The Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, at the University of Malta together with the Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy at the University of Helsinki organised a very successful, week long, intensive interactive workshop on research methods, quantitative reasoning and scientific writing in relation to medication safety and effectiveness during the last week of August 2018.
This workshop was chaired by Professor Marja Airaksinen and Professor Maria Cordina. The workshop was led by an excellent international team of highly respected, acclaimed academics with significant experience and expertise in their respective fields. Prof Tim Chen, University of Sydney, Australia, Prof Shane Desselle, Touro University, USA, Prof Charles Alan Lyles, University of Baltimore, USA and Dr Kenneth Shermock, Johns Hopkins University/Hospital USA. The multidisciplinary participants from Malta, Finland, Lithuania, Thailand and China received individualised attention from academics who supported them to apply the new knowledge which they gained, in order to improve on their own work during hands-on interactive sessions.
Topics covered during the workshop included quantitative reasoning and analytical strategy; principles of applying theory to qualitative research and qualitative analytical strategy; outcomes and effectiveness research; usefulness of real life data in medication safety and effectiveness; data visualization; rigour of research methods and selection of outcome measures.
The University of Malta and the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery strongly supported this event and recognised it as a standalone study unit, for which successful participants receive 5 ECTS. It has also been registered under the Get Qualified Scheme.
The workshop was supported by the Embassy of the United States of America and The President of Malta. The opening ceremony was hosted by Her excellency Marie Louise Coleiro Preca at San Anton Palace. Following a Champagne finger buffet held in the President鈥檚 Private Garden, Her Excellency the President and The US Ambassador, HE G. Kathleen Hill, delivered short addresses. The evening came to a close with a piano recital by the accomplished pianist Dr Corinne Bowman.
