FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
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ilar cross-campus delivery between Mona, Cave Hill, St Augustine and Bahamas campuses are the base for teaching delivery of the NeuroAnatomy part of the DM Psychiatry. These initiatives contribute to the harmonization of the programmes between the different campuses. Digital transformation exists also in research. For example, it is possible to examine and acquire in Mona the images of scanned histological slides from a server of the Gene Therapy Program in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, using a particular software and to perform morpho- metric studies using these data. Under the leadership of Dr Sherline Brown, Stage 1 Co-ordinator of the MBBS programme, the curriculum committee approved the revised format of the cur- riculum for Stage 1, following the suggestions of the Stage 1 Curriculum Working Group Committee. The committee comprises of several Academic Staff of BMS. Among the suggested recommendations were an increase of the contents related to radiology, ethics and gender issues in the Stage I curriculum. The Department continues to participate in the teaching of DM Surgery Residents in the fields of Physiology and Anatomy, as well as to contribute to the related examination process for these students. The Department remains involved in an experiment of self-learning where 2nd and 3rd year-MBBS students are mentoring 1st-year students, by performing demon- strations and mock-examinations on Thursday afternoons, in the context of a student association called UWISS (UWI Surgical Society). This initiative motivates the older students and make them familiar with preparing topics and presenting in front of small groups. In order to prepare their presentations, students come to the laboratory outside of regular hours. It is beneficial to the 1st year students as they can receive advice from their peers. Research As noted by the members of the QAR team in their report, “the Department is to be commended for its strong research culture as, despite challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a substantial increase in the number of peer-reviewed publi- cations. Graduate students also actively contribute to research in the Department”. However, financial constraints directly impact the productivity of the Academic staff members. During the last year, there was an effort to increase the collaboration between different sections in the Department. For example, a project focused on novel treatment of seizures by natural products are involving the Sections of Physiology, Anatomy, Pharmacology and Biochemistry. A similar approach has been used for studies on the experimental treatment of diabetes. A collaboration was developed between the Section of Anatomy, SMRT and the Department of Physics in the
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