Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, SIUT, Pakistan

Research Ethics Workshop at Al Nafees Medical Collegs, Isra Universiyt, Islamabad, January 23-24, 2012. Aamir Jafarey was assisted by Bushra Khizar (PGD alumnus Class of 2007, seen in the left picture) and Saima Iqbal (alumnus of the PGD program, Class of 2008 and MBE program, Class of 2011, seen in the right picutre).

CBEC Organized Events

CBEC organizes regular educational conferences, seminars and symposia on various themes in different areas of bioethics. These range from one day meetings to week long symposia. These events are organized on CBEC premises in Karachi, and institutions in other cities in the country and in the region.

2012

Research Ethics Workshop, Al Nafees Medical College, Isra University, Islamabad Campus
January 23-24, 2012, Islamabad

Dr. Aamir Jafarey was invited to conduct a two day workshop on Research Ethics at the Islamabad Campus of Isra University. Along with Dr Jafarey, CBEC alumni from Shifa Medical College Islamabad, Bushra Khizar and Saima Pervaiz Iqbal were facilitating the event. There were thirty participants from 11 institutions from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad and Hyderabad. Issues like conflict of interest, Informed Consent and Pharmaceutical-Physician Interaction were discussed at length.

2011

Research Ethics Workshop, Fatima Memorial Hospital
December 15-16, 2011, Lahore

Dr. Aamir Jafarey, along with CBEC alumni Drs. Natasha Anwar, Farkhanda Ghafoor and Naseer Chaudhry, conducted a workshop at Fatima Memorial Systems, Lahore, on December 15-16, 2011. This was the second workshop that CBEC has conducted at this hospital.
The workshop was attended by 27 participants including IRB members, faculty and trainees from different departments of the institution.

EMRO-PMRC-CBEC “National Workshop on Strengthening Ethical Review Committees”
Held at the Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, SIUT, November 17-19, 2011, Karachi

The Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC), SIUT, inaugurated a three day workshop entitled “National Workshop on Strengthening Ethical Review Committees” in collaboration with EMR-WHO and PMRC on November 17, 2011. Twenty-four participants, 12 of them from out of town, participated along with 10 engaged observers. At the inaugural event, attended by about 200 people from different institutions, Dr Haytham Al Khayat, Senior Policy Advisor at EMRO, Cairo, gave the keynote address entitled “The stance of Islam on science in general and human subject research in particular.” Dr Mohammad Abdur Rab, Regional Advisor, Research Policy and Cooperation at EMRO, Cairo, spoke on the new guidelines for ethical review being developed by WHO.
The workshop faculty included several CBEC alumni including Mariam Hassan, Saima Iqbal, Bushra Shirazi, Natasha Anwar and Rana Muzaffar. In addition to revisiting the basic concepts, various sessions also tackled emerging issues like ethical concerns in genetic research and ethical issues raised by contract research organizations. Kausar Khan took a session on ethical issues in community based research while Aasim Ahmad led an interactive session on the ethical issues in research conducted in disaster situations.

4th Research Ethics Workshop, Khyber Medical University
July 20-21, 2011, Peshawar

Drs Moazam and Jafarey made their way to Peshawar for the 4th Research Ethics Workshop at the Khyber Medical University, Peshawar. This was in fact their fifth visit to Khyper Pakhroonkhwa province in 2 years to conduct workshops organized by the Khyber Medical University. The event was attended by over 100 participants as part of their overall training in research capacity. The participants came from varying backgrounds including dentistry, medicine, and public health.
At the conclusion of the workshop, the organizers had organized a special event for the launching of the newly revised Islamiat Curriculum for medical students. This curriculum was developed to link Islamiat with the experiences that the physicians will have in clinical practice. Dr Moazam was invited to deliver a keynote address at the event entitled "Indigenizing Medical Ethics in Pakistan: Merging religious values and contemporary bioethics".
Later, the group was invited to meet the Governor of the province and present the Islamiat Curriculum to him.

Research Ethics Workshop, Saidu Medical College
May 13-14, 2011, Swat

Drs Farhat Moazam and Aamir Jafarey were invited to visit Saidu Medical College, Swat to conduct a two day workshop on Research Ethics. This workshop was attended by approximately 60 faculty members of the college, including the members of their newly established Ethical Review Committee. The workshop consisted of interactive lectures and group work. The Karachi Bioethics Group's Ethical Guidelines for Pharma-Physician Interaction were also presented on the occasion and which led to a lively discussion.

Research Ethics Workshop, Patel Hospital
April 4, 2011, Karachi

Drs Moazam and Jafarey conducted a workshop on Research Ethics at Patel Hospital, Karachi on April 4, 2011. This was primarily for the members of the Hospital Ethics Committee that has been in existence at Patel Hospital for several years. This committee has a mandate to provide ethics consultations as well as to review research proposals for ethics approval. The workshop was organized by Dr Nida W Bashir, CBEC alumnus of the PGD Class of 2011, to help strengthen their capacity for ethical review. In addition to members of their ethics committee, also in attendance in the day long workshop were several other members of the staff who share an interest in bioethics.

Seminar and Round Table Discussions "Muslim Women: Through the Lens of History, Religion, Law, and Society"
March 14-17, 2011, Karachi

CBEC invited renowned scholars from within Pakistan and abroad to this Seminar and Round Table Discussions. Each of the four days had a particular theme with Day 1 setting the stage. Day 2 focused on jurisprudence, past and future whereas Day 3 was on history and society. The seminar ended on Day 4 which was focusing on Pakistani women, trials and triumphs.

The four days were designed to provide not only a broad range of talks, but also focused in-depth discussions. In addition to the seminar talks on all 4 days which were open to the general public, there were Round Table Discussions for pre-registered participants on the afternoons of Days 2 and 3 during which the speakers went into greater depth in their discussions with the 30 or so participants, often broaching "sensitive" topics.

There was an Awards Ceremony to give diplomas to the 8 successful Postgraduate Diploma Students in biomedical Ethics, Class of 2010, which was also the first batch to receive the diplomas issued by Sindh Institute of Medical Sciences, SIUT's academic umbrella. Click here to see program.

Research Ethics Workshop, Bahria University
January 24, 2011, Karachi

CBEC faculty were invited to conduct a day long Research Ethics Workshop for members of the newly established Ethical Review Committee (ERC) at Bahria University's Medical College in Karachi on January 24, 2011. The event was organized by Dr Ambreen Usmani, CBEC alumnus of the PGD Class of 2011. She also serves as the coordinator of the ERC at her institution.

2010

3rd Research Ethics Workshop, Khyber Medical University
November 29-30, 2010, Peshawar

CBEC faculty was invited to Peshawar to conduct a workshop on research ethics for its faculty and staff. This is part of a mandatory training in research methodology that KMU conducts in six monthly cycles. The 50 participants included individuals from a variety of medical backgrounds and added to the richness of the discussions.

Clinical Ethics Workshop, Shaikh Zayed Hospital
November 11-12, 2010, Lahore

Farkhanda Ghafoor (Class of 2006) invited CBEC faculty to conduct a workshop on clinical ethics at her institution on November 11-12, 2010. Over 40 participants attended the event, with a notable presence of dental practitioners among the participants. This also served as a good opportunity for a reunion of CBEC alumni stationed at Lahore.

Khyber Medical University, Research Ethics Workshop
May 12-13, 2010, Peshawar

CBEC faculty, Dr. Moazam and Dr. Jafarey, together with Ms. Anika Khan, one of the MBE students, Class of 2011, were invited by the Research Directorate of Khyber Medical University (KMU) to conduct a workshop on Research Ethics for researchers. A similar event was conducted by CBEC faculty at KMU earlier this year also. This was a one and a half day workshop in which participants were given an overview of research ethics. Specific issues like conflict of interest and informed consent were discussed in detail. They were also taken through an exercise of developing Terms of References for Ethical Review Committees. On the second day, the morning was spent in specific case discussions.
The afternoon of the second day was devoted to a seminar on medical ethics in which a panel discussion was held to propose recommendations for developing bioethics in the country. The panelists consisted of members of the medical community, media, a PMDC representative and Islamic scholars. Dr. Moazam initiated the proceedings with a talk highlighting the various ethical and professional issues that confront physicians today. Ms. Anika Khan then highlighted the patient’s perspectives in how healthcare is delivered to the common man in this country and how suffering is actually enhanced by the callous attitudes of the various care providers.
Following the presentations and panel discussion, a set of recommendations was presented by Dr. Aamir Jafarey. Further input from the audience was sought via email so that their recommendations could be finalized.

Peoples Medical College, Bioethics Education Sessions
May 6, 2010, Nawabshah

CBEC faculty drove to Nawabshah at the request of the Peoples Medical College to conduct bioethics sessions with their students and postgraduate trainees. The students session was attended by about 200 students from 4th and 5th year MBBS. Dr. Moazam gave an overview of bioethics and Dr. Jafarey followed by showing a movie, a CBEC production "The Sounds of Silence", and then moderating a discussion afterwards.
The session with the trainees from different specialties was held in the afternoon in which discussions were held on different ethical issues.

Peoples Medical College, Clinical Ethics Workshop
January 7 - 8, 2010, Nawabshah

CBEC faculty took a five hour car ride into the interior of Sindh to the town of Nawabshah to conduct a two day workshop on Clinical Ethics at the Peoples Medical College (PMC). WHO was a collaborating partner in arranging the workshop at PMC. The event was attended by 30 faculty members, ranging from Assistant Professors to Professors and Heads of departments. Dr. Moazam began the proceedings by giving an introduction to clinical ethics. She gave the background for the development of interest in biomedical ethics in the West. She quoted several instances highlighting exploitation of patients and public at the hands of physicians and researchers and how these incidents were instrumental in galvanizing public opinion and thereby providing a stimulus for the development of a new field of biomedical ethics. Dr. Aamir Jafarey spoke on identifying ethical dilemmas and how to deal with them once they were identified. On the second day, Dr. Aamir gave a presentation on physicians appearing in commercials and being involved in promoting products, highlighting the ethical issues raised by these activities. Dr. Bushra Shirazi made a presentation on the recently launched Karachi Bioethics Group Ethical Guidelines for Physician-Pharmaceutical Industry Interactions, highlighting some of its salient features. This led to a very good discussion in the application of these guidelines in the public sector setting.

2009

Khyber Medical University, Research Ethics Workshop
September 28-29 2009, Peshawar

CBEC faculty was invited to conduct a two day workshop on Research Ethics at Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar, on September 28 and 29, 2009. This was organized by the Directorate of Research and Development of the University. The participants included faculty and trainees from the KMU affiliate institutions from within Peshawar and from other cities including Mardan, Kohat and Swat, to mention just a few. The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Mohammad Hafizullah, attended the entire workshop personally, as did the other senior faculty of KMU, indicating the level of interest at the institution for research ethics.
There were over 200 participants in the open sessions and even the small group sessions had about 100 participants taking part in lively discussions. Since most of the KMU affiliate institutions are in the process of developing ERCs, the workshop was of great relevance to them, especially the component on development of Terms of Reference for ERCs.
The CBEC faculty came away after promising to conduct further workshops in Peshawar in the near future.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Research Ethics Workshop
March 1, 2009, Lahore

The event was organized in conjunction with the 8th Cancer Symposium of the Hospital. Dr. Samina Mansoor, student of CBEC's Postgraduate Diploma in Biomedical Ethics, Class of 2007, was the main organizer. The event was attended by over 200 participants from SKM and also other hospitals. CBEC alumni from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi also attended the event. In addition to Drs. Farhat Moazam and Aamir Jafarey, the speakers included Dr. Richard Cash from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and Dr. Athula Sumatipala from the Institute of Research and Development, Colombo.

Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Research Ethics Workshop
February 23, 2009, Jamshoro

CBEC was invited to organize and conduct a workshop for training the members of the newly established ERC at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences on February 23, 2009, at Jamshoro. Dr. Faisal Ghani, alumnus of the Class of 2006, was the local organizer. The workshop was constructed to give participants the actual experiences of the ERC and a number of important issues were covered. During the workshop, Dr. Moazam gave a talk on “Human Subject Research and Ethics Review Committees” and Dr. Jafarey spoke on "Fundamental concepts for Ethical Review for ERC members". This was followed by small group work and case discussions.

2008

Emerging Issues in Bioethics: Conference and Clinical Ethics Workshop
October 25, 26, 2008, at SIUT, Karachi

CBEC organized this two day event which consisted of open plenary sessions and a workshop on clinical ethics for registered participants. Approximately 200 people from different walks of life attended the open sessions while 55 were registered for the workshop.

Shifa College of Medicine, Research Ethics Workshop
March 26, 2008, Islamabad

Drs. Farhat Moazam and Aamir Jafarey were invited to conduct this workshop at Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad. This ethics workshop was organized on behalf of the institution by Drs. Ashraf Hussain and Bushra Khizar, both graduates of CBEC's Postgraduate Diploma in Biomedical Ethics, Class of 2007. This was the first workshop related to research ethics at the institution and drew in a wide variety of participants.

International Bioethics Conference "Bioethics Education in Pakistan, Necessity, and not a Luxury", COMSTECH Secretariat
March 27-29, 2008, Islamabad

This conference was organized by CBEC at the request of COMSTECH and was funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC). Professor Attaur Rahman, Chairman HEC inaugurated the event. Participants included Dr. Darryl Macer from UNESCO, Bangkok and Dr. Sahin Aksoy from Haran University, Turkey (via video link). Along with the CBEC faculty, a number of PGD graduates also presented papers at the conference which was attended by participants not only from the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area but also from other regions of Punjab and NWFP. This event included two workshops, one on bioethics education led by Dr. Macer and the other one on clinical ethics, facilitated by Drs. Farhat Moazam, Aamir Jafarey and Bushra Shirazi.

2nd CBEC UNESCO Bioethics Education Workshop
March 30, 2008, Karachi

This workshop was organized by CBEC in collaboration with UNESCO and mainly focused on introducing high school teachers to the various tools which can be used to teach bioethics. Dr. Darryl Macer of UNESCO, Bangkok facilitated the workshop which was attended by approximately 80 teachers from all over the city as well as a few from outside Karachi.

2007

Shifa College of Medicine, Clinical Ethics Workshop
May 23-25, 2007, Islamabad

Drs. Farhat Moazam and Aamir Jafarey conducted this workshop which was organized by Drs. Ashraf Hussain and Bushra Khizar, both students of CBEC's Postgraduate Diploma in Biomedical Ethics, Class of 2007. The morning session was open to all and consisted of plenary talks while the afternoon was devoted to an interactive workshop for 30 participants.

Shaikh Zayed Post Graduate Medical Institute, Research Ethics Workshop
November 26-28, 2007, Lahore

This workshop was organized by Ms. Farkhanda Ghafoor, a graduate of CBEC's PDG Class of 2006. This was a first of its kind at this major training institute and research centre and drew in participation not only from the host institute but also from neighboring institutions as well. Drs. Farhat Moazam and Aamir Jafarey facilitated the workshop.

2006

Joint CBEC-UNESCO Conference on "Bioethics Education”
January 21-22, 2006, Karachi

This conference was organized in collaboration with UNESCO and focused on training high school teachers to incorporate bioethics education in their curricula. This was the first bioethics training opportunity focusing on high school teachers in Pakistan and there were over 100 participants from all over the city as well as from neighboring towns.

2005

"Fundamentals of Research Ethics: International and Regional Perspectives"
November 28-29, 2005, Karachi

This two day conference with international and regional speakers aimed at familiarizing medical researchers, physicians, nurses, administrators, research sponsors and government policy makers about risks to research subjects, and how these can be minimized.

"Stem Cell Research and Cloning: Science, Ethics and Religious Perspectives"
August 13, 2005, Karachi

This half day symposium was organized to discuss the different ethical aspects of stem cell research and cloning. Speakers included eminent scientist Dr. Qasim Mehdi, renowned haematologist Dr. Tahir Shamsi and Dr. Farhat Moazam.

"Foundations of Moral Thought: From the Greeks to Contemporary Bioethics"
April 4-9, 2005, Karachi

This week long event was the first academic activity undertaken by CBEC at SIUT premises. It consisted of a daily seminar which was open to public where scholars presented their papers and an intensive course for a limited number of registered participants.