The first session of the Epi-web series as part of the collaboration between the Departments of Community Medicine of Amrita School of Medicine, Kochi and Kasturba Medical College, Manipal was held on 9th November, 2021 from 5:30pm to 7pm.The webinar had a good response with around 100 participants. The topic was “Quasi-Randomized Trials for Digital Health Interventions”.
The event was hosted by Dr Neeraj V Mohandas, MD Resident, Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Kochi and Dr Varsha Nair, MD Resident, Department of Community Medicine, KMC, Manipal. The Presidential address was given by Dr(Col) Vishal Marwaha, Principal of Amrita School of Medicine and Dr Sharath Kumar Rao, Dean of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Dr Suma Nair, Professor & Head, Department of Community Medicine, KMC Manipal introduced and welcomed the speaker and Dr Aswathy S, Professor & Head, Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Kochi delivered the concluding remarks.
The Speaker was Dr Nitika Pant Pai, MD, MPH, Ph.D, Associate Professor at McGill University’s Department of Medicine, in the Divisions of Clinical Epidemiology and Experimental Medicine and a Physician Scientist at the MUHC Research Institute. She is a global expert in point-of-care diagnostics with experience in research initiatives in four health care systems: United States, Canada, South Africa, and India.
It was a very crisp and informative session where in Dr Nitika briefed the audience about Quasi-Randomized Trials and its application to Digital Health as well as the HIV Smart App which was her innovative idea for self-testing of HIV. This app has been approved in South Africa and other parts of the world. The Q& A session was very interactive as well.