OPENING OF THE CURTAINS
On the 12th November 2022 at 9.30 a.m, PharmaQuora’22 was inaugurated at TMA Pai Hall, 1st floor, KMC Manipal. The biggest academic fest of Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) began with a brief introduction on PharmaQuora, an invocation song, and an address by the Academic Secretary of MCOPS, including an introduction to the chief guest, Dr. Arun Maiya, Dean, Manipal College of Health Professions (MCHP), MAHE, Manipal. The lighting of the lamp followed it, and then an address by Dr. C. MallikarjunaRao, Principal, MCOPS, to the guests, faculty, and students, where he marked the event to be “of the students, by the students, for the students’’. The chief guest was given a token of appreciation, after which he spoke highly about the bond between MCOPS and MCHP while talking about the transformation of learning systems. The inauguration ended with a Vote of Thanks to all the entities involved in making the event happen. With this, the fest commenced.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY’S BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Mr. Yogendra Pandey, Lead, Business Development at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and alumnus of the host Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS), was the keynote speaker at the first seminar of PharmaQuora’22 at 10:15 a.m. at TMA Pai Hall, 1st floor, KMC Manipal. During his hour-longtalk, he simplified the current situation in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry so that the audience could learn and apply it to the betterment of their careers and the patients they connect with. He identified pediatric dermatology as the current trend and used examples to explain the advantages and superior evaluation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. He talked about the trends changing to an herbal organic base and the qualities of a successful mindset. Upon being prompted, he concluded with guidance on how to deal with rejection.
COLLABORATION ON THE PATH TO SUCCESS
After a tea break, participants reconvened back at the same venue for another educational session at 11:30 a.m., led by Dr.Kavitha Saravu. Through an example-filled interactive session, Dr. Saravu, Professor and Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, KMC Manipal, explained the meaning, methods, importance, and basics of collaborative research. She listed the four translations in the research process and stated that all research directions should be towards the benefit of society. She mentioned the hierarchy in clinical studies and the importance of connections, and retelling her own experiences reinforced her previous words. The event concluded with Dr.Saravu being presented with a memento of appreciation.
POSTER PRESENTATION: DAY 1
After a quick lunch break, the parking lot of Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) saw itself fully occupied from 2–4:30 p.m., with posters encompassing the unique ideas of all the 51 teams. With ten judges for the two categories, i.e., research concept and theme-based conceptual posters, the teams presented their hard work to the judges and the audience.
QUIZZED: TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
On 10th November, a bustling crowd of eager participants had signalled the Prelims of the PharmaQuora quiz. The event had taken place from 5:15-5:45 pm. Evaluation had resulted in five teams from the junior and senior categories getting selected for the final round. Two days later, on the 12th of November, the finals took place, with all the teams putting up a tough fight. In the junior category, Ms. Shaili Chauhan, Manya Gupta and Supreetha Nayak won first place, and in the senior category Ms. Raksha Shettigar, Dhruv Dixit and Subbulakshmi claimed the same; the rapid-fire round was the decider making it an evening to remember.
Day one ended with the quiz finals, and the tired participants were hopeful to have an equally eventful time the following day.
POSTER PRESENTATION: DAY 2
The second day commenced with Poster presentations in the MCOPS Parking area at 8:30am. All presenters were confident and passionate about their work and due evaluation was made by the judges. With a plethora of topics covered, participants milled about reading and questioning as much as they could—making it a truly resourceful event.
After two days of judging, the final winners were announced. The people’s choice award went to Mr. Sumith S.N., while the first, second, and third prizes were awarded to Ms. Aditi Shanbhag, Mr. Sumith S.N., and Ms. Garima Joshi and her team, respectively, in the theme-based poster category. In contrast, Ms. Mugdha Kulkarni and her team, Ms. Girija Pai and her team, and Mr. Rutuj Baldota, respectively, were awarded for the same in the research poster category. In the open conceptual category, Karthikeya Mahesh Hegde and team came first. The Popular Poster award went to Shivapranav S and team.
A BATTLE OF IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE: ORAL PRESENTATION
The oral presentation event took place in Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) from 9-10 am on the same day. The air in the room was crackling, with the teams from the research-based and conceptual-based categories eager to present their cases, each more unique than the last. After presenting, each team was cross-questioned and lauded for their efforts by the evaluators. In the conceptual-based category, Mr. Anvith N. Amin, Mr. Ashwath and Mr. Anshuman Shettigar won first place while in the research-based category Ms. Amrita Patra and Ms. Kajal Manjare won the same. It was a very informative event, with everyone departing as winners.
SEMINARS BY EXPERTS
The final event of PharmaQuora was conducted in collaboration with the Manipal Student Chapter of International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (ISPOR). The event started with Dr. Manthan Janodia, Faculty Coordinator, ISPOR student Manipal chapter introducing the event and the guest speakers. Dr. Chythra Rao, Associate Professor in the Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, was the first speaker. She lectured attendees on the nuances of writing manuscripts and selecting appropriate journals for the same. Starting from the basics, she traced the path to manuscript writing with years of experience backing her words.
Her lecture was followed by Dr. Pranjali Kirloskar, lecturer, Manipal Center for European Studies. She guided the student audience through the prospects of foreign education. She covered a host of different topics, ranging from the analysis required to judge your need of studying abroad, to the various possible interpretations of university rankings. Mentioning universities from a host of different countries, she outlined the various considerations and reality checks that come with foreign education, such as ease of procuring visa, job opportunities post completion of education and the cost Vs quality of living. She detailed many aspects that those aspiring for foreign studies should be ready for and listed a multitude of scholarships for Indian students to keep a lookout for. She laid out two key points about preparing for foreign education: “Do not miss deadlines” and “Keep your documents ready”. Her speech concluded with a few words on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The third speaker of the day was Mr. Dobson D’Souza, Chief Operating Officer and Client Relations, as well as the co-founder, of Blackfrog Technologies. He shed light on the process of entrepreneurship, supplementing his lecture with stories of his own journey. He made impactful points and shared due reasoning about the same. Welcoming questions from the audience, he shared his valuable insight on everything that one needs to know to become an entrepreneur themselves. The session concluded with him encouraging everyone to start their entrepreneurial journey and reach out to him in case of any queries.
With this, Day 2 came to a close.
The fervent fest was wrapped up with a formal Valedictory ceremony. All the prize winners were awarded for their hard work and creativity. With two days of exciting academic activities under their belt, the participants and professors alike were proud about the course of events that had transpired and grateful to the organisers for doing a commendable job.
All in all, this two day long academic fest was successful in achieving its central goals— encouraging budding researchers and celebrating knowledge in its multitude forms.
Written by Adrian Rex Coutinho and Nishant Choudhary for MTTN
Edited by Tejas Kulkarni and Ishita Sharma for MTTN
Images by Prithwiraj, Pavan Krishnan, Pranav Venugopal, Hardik Verma, Iish Vaibhav for MTTN
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