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HRDCR IV-A Training Course on Basic Research Methods

Dr. Melchor Victor G. Frias, IV, HRDCR IV-A Convenor welcoming the participants of BRM.

True to its objective of developing the capacities of researchers for conducting, managing and utilizing health research, the Committee on Capacity conducted the 2018 Training - Workshop on Basic Research Methods. This was held on November 13-15, 2018 at The Lake Hotel, Tagaytay City. The workshop consisted of lectures and workshops which were facilitated by Dr. Ophelia Mendoza and Dr. Ofelia Saniel of the University of the Philippines-Manila, College of Public Health.

The organizing committee required the following from the participants:

a. A draft health research proposal aligned with the National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA) and Regional Unified Health Research Agenda (RUHRA).

b. Must be Full-time

c. No previous attendance to HRDCR IV-A trainings on Basic Research Methods

A total of 24 participants attended the workshop. All of them were new and first timers in the Basic Research Methods Training. During the workshop, the standardized Basic Research Methods modules being developed by Symmetrix Research Consultancy Co. under the leadership of Dr. Ophelia Mendoza were pre-tested. The main difference between this pre-testing activity and the usual Basic Research Methods course was the training material, the sub-modules were thicker than the usual handouts distributed in the past. The participants were also asked to accomplish an evaluation form for each sub-module used after each session. Consequently, majority of the participants suggested the training-workshop be extended to 4 days to pave the way for more in-depth workshop activities.

HRDCR IV at the 12th PNHRS Week

Every second week of August, the health research community celebrates the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week. This year’s celebration was held last August 6-9, 2018 at the CAP-John Hay Trade and Cultural Center, Baguio City with the theme “Research and Innovation for Equity in Health”. The event provided an excellent platform for participants to interact and learn from each other and discuss the current situation, challenges, and advancements related to improving health through reinforced health research and innovation in the regions and local communities.

Aside from the main conference, pre-conferences and other activities were also held on 6-7 August 2018 which were attended by the committee chairs and members of the Health Research and Development Consortium Region IV (HRDCR IV), among which are the following: Communication Campaigns: Designing Effective Collaterals, SOME session: Enhancing the Quality of Monitoring Data from Consortia, PNHRS Capacity Building Committee Business Meeting, Updates on Ethics in Research, Translating Research into Policy, Understanding the Data Privacy Act in the context of health research and Oral Research Presentation and Poster Exhibit Contest.

Year 2017 and 2018 seemed to be a great year for HRDCR IV because once again Region IV consortium won the 1^st prize in Oral Research Presentation Contest which was represented by Dr. Supachai Basit of Emilio Aguinaldo College-Cavite (EAC-C). His study is entitled “Phenotypic Characterizations of Aguinaldo Phage Library Isolated from Dasmariñas, Cavite Creek Using Multidrug Resistant Bacteria Host Cells: Implications for Phage Therapy”. The study aims to phenotypically characterize the isolated bacteriophages from Dasmariñas, Cavite creek in terms of morphologic characteristics and its in vitro predation capacity against multidrug resistant bacteria host cells. Mr. Darwin Japheth Eusebio from De La Salle Health Sciences Institute also won 1^st prize in the Poster Exhibit Contest-Student Category for his study entitled “Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Determination Of Spectral Markers In Commercial Products Of Lagundi (Vitex negundo L.)”. His research proposed the usage of FTIR Spectroscopy in the quality control of Lagundi (Vitex negundo L.) products. Dr. Virma Espejo of the University of Perpetual Help-Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University and Ms. Eunice Gamba of EAC-C also represented the Region IV consortium at the Poster Exhibit Contest-Professional Category and Oral Research Presentation-Student Category respectively.