Translating Research into Practice: Revolutionising Healthcare Delivery and Outcomes

The School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia organised a two-day conference, named Monash International Health Science and Technology Conference 2023 (Monash INITIATE 2023) on 25 and 26 October 2023. Monash INITIATE 2023 was staged under the theme of "Translating Research into Practice: Revolutionizing Healthcare Delivery and Outcomes," which provides a good platform for advancing pharmacy and health sciences research and innovation in order to better prepare scientists for the future. The main objective of this conference was to provide a platform that bridges academicians, researchers, students, healthcare workers and representatives from industry in order to share and discuss scientific works in the field of drug discovery and synthesis, drug delivery, life sciences, public health, clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice, digital health and big data analysis.

Monash INITIATE 2023 attracted more than 150 attendees, including 50% of international participants from Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Cambodia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the conference managed to attract a huge number of scientific papers from various sectors in health sciences, including academia, industry, and government from all over the world. To ensure quality, a minimum of two reviewers from the scientific and publication committees were assigned to review each paper.

The Organising Committee of Monash INITIATE 2023

On the first day, the opening ceremony was officiated by Professor Dato' Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (President & Pro Vice Chancellor, Monash University Malaysia). Then, during the opening ceremony, Professor Dr Gan Siew Hua, Head, School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, delivered an opening remarks speech followed by a welcome address by the organizing chairperson of Monash INITIATE 2023, Associate Professor Dr Mahendran Sekar. The inaugural event also featured a keynote speech by Professor Emeritus Dr Yuen Kah Hay from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, who spoke on "Advances in Personalised/Precision Medicine through Science and Technology." Then, another keynote speaker Prof Datin Paduka Dr Khatijah Mohamad Yusoff, discussed the potential of using viruses for cancer treatment. The session was followed by a talk on novel therapeutic plant-based interventions for lung diseases by Dr Kamal Dua and pharmaceutical regulatory processes by Mdm Rosliza Lajis. Following that, poster and oral presentation sessions offered participants with a range of learning formats that covered all of the most recent developments in Health Science and Technology.

The second day saw the keynote session started, focusing on the “Digital Health and its Relationship with Precision Health and Wellness” by Professor Chris Bain, Monash University Australia. Then, the following session discussed a topic on “Exploring Ways to Better Prepare Pharmacy Students for Practice” by Associate Professor Dr Daniel Malone, Monash University Australia, followed by a topic on Therapeutic Drug Monitoring by Dr Jannatul Ain Jamal and vaccines development by Dr Daniel Wright, Oxford University. Then, poster and oral presentation sessions provided participants with a range of learning formats that covered all of the most recent developments in Health Science and Technology.

Overall, three keynote, four plenary, one invited and over 100 oral and poster papers have been delivered in the course of the two-day conference. We'd like to acknowledge all of our keynote, plenary and invited speakers for sharing their extensive and diverse knowledge in presenting fantastic lectures. We are also grateful to all of our posters and oral presenters for their efforts in delivering interactive and lively sessions. Through the inspirational presentations, we believe that new ideas have been introduced, opening new possibilities that transcend the current limitations in various parts of the research community.

We are grateful to have ACS Monash University Malaysia International Student Chapter and ACS Malaysia Chapter as our partner and Royal Society of Biology (RSB) for supporting Monash INITIATE 2023. We are also grateful to Chemopharm, SanMedi, DPro Scientific, Sky Resources, Alpha Gas Solution, 3S Straits Scientific, d’signtory, ACS Publications, and MC Lab Supplies for graciously agreeing to be our sponsors. Overall, the support given to our conference has been invaluable and key reasons to the conference’s success. Finally, we deeply appreciate all the organising committee members and the wonderful volunteers who have directly and indirectly made the conference a successful event.

Click below image to view the Monash INITIATE 2023 eBook

Winners of Monash INITIATE 2023

Young Researcher Award:
Saleha Anwar (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India)

Best Oral Presentation Awards:

Best Poster Presentation Awards:

People’s Choice Poster Award Amelia Suhana Binti Zamri (Primary Immunodeficiency Unit, Allergy and Immunology Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, National Institute of Health, Setia Alam, Selangor, Malaysia)