Dr Ragy Tadrous is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Better Health & Care Hub, King’s College London. Ragy is also on the BGS Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group.
I’ll never forget this moment during an international clinical placement. I prescribed exercises to an older patient, turned away for just a second, and when I looked back, their family members were completing the exercises for them. At that moment, I thought of my grandmother, Sophie. How every time she announced she was getting up to make a cup of tea, she would be inundated with family members telling her to sit down and insisting they make it for her instead. This was something she was able to do, and had we not been there, she would have done it herself. Out of love and respect, we were unintentionally limiting her activity and contributing to a decline in her functional independence.
This experience has stayed with me ever since, subtly shaping my journey into both physiotherapy and geriatrics. My clinical background, combined with experiences across Ireland, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, exposed me to a variety of healthcare systems and diverse approaches to caring for older adults.
I gave these examples during my PhD interview and was offered a White Rose Network scholarship by the University of Leeds and University of York to look at strategies to reduce frailty in community-dwelling older adults, focusing on reducing sedentary behaviour. While I initially approached this from a physical perspective, I soon realised that prolonged sedentary behaviour often reflects deeper social issues. Social connectedness, community engagement, and the built environment all play critical roles in healthy ageing.
My involvement in the PACES project at the University of Glasgow further deepened this understanding. Studying how older adults engage with their communities, and how the spaces around them influence physical, social and mental wellbeing, earned recognition through the Richard Dodds Memorial Prize and a President’s Round presentation at the BGS Spring Meeting in Belfast.
Recognising that people from minority ethnic communities can face unique challenges in staying active (particularly as my parents enter this age group), I am now exploring ways to improve physical activity among Arab older adults as a Better Health & Care Postdoctoral Fellow at King’s College London.
My work continues to be guided by one core question: how can we support older adults to live independently, actively, and with dignity? That small moment, just reaching for the kettle, taught me that geriatrics is about protecting the everyday abilities that let people live life on their own terms.
