Oscar Lyons
Our Director, Dr Oscar Lyons, is a leadership development researcher, educator and doctor. He has a DPhil in evaluating healthcare leadership development from Oxford University and 15 years of teaching experience. Oscar has designed, delivered and facilitated leadership development programmes for Oxford Master's degrees, certificates and colleges; UK NHS hospitals, summer schools, leadership development consultancies, and research centres. His teaching and research have a strong focus on real-world impact
Oscar worked as a doctor in Hauora Tairāwhiti, a rural NZ hospital, before taking up the Education Fellowship in Surgery in Counties Manukau (Auckland).
In 2016 Oscar was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study a DPhil at Oxford University, where he focused on improving our understanding of leadership development programmes in healthcare. His DPhil thesis was titled "Evaluating Medical Leadership Development Programmes".
Oscar has been commissioned to lead a number of national research and evaluation projects, including a review of leadership development for doctors in the UK Royal Colleges, and a multi-year multi-site evaluation of conflict management training.
One theme recurs throughout Oscar's research. If we want to ensure that investment into medical leadership development programmes achieves the ends that commissioners, organisations and politicians intend, we need to get better at questioning our assumptions and evaluating our investments into medical leadership development programmes.
Alongside his work with us, Oscar is Module Lead (Knowledge into Action) for the Oxford University Masters in Evidence Based Healthcare, Director of Leadership Development for Teams and Leadership Ltd, and a research lead for the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM) and the Medical Mediation Foundation (MMF)

Selected Academic Publications
Lyons, O., Kingsley-Smith, H., Kotze, K., Nandra, K., Galante, J. R., Fahy, N., & Canter, R.
BMJ Leader, leader-2021-000586
Geerts J, Kinnair D, Taheri P, Lyons O et al
JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(7):e2120295.
Evidence-based medical leadership development: a systematic review
Lyons O, George R, Galante JR, Mafi A, Fordwoh T, Frich J, Geerts JM
BMJ Leader Published Online First: 16 November 2020
Leadership Development in New Zealand and Australian Medical Schools: A Needs Analysis
Lyons O, McHardy K, Bagg W, Wilkinson T
BMJ Leader Published Online First: 25 November 2019
A systematic review of leadership training for medical students.
Lyons O, Su'a B, Locke M, Hill A.
N Z Med J. 2018 Jan 19;131(1468):75-84.
Lyons O, Canter R
Bulletin of The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2018 July 5; 100: 211-214
Professionalism: Definitions and Principles
Lyons O, Bishop A, Canter R
BJUI Knowledge November 2019