ASIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS'
ASSOCIATION HONG KONG
(AMSAHK)
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Academic
Research
Academic Department (ACAD)
OUR VISION
The Academic Department of AMSAHK follows the structure of the Asian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) International. Our department is first and foremost committed to the fostering of interest and ability in academic research within medicine. This vision is enacted on two scopes.
Firstly, the Academic department seeks to raise awareness of the possibilities of participation in academic research among the medical student communities of Hong Kong University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We also hope to increase interest, familiarity, and ability in the process of research, as this skill we believe to be necessary both to education in medical school, as well as development further on in various medical careers.
The second, focused scope lies within AMSAHK; our department seeks to hone our own capability in writing and presenting research, and to use these skills to increase the reputation of Hong Kong’s research among medical students internationally through participation in academic conferences.
Projects
Conferences
The Asian Medical Student Association, of which AMSAHK is a chapter, hosts two conferences yearly, the EAMSC and the AMSC, both of which combine cultural, academic, and educational exchange. The Academic department participates in both conferences, though we take different roles in each one.
The Asian Medical Students Conference (AMSC) is held in the summer period. The conference is similar to the EAMSC but on a larger scale, with more than 20 Asian-Pacific chapters. This year AMSAHK participated in the scientific paper competition with a paper on the topic of Telerehabilitation Conveyed Caregiver Empowerment for enhancement of Hip Fracture Recovery - protocol development for a single blinded randomised control trial.
The competitions follow a different theme every year, and as AMSAHK our projects target issues relevant to Hong Kong, so that we gain a better understanding of the state of medical problems in Hong Kong. By participating in these competitions, we raise the reputation of Hong Kong as a research hub internationally, as well as learning about situations and perspectives in research from other countries.
Our work has been recognised in most, if not all, of the EAMSCs since 2011. We are grateful for the opportunity to present our findings to panels of professors and audience of delegates from all over Asia every year, as well as to receive awards for that.
2023 AMSC Academic Competition
Scientific poster: “Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dry Eye Disease among Chinese Geriatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis” (first place)
Scientific paper: “Improving Hip Fracture Recovery in Elderly Patients Through Telerehabilitation: A Double-Blinded Randomised Controlled Trial” (third place)
We were honoured to have the opportunity to work on a project with Dr Kendrick Shih titled ‘Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dry Eye Disease among Chinese Geriatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis’. Dry eye disease (DED) is a common and debilitating ocular condition that affects millions of people worldwide. In recent years, there has been a noticeable rise in DED occurrence in the elderly population, yet there is a lack of research focusing on this growing and vulnerable group. We were able to conduct a cross-sectional population-based study to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of dry eye disease in Hong Kong’s Chinese geriatric population. The other project focused on improving hip features recovery in elderly patients through telerehabilitation, and our team was able to generate significant results to present to the audience.
Our submissions for the scientific poster and scientific paper entered the final round of the academic competitions at AMSC in Taiwan. Our department divided into two groups to present our work to the judges and other general delegates in the above-mentioned categories. We were awarded 1st place for the scientific poster (titled: “Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dry Eye Disease among Chinese Geriatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis”) and 3rd place for the scientific paper (titled: “Improving Hip Fracture Recovery in Elderly Patients Through Telerehabilitation: A Double-Blinded Randomised Controlled Trial”).
ACAD Workshop Series 2023
The ACAD Workshop Series was a four-part webinar series held online via Zoom, where distinguished professors and researchers from both HKU and CUHK were invited to share their insights on the overarching theme of ‘empowering research amongst medical students.’ Each of the 4 workshops drew focus onto a specific topic, aiming to provide an overview of academic-grade medical research, demonstrate quantitative data analysis through Microsoft Excel, introduce cutting-edge research involving artificial intelligence, and share various ongoing frontline research projects led by both schools, respectively.
Each workshop featured one or more speakers with expertise in the selected theme and each speaker was in direct liaison with a member of ACAD to ensure effective planning and communication prior to and during the workshop. More specifically, each member of ACAD was allocated to plan and host one of the four workshops, where the planning phase involved reaching out to potential
speakers from either school. Workshop 1 featured Dr Kendrick Shih from HKU, who from his vast experiences of working with both clinical and non-clinical students, was able to share his insights on the process of transferring from secondary school to university-grade scientific research. Workshop 2 was led by Dr Michael Yu, who as a member of the CUHK Department of Computer Science and Engineering, gave a profound overview of basic Excel commands and how they can be applied to different examples of quantitative data. Workshop 3 involved both Dr Christopher See and Dr Joshua Ho, who are active researchers and experts in utilising novel technology and programming to analyse, log, and track data. The final symposium featured several guests including Professor Jason Chan, Dr Abraham Wai, and their research mentees who shared with the audience their respective research projects in cutting-edge topics such as surgical robotics and emergency medicine.
Aside from the guest presentations, each workshop also included an introductory session briefing the roles and visions of AMSAHK & ACAD, the main objectives of each workshop, and a Q&A session at the end of the guest speakers’ presentations.
2023 EAMSC Academic Competition
Scientific poster: “Characteristics and Trends of Heatstroke-Related Emergency Department Visits: A Multicentre Retrospective Study” (first place)
Scientific paper: “Clinical Profiles and Predictors of Traumatic Brain Injury Mortality: A Post Hoc Analysis” (finalist)
We collaborated with Dr. Abraham Wai from the Department of Emergency Medicine (HKU) on two projects related to the theme of Mountain and Wilderness Medicine. The projects were titled “Characteristics and Trends of Heatstroke-Related Emergency Department Visits: A Multicentre Retrospective Study” and “Clinical Profiles and Predictors of Traumatic Brain Injury Mortality: A Post Hoc Analysis”, respectively. We collected data from the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS) and conducted statistical analyses using R Studio. The final results were reported in the abstracts submitted to academic competitions of the East Asian Medical Students’ Conference 2023 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Both projects made it to the final round of academic competitions at EAMSC in Nepal. Our department was divided into two groups to present the projects to the judges on the second day. The project titled “Characteristics and Trends of Heatstroke-Related Emergency Department Visits: A Multicentre Retrospective Study” ultimately won first place in the scientific poster competition, earning us a trophy and certificates.
