Efforts to Advance Patient Care Celebrated at HMC’s Annual Research Day 2017

More than 400 delegates recently attended Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Annual Research Day 2017. The day provided an opportunity for HMC researchers and senior leaders to come together to celebrate the research achievements of the past year and share ideas and updates on the latest research findings.  

“Our researchers are committed to pursuing new treatment methods and practices to ensure we are able to deliver the highest quality of care possible, with the best outcomes for patients,” said Professor Ibrahim A. Janahi, Executive Director of Research at HMC.

“Through poster and oral presentations, and awards given out on the day, we have been able to highlight the valuable work of our researchers. I am proud of the quality of research showcased today and believe our researchers are making a positive contribution towards HMC’s academic health vision – combining innovative research and top-class education to deliver excellent clinical care,” explained Professor Janahi.

Throughout the morning sessions, delegates heard presentations from Professor Janahi, Professor William McKenna, HMC’s Institutional Officer for Research and CEO and Medical Director, Heart Hospital, and Dr. Hadi Abderrahim, Strategy Lead, Healthcare and Biomedical, Qatar Foundation Research and Development.

A panel discussion during the morning session was moderated by Professor Janahi and featured experts from HMC and Qatar Foundation who discussed strategy at a national level. The panelists included Professor Egon Toft, Vice President and Dean, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Dr. Frans Vandenboom, Executive Director of Policy Planning and Evaluation, Qatar Foundation Research and Development, Dr. Abdulla Al Ansari, Acting Chief Medical Officer for HMC and Deputy Chief of Medical, Academic and Research Affairs, Hamad General Hospital, and Professor Mckenna.

The keynote address and panel discussion focused on this year’s Annual Research Day theme ‘Strategic Foresight for Research Resilience’. “The panel discussion enabled us to discuss strategy for research at the national level as an Academic Health System and explore ways to build HMC’s research strength and harness opportunities for collaborations, thereby introducing a culture of research planning and foresight throughout our research activities - all with the ultimate aim of advancing patient care outcomes,” said Professor McKenna.

Another featured session of the morning was the presentation by Professor Khaled Machaca which focused on collaborative opportunities with researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar.

As with previous years, Annual Research Day 2017 included a range of awards, recognizing the outstanding contributions of researchers at HMC. “We were delighted to see so much interest in the research awards, highlighted through the high number of submission received earlier in the year,” noted Ms. Sunitha Shyam, Corporate Research Grants Manager of HMC.

“The oral and poster abstracts chosen for presentations on the day were selected following careful scientific reviews; 42 posters and nine oral abstracts were selected from over 100 abstracts submitted,” added Ms. Shyam.

Awards on the day included Distinction in Research – Individual, Distinction in Research – Team, Research Excellence Awards, Promising Young Researcher awards, Best Publication Award, Best Oral presentation and the three best poster presentations.