More than 800 participants, including teachers, school counsellors and students with aspirations to become the next generation of medical leaders flocked to the High School Medical Conference of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).
A total of 848 participants, mostly high-achieving students from different high schools in Qatar and from around the world took part in the online event. It featured a research competition, professional development workshops and a wide range of virtual activities giving insight into the study and practice of medicine.
In addition to Qatar, students from 15 other participating countries joined the conference: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
A glimpse into a medical career
The one-day event is designed to give students a chance to explore the prospect of a career in medicine, a glimpse of life as a medical student at WCM-Q, and an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to understand and communicate complex information through a poster presentation on a research topic of their choice.
The activities also included an interactive quiz session and the ‘Medicine Unlimited Virtual Fair’ which showcased anatomy lab activities, facilities at the Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab, work by the office of the Institute for Population Health, and a session on admissions requirements at WCM-Q.
Noha Saleh, Director of Premedical Administration, Student Outreach and Educational Development, said they are extremely grateful that so many talented high school students from all over the globe participated in the conference and very impressed by the maturity, intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm they demonstrated.
She said that studying at WCM-Q opens a vast array of opportunities in medicine, research and community development, offering the chance to not only develop extremely successful and rewarding careers but also make meaningful contributions to society.
We hope we will see many of the participants in the conference go on to join us at WCM-Q as students in the very near future.
Research competition
Seventeen teams from 13 schools from across Qatar participated in the research competition held during the conference.
The final round of the poster presentations was judged by Physics Professor Dr Mohammad Yousef, Biology Associate Professor Dr Kuei-Chiu Chen and Premedical Division Chemistry Lecturer Dr Majda Sebah.
The winners of the research competition were announced in the concluding session of the event, with Team 31 from the American School of Doha clinching first place with their topic, ‘Effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of adolescents, led by Maria Manacheril. The winning team comprised five students – Omar Abdallah, Ibrahim Al-Hassani, Bassam Almoli, Mohamed Rami Ayeche, and Mohamed Al-Thani.
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