The 1st International Congress on Collaborative Education and Research in Healthcare (ICCERHC) was launched on March 9, 2021, organized by the Faculty of Pharmacy in partnership with Mercury Drug Corporation.
Serving as a wealth of research in different fields of healthcare, particularly pharmacy, medical technology, and biochemistry; the ICCEHRC becomes more significant when advances in scientific research serve as the key to solving global problems such as that posed by the current pandemic.
A brainchild of the Faculty of Pharmacy Dean, Prof. Aleth Therese L. Dacanay, PhD., the first day of the congress was opened with a message of hope. In her welcome address, she emphasized: “the full trust we need to accord to scientists who can help end the pandemic through collaborative work, uniting nations across the globe to achieve one goal – the end of the pandemic.”
With the ICCEHRC’s theme, “Furthering Opportunities toward a Progressive Nation,” Dean Dacanay explained how the different resource persons in the parallel sessions and keynote speakers across nations and disciplines, as well as the research presenters, shall bring together their expertise.
The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Mathew James Sykes, Ph.D., the program director of the Pharmaceutical Science arm of the University of Australia, Adelaide. Sykes delivered a lecture on Big Data as it is applied in the context of Pharmaceutical science and COVID-19 research. He ended his talk with the hope to see his friends from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Pharmacy during the purple season in Adelaide, Australia with Jacarandas in bloom.
“The perspective of having collaborative communities in addressing healthcare problems and issues, especially in this time of the pandemic, is a way forward in transcending our traditional segmented practices,” said UST Secretary-General Rev. Fr. Jesus M. Miranda, Jr., O.P., Ph.D., in a speech he delivered on behalf of the Father Rector Very Rev. Fr. Richard G. Ang, O.P., Ph.D.
“Collaborative education and research in healthcare are what we call ‘segment-of-one’ practice, a holistic approach in addressing a set of health issues that were made even more complicated with the global crisis due to COVID-19,” stated Fr. Miranda.
The virtual opening of the ICCEHRC was witnessed by participants from UST, academic and research institutions in the Philippines such as the University of the Philippines, among others, through the USTFOP partners in the ASEAN region, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America.
