“The ABC of Research” Workshop

From the 8th to the 10th of December, A/Prof. Pablo Fernandez-Peñas was the main speaker at the “The ABC of Research” Workshop (Medical Academies of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Roshida Baba (Senior Consultant Dermatologist & Head of Dermatology Services Ministry of Health, Malaysia) was the chair and the soul of the event that was supported by the Dermatological Society of Malaysia and the Ministry of Health Malaysia.
In 2 days, Pablo reviewed the following topics:
– How to do it right in research (the Scientific Method)
– Challenges in Clinical Research (Types of Clinical Research, Logistics, Team, Funding, Research in Low Resource Settings, Pharma sponsored research, Investigator-initiated studies)
– Planning a Clinical Research Project (Research Problem, Hypothesis, Objectives, Feasibility, Variables, Procedures, Team, Logistics, Intellectual Property)
– Ethics and Clinical Research
– Writing a paper (Why, How, Authorship, Publication process, Rejection, Revisions)
– Where to publish
– Tools for the Researcher and Writer
On the 3rd day, a few Dermatology trainees described their research ideas and projects, and all the sections were reviewed by Pablo and the attendees.
It was a very successful meeting. Everybody was greatly engaged and there was a lot of interaction. Both trainees and consultants were very interested in the topics, asking good and relevant questions. The Research Projects discussed during the 3 days were impressive. On the last day, Roshidah persuaded Pablo to give a small tango lesson to all trainees. It was the final touch to an excellent meeting wrapped by the fantastic Malaysian hospitality.