An Indian medical college just won a world-first teaching honour — because its students lead

At Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women in Haryana, the students don't just study medicine — they run a leadership network called NEST, taking health ideas out into their communities. That experiment has now won the IMU-Ron Harden Innovation in Medical Education Award 2026, presented in Kuala Lumpur — the first time since the award began in 2008 that it has come to India. Founder Dr Sumita Sethi credits the students entirely: hundreds of them said yes to leading, and turned ideas into action. A second phase, NEST 2.0, is already under way to reach more institutions.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: institutional program