Capacity Building in Research on Traditional Medicine: Experience of a Workshop Conducted under the Aegis of the Indian Council of Medical Research
FM01-FM03
Correspondence
Harshad Vijay Kesari,
1st Floor, College Building, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Acharya Donde Marg, Parel, Mumbai-400008, Maharashtra, India.
E-mail: k05harshad@gmail.com
Training healthcare professionals in research methodology is essential to promote research and innovation. This is particularly relevant in India, where there is a wealth of potential drug candidates from Indian Traditional Medicine (TM) systems that await exploration and scientific validation using modern medicine principles. Surprisingly, there is a lack of reported activities to train modern medicine practitioners in TM research in the literature. Recognising this need, a structured training program was planned and conducted under the auspices of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to train modern medicine practitioners in TM research. A survey was conducted among modern medicine practitioners to assess training gaps and identify key areas to be covered in the workshop modules. The workshop received a positive response, as evidenced by the numerous registration applications and positive feedback from participants. The present article shares the experiences of conducting the pilot workshop, which may serve as a valuable resource for planning similar workshops.