In her keynote speech, Madalena Patricio, who is also president of AMEE, expressed her gratitude and thanks on behalf of the participating speakers to King Abdullah for his patronage of the conference.
Patricio was speaking at the opening of SIMEC 2012 that is being organized by the College of Medicine at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University. She also thanked university Rector Suleiman bin Abdullah Aba Al-Khail, who is also chairman of the conference committee, for his significant role in the organization of the conference.
The event was opened by Al-Khail on Sunday at the Intercontinental Hotel that was followed by various workshops and will conclude on April 26.
The five-day international conference is dedicated to recent developments and research in the medical education and will cover a variety of topics, including innovation in medical education, international dimensions, and curriculum trends in medical education among 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 conference will also bring together international authorities who will pool their national and international experience as medical educators, editors, reviewers and contributors to leading journals in the field.
In his opening address, Al-Khail pointed out it is a major conference being organized by the College of Medicine in the field. He said science is the way to progress and development, especially in the medical field and health. He hoped that it would have a highly productive result.
Dr. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al-Ghaffar said the conference is first of its kind in terms of size and specialization.
He pointed out the conference aims to share best practice and experiences with international experts in the field of medical education besides addressing current and future challenges in the field of medical education and strengthening the relationship between specialists in the various health professions.
This will also serve science teachers and health practitioners in their work, as well as curriculum planners, administrators, researchers and students, and new entrants in the field of medical education and practitioners with experience. The conference will provide three training sessions for them.
Abdurahman Al-Nami, associate professor, told Arab News that the College of Medicine at Imam University now has more than 450 students and through this high-profile conference their students will benefit a lot.
