Academic Health System – providing training for future researchers

May, 2014

Healthcare professionals from a variety of organizations across Qatar received training in clinical research in a program of lectures and seminars delivered by faculty from WCMC-Q, WCMC-NY and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

The course was organized, funded and supported by the Academic Health System (AHS), a major collaboration amongst major education and healthcare institutions in Qatar. The course provided training to more than 500 healthcare professionals through three courses involving a series of lectures held in November 2013 and February this year. Following a competitive selection process, 20 candidates were chosen to take part in the final phase of the program – an intensive, month-long course of research training conducted on a near-daily basis through April and May.

The program concluded with a seminar about the use of clinical informatics in research held at the HMC Hotel on Monday 5 May, which featured a presentation by Dr. Thomas Campion, assistant professor of healthcare policy and research at WCMC-NY.

Professor Shahrad Taheri, WCMC-Q’s clinical research core director, supported the candidates in his capacity as course director.

He said: “The aim of the AHS course was to equip healthcare professionals in Qatar with the practical skills and knowledge required to initiate and conduct their own clinical research projects.

“The participants have learned how to write abstracts, design research projects, use advanced tools of enquiry and how to present their projects in the correct format in order to give them the best chance of securing funding.

“There is a wealth of talented healthcare professionals working in Qatar and our hope is that this course will allow them to channel their abilities into clinical research that could eventually lead to new therapeutic treatments.”

Healthcare professionals were drawn from a variety of AHS organizations across Qatar, including HMC, Primary Health Care Corporation, WCMC-Q, Qatar University, Qatar Foundation, and Qatar Biomedical Research Institute.

The lectures in November and February were held at the HMC Education Center, and featured presentations by research faculty from WCMC-NY, WCMC-Q, and HMC.

Dr. Ahmed Mahfouz, clinical pharmacist at HMC Heart Hospital, was one of the 20 candidates selected for the final phase of the course.

He said: “I found the sessions on statistical analysis of data particularly useful. We were shown how to use the SPSS statistics software, which is an extremely useful and powerful tool”

Dr. Sini Appu, quality management reviewer at HMC’s Women’s Hospital, was also chosen to participate in the final phase.

She said: “I hope to conduct research into the quality of midwifery practice in Qatar and I have learned a great deal of useful skills that will help me in this regard.”