Qatar University students win Best Poster Award at the 7th IPSF Eastern Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Symposium

Students at Qatar University College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) have recently participated in the 7th IPSF Eastern Mediterranean Pharmaceutical Symposium - EMPS 2018 in Jordan, where the QU-CPH delegates won best poster award and had the chance to enrich their knowledge, share ideas and experiences, debate, innovate and unify efforts to flourish the pharmaceutical future.

The delegates included, two College of Pharmacy recent graduates; Nour Isleem (Doctor of Pharmacy student) and Farah Zahra (Doctor of Pharmacy Student), along with two QU-CPH current students; Ola Hussein (MSc student) and Saba Sheikh Ali (Doctor of Pharmacy student). The Symposium which they participated in, is the key regional event of the IPSF Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (IPSF EMRO), which is a part of the IPSF - International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation.

QU-CPH representatives participated in the poster competition where only top 11 posters were selected to be presented and judged amongst highly emulous and a wide scale research projects. All four submitted posters from QU-CPH were qualified and were discussed during the showcaes. Research inducted by Sara Abdulrahim,  Nour Isleem and Farah Zahrah won the best poster award for their poster entitled “Physical comorbidities and their management in patients with severe mental illnesses”, supervised by CPH Assistant Professor Dr. Monica Zolezzi.

Dr. Mohammad Diab, Dean of College of Pharmacy at Qatar University commented, “We are very proud of our students and their capability to present, compete and win in national and international conferences. Our main goal in the College of Pharmacy is to prepare our students to provide optimal pharmaceutical care and advance health care outcomes, to promote research and scholarly activity, and to serve as a pharmacy resource for Qatar, the Middle East and the world. By winning in these kind of competitions our students are fulfilling the college goal.”

As a comment on this great achievement, Nour Isleem said, “The EMPS conference was a great opportunity to present the project that my CPH classmates and I worked on during our last two years at QU. The project presented at this conference investigated the prevalence of medical comorbidities among patients with serious mental illness, the first of its kind in the Arab region. The project was led by Dr. Monica Zolezzi and funded through the Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) of QNRF. I believe that this conference allowed me to meet many experts in the mental health field, an area I am interested in, and gave me the opportunity to showcase our findings in an international platform. The conference also encouraged my innovative thinking by exposing me to other current cutting edge research topics.”

QU is committed to providing high-quality education in areas of national priority. With 86 specializations at the undergraduate and graduate levels, QU offers the widest range of academic programs in Qatar tailoring them to meet the needs of Qatari society.