The medical global event that will take place in Riyadh from April 22-26, 2012, is being organized by the College of Medicine at Imam University according to Prof. Khalid A. Ibn Abdulrahman, chairman of the event’s steering committee and dean of Al-Imam School of Medicine.
He said in a press conference yesterday that the five-day event is an international conference dedicated to reporting and discussing recent developments and research in medical education.
The conference will cover a wide variety of topics including innovating in medical education, international dimensions, and curriculum trends in medical education and other issues of current importance and interest.
More than 1,500 participants from Saudi Arabia and other countries are expected to attend. The scientific program is designed to cover a variety of scientific formats and will include pre-conference workshops and short courses, plenaries and symposia, short communications and posters, student forums and meet the expert sessions.
The exhibition this year will be attracting more than 30 private and public medical sectors representing local and international institutions. The conference will be facilitated by leading international authorities who will bring their national and international experience as medical educators, editors, reviewers and contributors to leading journals in the field.
The event aims to exchange best practices and experiences with international experts in health professions education, explore the current and future challenges in health professions education, and to strengthen the relationship among multidisciplinary health professionals.
International speakers will discuss among others trends in curriculum planning and development, the teacher’s toolkit and contexts for learning, what forms a good assessment and written performance assessment, and international dimensions of medical education
In his previous statement on the occasion, Abdurahman said this time the 8th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) medical education conference is joining the SIMEC 2012. Over 1,200 local and regional participants with representatives from the medical schools across the Kingdom are expected to attend, he said.
He said an important feature is the participation of the deans of established and new medical schools and their active engagement in the education sessions, something not often seen elsewhere at national meetings on medical education.
Abdurahman added the Saudi Medical Education Society (SSME), which is co-organizing the event with the Saudi Deans Committee (SDC), has grown considerably since the days of its establishment in 2004. “The active collaboration between SDC & SSME has resulted in many wonderful scientific activities that had its positive impact in promoting the quality of medical education in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
The SIMEC 2010 took place in Jazan University, Saudi Arabia, in April 2010 with the participation of over a dozen speakers from the United States, the United Kingdom and countries from the region.
“On behalf of the organizing committee, I have the pleasure to welcome you to the Saudi International Medical Education Conference,” Abdurahman said.
“We are much honored to have, this year, more than 30 high caliber and well known international guest speakers from GCC, Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, UK, France, Portugal, USA, Canada and Argentina.”
“It was a massive task that could have not been accomplished without the support and extensive efforts of members of the organizing committees and our lovely students,” he added.
The official expressed his gratitude and thanks to all the speakers and Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Khalid Al-Anqari. “I’m really grateful to all speakers, session chairs and discussants who will contribute to the success of our meeting. We are especially grateful to Khalid Al-Anqari and Professor Sulaiman Aba Al-Khail for their generous sponsorship of our meeting. Their financial and logistical support made our conference possible.”
