidence in a safe environment before interacting with real patients.

During the BBC visit, Ahmed and Hana discussed how MedAscend began, the problem it was designed to solve and the potential for technology to make high-quality clinical practice more accessible and scalable.

Having the BBC visit and see MedAscend being used in practice was an incredibly meaningful moment for us. We created MedAscend because healthcare students need more opportunities to practise, make mistakes and build confidence before entering high-pressure clinical environments. Being featured on Tech Now gives us the opportunity to share that mission with a much wider audience.

Ahmed was also interviewed about the development of MedAscend and the journey from identifying a challenge as medical students to building a platform designed to support both learners and institutions.

MedAscend began with a problem we had experienced ourselves: students often understand the theory but do not always have enough opportunities to practise applying it in realistic clinical conversations. The BBC feature gave us the chance to show how we are using technology to make that practice more accessible, repeatable and personalised.

Seeing MedAscend in action

As part of the feature, the BBC filmed two students using MedAscend together, demonstrating how learners can work through realistic patient scenarios and apply their communication and clinical reasoning skills.

The production team also filmed Hana delivering a walkthrough of the platform, showing how students interact with virtual patients and how MedAscend supports learning through structured, personalised feedback.

This allowed the feature to show more than the technology itself. It demonstrated how MedAscend can fit into the wider learning process by enabling students to practise independently, reflect on their performance and build confidence over time.

The screen can't replace the weight of a real conversation, but for a student that's terrified of getting it wrong, that's the place to fail and learn before it counts.

An educational perspective

The programme also featured Dr Kevin Stirling, Lecturer at the University of Dundee, who shared an educational perspective on MedAscend and the role technology can play in supporting clinical learning.

His contribution provided wider context around the importance of giving healthcare students meaningful opportunities to practise communication, clinical reasoning and decision-making.

MedAscend is designed to complement existing teaching and simulation, rather than replace them. By giving learners additional opportunities to practise outside scheduled sessions, the platform aims to help institutions deliver more frequent and accessible clinical training.

A milestone for MedAscend

Being featured on BBC Tech Now represents a significant milestone in MedAscend's journey and reflects growing interest in how emerging technologies can support the future of healthcare education.

For the team, the feature was also an opportunity to communicate the purpose behind the platform: helping healthcare students move beyond passive learning and gain more opportunities to apply their knowledge in realistic situations.

The BBC visit captured MedAscend from several perspectives, including the experiences of its founders, the views of an educator and the way students engage with the platform in practice.

Watch MedAscend on BBC Tech Now

With thanks

We would like to thank the BBC Tech Now team for visiting Dundee and taking the time to learn more about MedAscend.

We are also grateful to Jonathan Watson from the University of Dundee Press Office for his support in coordinating the opportunity, as well as Dr Kevin Stirling and the students who took part in the filming.

The feature marks an exciting moment for MedAscend, but our focus remains unchanged: building high-quality, scalable technology that gives healthcare learners more opportunities to practise, receive feedback and prepare for real clinical encounters.