WCMC-Q workshop promotes research and exchange with Qatar high schools

The program highlights the Medical College's long-standing involvement with area high schools and its role as an invaluable resource to these schools for expertise and collaboration in research projects.

Dr. Fayez Safadi, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at WCMC-Q, conducted the workshop with additional input from event organizer Dr. Imad Makki, Assistant Dean for Research Administration.

Dr. Safadi used his personal experience as a researcher and his laboratory's investigations into osteoporosis and arthritis as an example of how modern research is conducted. Workshop topics included the various kinds of research, formulating hypotheses, the value of collaboration, reputable sources for literature reviews and proper referencing, and venues for publishing and publicizing results.

The audience of physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and English teachers said they found the presentation highly engaging, and appreciated the opportunity to share their opinions and ask questions about various aspects of research including the use of technology and the Internet, and seeking patents.

Workshops such as these demonstrate WCMC-Q's close relationship with high schools in Qatar and the Medical College's ongoing commitment to addressing the needs of the country's high school students.

In this case, the workshop was created at the request of Fathi Mohammed Fareed Al-Sa'd, head of the research unit at Omar bin Al-Khattab Educational Complex for Boys - Scientific Secondary School. The majority of the teachers in attendance were from the Omar bin Al-Khattab School, with representatives from other schools invited as well.

Al-Sa'd was responding to an appeal from the Higher Education Institute for all Qatar high schools to incorporate student research projects into the curriculum. Some of the teachers' classes are already engaged in some form of research, and the rest expect to be shortly.

"Our students are going to begin doing research in May. so it is good for us to know how to conduct and evaluate this research. It is not the first time for me to work with WCMC-Q,"

Al-Sa'd explained.

Al-Sa'd and students from the Omar bin Al-Khattab School, along with WCMC-Q biologist Dr. Renee Richer, had conducted experiments this past May to measure the effect of environmental conditions along the coast of Ras Laffan Industrial City.

It is this kind of interaction between WCMC-Q and local high schools that Dr. Makki hopes this workshop will encourage. "It's about you and us connecting, getting together and moving forward," he told the teachers.

That offer of cooperation was met with genuine appreciation. Hisham Mohamed Gamal Eldin Ibrahim, a biology teacher from Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahab Secondary Independent School for Boys, is eager to involve his students in research activities with the college: "When the students see practical applications, they take in the information directly and they don't forget."

Dr. Makki ended the workshop by re-emphasizing the WCMC-Q's willingness to work with all high schools in Qatar to develop new forms of collaboration, to create ways to use the college's expert faculty and ever-growing facilities to enhance high school students' learning experience. "This is only the beginning," he said.