Walkathon on Clinical Trials Awareness

The Department of Clinical Pharmacology organised a Walkathon on Clinical Trials Awareness to spread the message about the importance of clinical trials to the general public on June 9th, 2023. This programme was conducted in collaboration with the Indian Society for Clinical Research, which is the largest society in India that caters to clinical research professionals. ISCR has been celebrating International Clinical Trials Day for the last 1 month across several institutions in the country and this event was part of this initiative. All the staff from the departments of Clinical Pharmacology, Centre for Clinical Trials and Research as well as Pharmacology participated in this event, besides several clinicians and members of the general public.
The event started with an inaugural function, which began with Dr. Melvin George, Professor, Clinical Pharmacology, speaking about the pivotal role that clinical trials play in generating evidence that transforms clinical practice. Dr. R. Balamurugan, Medical Superintendent, spoke about the contribution of SRM in clinical trials over the last decade and encouraged the general public to participate in research. Dr. S. Poongothai, Senior Scientist and Head, Clinical Trials division, MDRF, Chennai & an ISCR representative shared about the important role played by patients in the successful conduct of clinical trials. Dr. A. Sundaram, Dean (Medical), thanked all the volunteers of the different clinical trials at SRM for their altruistic efforts and enthusiasm in participation, thereby, enabling future generations access to better medicines. Dr. Sangeetha Raja, Professor, Pharmacology, shared her perspective on clinical trials as an investigator. Two of the research participants from earlier trials conducted at SRM shared their positive experiences with the audience. A video highlighting the transformative effect of patients participating in clinical trials created by ISCR was also displayed at the event.