‘Students present Topics in Public Health»

Presentations on ‘Topics in Public Health’ attracted faculty members, staff, students and guests.
Presentations on ‘Topics in Public Health’ attracted
faculty members, staff, students and guests.                  

Developing an understanding of public health issues is an important component of the Medical Program at WCMC-Q, as the Class of 2008 discovered this semester.

Students taking the Medicine, Patients and Society II course (MPS II) presented their newfound knowledge on a wide range of public health issues, gained during a series of field trips throughout the semester, at the ‘Topics in Public Health’ event on March 27.

Eight groups of students gave one poster and seven oral presentations on the topics:

Attending the occasion were guests from Qatar Diabetes Association, Hamad Medical Corporation, the National Health Authority, College of the North Atlantic and Qatar Foundation, and WCMC-Q faculty, staff and students.

Assistant professor of medicine and course director for MPS II, Dr. Nounou Taleghani, said the field trips were designed to spur the interest of students in some of the many areas of public health.

"They listened to presentations, were given statistics, and got to witness first-hand the day-to-day activities of public health centres," Dr. Taleghani said.

"We had site visits and presentations on the water desalination plant outside Doha, the National Health Authority’s Communicable Disease and Prevention Unit, and Vaccine Unit, the Addiction Unit of the Psychiatric Hospital, Hamad Hospital, the Qatar Diabetes Association, and the College of the North Atlantic’s Environmental Health Department. Ayobami Omosola gives an overview on factors influencing drug abuse and drug addiction.

After having spent months compiling data on diabetes, Subhi Al Aref and Maryam Shafee present their findings.
"After having spent months compiling data on
diabetes, Subhi Al Aref and Maryam Shafee
present their findings.

"Students also were given a tour of the main kitchen of the Qatar Academy as public health officers were inspecting food handling, and they sat in on a nutrition class by the head of nutrition at Qatar Foundation, Aisha Al-Romaihi."

Student Subhi Al Aref, who presented ‘Diabetes in the Middle East: A global perspective’ with classmate Maryam Shafaee, said the MPSII coursework had been an eye opening experience. "It’s good to see things from another perspective," he said

Shafaee said one highlight of the fieldtrips was discussing infectious diseases with Douglas Quibell, a health science instructor from the College of the North Atlantic Qatar. "He was involved with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemiology and went through the delivery of health care in Qatar if a problem were to occur. It was very interesting."