Inaugural function of the 2nd International Conference on Clinical Pharmacy (CPCON-2017)

The 2^nd International Conference on Clinical Pharmacy (CPCON-2017) on “Catalysing changes in health care practice” was inaugurated by Dr. Narayana Sabhahit, Registrar, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, at the Dr. TMA Pai Hall, Manipal on 20^th January. Registered delegates included over 450 students and teachers from the department of pharmacy practice, representing 41 colleges across India. 

The panel of speakers had many eminent academics and pharma industry professionals. Dr. Jim Lewsey from the University of Glasgow, Scotland introduced the students to the principles of health economics and health technology assessment, which was further elaborated on by Dr. Sohil Khan from Griffith University, Australia.  Dr Johnson George from Monash University, Australia discussed non-medical prescribing and the myriad benefits of screening chronic health conditions by Australian pharmacists. Dr Umi Athiyah University of Airlangga, Indonesia outlined the Universal Health coverage in Indonesia and the barriers to its implementation. Among the speakers from India, Dr Anirban Roychowdhury from Merck elucidated the indispensable role of technology in clinical trials, and how new technological advances like crowd sourcing, social media and wearable technology aids in harnessing data from clinical trials. Mr. Mohit Khullar, co-founder of Nerve 24 technologies, an emerging start-up,  expounded  the need to digitise patient data in India and  the role of fledgling start-ups in India focussed on  many verticals and horizontals in health care technology, their operational hurdles vis-à-vis other tech-based start-ups. Dr MK Unnikrishnan, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Manipal Academy of Higher Education gave a critical overview of the challenges in Indian healthcare, presenting a historical perspective of the political, cultural, educational and bureaucratic impediments to progress. The scientific sessions also included 180 scientific abstracts (posters and oral presentations) covering many emerging aspects of the profession of pharmacy practice. Cash awards were presented to the best three abstracts, in addition to the Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation awards.  CPCON 2017 was preceded by a pre-conference workshop, in which Team Based Learning, an emergent trend in pedagogy, was introduced to over 45 students and teachers by a team of research fellows and faculty members, led by Dr. Elissa Ladd from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, Boston, USA.