Master in Clinical Research

COURSE CURSOR MARKET HEALTH With the rapid growth of the global pharmaceutical market, it is estimated that more than 250,000 positions are vacant worldwide for people trained in clinical research and more than 50,000 professionals will be needed in India Aaditi Isaac/TNN The Public Health Foundation of India (www.phfi.org) has launched an integrated MSc and PhD programme in clinical research and health informatics. “In this course, students will examine clinical conditions, outcome, etc, in a systematic way to generate evidence for decision-making and to provide impetus for improving methods of practice. Students will investigate and explore facts and theories as applied to patients and situations encountered in practice. When it comes to health informatics, four major interdisciplinary components will be taken care of — emerging technologies, epidemiology and health management, advanced statistics and health systems. The scope of health informatics is very wide as there are a variety of emerging new technologies that need to be understood, adapted and validated for use in health systems,” says Sanjay P Zodpey, MD, vice-president (North), Public Health Foundation of India and director, Public Health Education, Indian Institute of Public Health, Delhi. The core courses (modules) that IIPH has under the Master in Clinical Research curriculum include basic epidemiology, basic bio-statistics, clinical trials-design and analysis, etc. After MSc, students can choose a topic of their interest and can pursue PhD under the mentorship of faculty/scientists from the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR). The courses would be delivered jointly by the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) and AcSIR. A team of multidisciplinary faculty, trained at international universities will teach the course. Around 15 faculty members from IIPHs and seven-10 scientists from AcSIR will be involved for each programme. The clinical research course will be delivered by IIPH-Delhi campus and health informatics by IIPH-Hyderabad campus. Students would be exposed to lectures and seminars delivered by national and international visiting faculty from the existing network of PHFI and AcSIR. “We have a Campus Placement Cell (CPC) housed at Public Health Foundation of India. All students with CPC are entitled to placement assistance, counselling for employment and even self-employment, through assistance from our inhouse Entrepreneurs Incubation Cell,” he concludes. WHO CAN APPLY? •Clinical research: Candidates with graduate qualifications in medical and allied fields like dentistry, AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing and veterinary science, graduates in biological and life sciences (microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, zoology), basic sciences (chemistry), occupational therapy and bio-statistics • Health informatics course: Any candidate with a Bachelor’s science degree in any discipline under the 10+2+3 system • COST: Annual fee for the Master’s programme is Rs 1.25 lakh per student