The Hamdan Medical Award has honoured winners of the research competition held at the 9th Student Scientific Conference at Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University (RAKMHSU).

The conference was attended by Dr. Shereen Hamada, Senior Medical Coordinator at the Award, and Dr. Stephany El Hayek, Senior Scientific Coordinator at the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, RAKMHSU’s managerial board, students, and graduates.

The conference closed with an award ceremony for winners of the lab- and survey-based research competitions, poster presentations, innovative project proposals (Innovation at RAKMHSU), and a video competition.

The valedictory lab-based project was an investigation of the Prevalence of Staphylococcus Aureus Nasal Carriers Among Health Care Personnel of Selected Hospitals in Ras Al Khaimah, U.A.E. (Bolbol et al., 2018). In second place came a Formulation and Evaluation of Mouth Dissolving Tablets for Better Oral Hygiene (Debe, 2018), followed by a study on Use of CRISPR-Ca9 Technique for Bacterial Gene Editing (Al-Wawi et al., 2018) and a an in-vitro study on The Inhibitory Effect of Fresh Cranberry, Strawberry and Blueberry Juices on The Viability of Cariogenic Bacteria (Riaz & Waqar, 2018).

The four winning survey-based studies were: An integrated Study Assessing Profile and The Quality of Life of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis Due to Chronic Kidney Disease (Sudha, Raj & Ashraf, 2018); Prevalence of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Bacterial Pathogens Cultured From Sputum of ICU Patients in Selected Hospitals of Ras Al-Khaimah (Al-Ezairji et al., 2018); and Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Pathogens Associated With Blood Stream Infections and Urinary Tract Infections Among Intensive Care Unit (Gunasekaran & Ahmed, 2018).

The winning poster presentations were: Study of Bacterial Pathogens and Their Antibiogram From Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Spact Among RAKMHSU Students (Sahyouni et al., 2018) ; and A Study of Compliance toubjects (Ahmad et al., 2018); Study and Analysis of Successful Weight Loss Along With Its Im Treatment in Patients With Chronic Diseases (Iqbal et al., 2018).

The winning project of Innovation at RAKMHSU was a blueprint for a smartphone app for diabetes management, and the winning video project was a short film on ethics in medical practice.

A Graduate student special prize was awarded to a pilot study on the oral health of autistic children at the RAK Autism Center (Irfan, Shahid & Kharfan, 2018).