Abstract
Background: Research strengthening and capacity development in academic health systems are important for advancing medicine, delivering best practices, improving patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs. The Research Forum is a biomedicine and health research strengthening program facilitated by the lead organization of the Academic Health System in Qatar. The event brought together researchers and health professionals together so they could present their research work on a particular health or research topic and network with a targeted local audience. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated the Research Forum program from August 2015 to July 2016. The Research Forum was designed as a pan-institutional multi-disciplinary program that would convene quarterly and bring health professionals and researchers together to present their work on a particular health and research topic. The primary outcome was peer-reviewed journal publications of the Research Forum events’ research presentations. The secondary outcomes were the number of attendees and speakers at the successive Research Forum events during the study period. Results: There were five Research Forum events in the first year: Neuroscience (August, 2015), Heart (October 2015), Infections (January 2016), Cancer (March 2016), and Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism (May 2016). A total of 722 health professionals and researchers attended the Research Forum events with 68 studies presented: 5 in Neuroscience, 10 in Heart, 12 in Infections, 18 in Cancer, and 23 in Diabetes/Metabolism. There were 13(19%) research presentations that were successfully published in peer-reviewed journals. The mean time between the study presentation and publication was 2.85 + 1.9 months (median 2; IQR 1.5, 4). None of the presenter and study characteristics variables considered for publication of presented studies was statistically significant. Conclusions: The Research Forum was a capacity building and research-strengthening program at an individual, institutional, and national level. The Research Forum was a unique program that brought together health professionals and researchers from various health institutions, universities, and organizations on a unifying health and research topic.
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