TALAMBAN, CEBU CITY- As part of the 2016 Central Visayas Health Research and Innovation Conference, communicators including writers, journalists, communication professors, videographers, and bloggers from Cebu met for the first time in a meeting of health research communicators last Thursday at University of San Carlos Talamban Campus.

The meeting aims to gather communicators from the region to form SHARE, an initiative of the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) to reach more stakeholders.

SHARE is a community of health research communicators who believes in the power of communication to share health research stories, advocacies, local and national initiatives. The community will support PNHRS and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) in communicating and translating research to benefit health research stakeholders.

During the meeting, Dr. Laurence Garcia, Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development (CVCHRD) Chair, also presented the plan of the region in establishing their network of health research communicators.

Among their planned initiatives are the use of broadcast media and quad media to enable interactive information-sharing, Youtube to communicate challenging health researches, and capacity-building workshops to capacitate members.

“The community of health research communicators [SHARE] will help improve the dissemination of health research results in the country,” Dr. Garcia emphasized.

For communicators who are interested to join SHARE, you may contact Ms. Ladylove Baurile at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 837-0031. You can also visit www.healthresearch.ph for more information. ■

GUIDELINES

PURPOSE

The Alberto G. Romualdez, Jr. Outstanding Health Research Award (AROHRA) encourages researchers to be sensitive to the scientific and technological requirements of the health delivery system and rewards those whose research have contributed significantly to addressing prevalent health issues.

The Award gives recognition to a research program or project that has demonstrated the link between research and practice through the utilization of research findings in the health delivery system. Given by the Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) in collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH), the award has two (2) categories: Biomedical Research and Health Services Research.

NOMINATION PROCEDURES

1. What can be nominated

Any health research program or project may be considered for the Award. Work to be nominated may fall under any of two categories: Biomedical Research or Health Services Research.

For Biomedical Research, the program or project must be engaged in generating and/or adapting appropriate health technologies that address specific health problems and emphasize the development of diagnostic tools and techniques, biological (e.g. drugs, vaccines, functional foods, etc.), biomedical devices, and ICT-based healthcare technologies.

For Health Services Research, the program or project must be involved in the organization, administration, operation, utilization and other aspects of health services delivery systems that address the country’s social, political, cultural, and economic conditions.

2. Who can nominate

Any institution; members of the consortium; scientific, technological and professional societies or associations; research institutes; universities and colleges; and individuals may nominate. Self-nomination is not allowed.

3. Who can be nominated and what can be a nominated entry

The award is open to a completed research program or project done by Filipino researcher/s. The nominated entry must be done mainly in the Philippines.

For purposes of this Award, a research program refers to a group of interrelated or complementing research projects that require an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach to meet established goal/s within a specific time frame, while a research project refers to the basic unit in the investigation of specific research problems with predetermined objective/s to be accomplished within a specific time frame.

4. How to nominate

Nominations should be made using the prescribed nomination form. Entries from both consortium member institutions and non-consortium member institutions must be submitted to and endorsed by the Chair of the consortium. Each nomination should include ALL of the following:

a. Write-up on the impact of the project on health delivery,a contextualization of the problem that the project/program seeks to address and a description of the program/project, highlighting how the results were utilized, as well as the benefits derived from their utilization.
b. One copy of each of the technical reports and/or publicationsof the completed projects leading to technology transfer and/or translation to a policy formulation or program intervention.
c. Statement from the technology user(s) and program or project end-userdescribing the contribution of the technology and project or program in improving health delivery.

• After the preliminary screening, the judges may ask for additional supporting documents from the nominees.

5. Schedule of Selection and Awarding

The Award is given every three (3) years.

6. Where to send nominations

a. Nominations should be submitted to the regional consortium secretariat not later the deadline. (Please refer to the attached paper for list of addresses)

b. Endorsed entries by the consortium chair should be submitted to DOST-PCHRD.

INCENTIVES

The Award consists of a cash prize of P 500,000 and a trophy for winners of each category.

DEADLINE OF SUBMISSION
Consortium: February 24, 2017
DOST-PCHRD: March 3, 2017

To download the complete guidelines and the Nomination Form, click HERE.