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IRD Bioethics initiative coordinator receives prestigious scholarship |
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Dr Sisira Siribaddana, the coordinator of the bioethics initiative at IRD, has been awarded a scholarship to participate in ‘Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research's (PRIM&R) 2007 Annual Human Research Protection Programs (HRPP) Conference titled “Human Research Protection Programs in an Evolving Research Landscape”.
This event will be held at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel in Boston , MA , USA , December 1-4, 2007 , and will be co-sponsored by the Boston University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). |
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Open access for a global scientific and medical research community |
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Biomedcentral has initiated a website aiming to provide resources about open access and internet technologies in the developing world. Emphasizing the benefits to the developing world of increased internet technologies and open access to research, they hope to encourage projects and initiatives, and to showcase research published in open access journals that are of relevance to emerging countries.
Director of IRD, Dr. Athula Sumathipala has contributed to the new website by sharing his views on the importance of open access publishing to the developing world.
His story can be accessed at Open Access for Developing World web site. |
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IRD represented at AMEE 2007, Norway |
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Dr Gominda Ponnamperuma representing IRD, made a presentation at the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) conference 2007, held at Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Trondheim, Norway from 25-29 August 2007.
His presentation titled, 'Learner profiling: a multi purpose tool' was based on the 'Ethics Course' organized by the IRD in 2003.
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RANZCP Traveling Professorship 2007 awarded to Director IRD |
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Dr. Athula Sumathipala, the Director of the Institute for Research & Development has been awarded HB Williams Traveling Professorship for year 2007 by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He will be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, to be held in Napier, New Zealand from 7th to the 10th of October. His speech is titled ‘Medically unexplained symptoms; treatment development research in Sri Lanka' and will be based on his research for more than 20 years conducted in Sri Lanka.
This is the first time a Sri Lankan has been honored with this fellowship.
He will be visiting and delivering lectures at:
- School of Public Health and Community Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW)
- Population Health Research & Neurological/Mental Health Division, The George Institute for International Health, Sydney
- Center for Population Mental Health Research, University of New South Wales
- Royal Adelaide Hospital
- Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane.
This invitation is a major recognition of his pioneering research including the only two treatment trials done in the developing world for medically unexplained symptoms using psychological intervention. He will also discuss disaster research and ethics, twin research, national mental health policy and other issues.
In his presentation at UNSW, Dr Sumathipala will discuss the collective experience in Sri Lanka after tsunami. He will describe the overall strategic approach adopted, and reflect on what was gained.
He will discuss areas of interests such as;
- The role of the media
- Children and education
- Identification and management of the dead (mass graves, rapid disposal of dead bodies) and its short term and long term psychological, legal, social and political implications
- The influx of foreign organizations and individuals operating without adequate understanding of local culture
- The exploitation of the vulnerable, particularly for easy and cheap research
Case studies will highlight the problems experienced, how they were dealt with, the lessons to be learnt and tasks which remain to be completed. The contribution made for national mental health policy and disaster management policy will also be discussed.
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IRD Chairs Twin Registers & International Collaborations section at the ICTS 2007 |
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Dr. Sisira Siribaddana of the IRD chaired the 'Twin Registers & International Collaborations' section of the 12th International Congress of the International Society for Twin Studies(ICTS 2007) held in Ghent, Belgium on 8-10 June 2007.
Dr. Athula Sumathipala, Director IRD also participated at this event on behalf of the Sri Lanka Twin Registry & IRD and presented a paper titled "Sri Lankan Twin Registry: Challenges, Barriers and Lessons Learnt" |
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