SGMC held its maiden symposium with the theme collaboration in research on Friday, August 11th 2017. The aim of the symposium was to bring together a mix of medical professionals with the goal of highlighting the crucial role of collaboration in medical research to help improve clinical outcomes of African patients. With precision medicine making highlights in modern patient care, the need for African-centered research cannot be overstated hence, the call to action.
There were 54 attendees from four African countries: Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Nigeria- made up of general medical practitioners, surgeons, medical physicists, radiographers, medical laboratory practitioners, researchers, epidemiologists, oncologists, educationists and students. The speakers for the symposium were prominent researchers/medics from Ghana, the USA and the Netherlands.
Symposium Participants were advised on accurate data reporting, research ethics and introduced to e-learning platforms as tools for collaboration in combining clinic and research. Attendees were further encouraged to challenge the status quo, to take risks in going the extra mile and in doing so, to seek both peer and senior mentors as they engaged in the business of collaboration and research.