UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 06 OCTOBER 2020
A UK university has welcomed 100 Indian students onto a newly launched online course focussed on supporting people living with diabetes and leading new research into the condition.
Birmingham City University has formally launched its new Master’s Degree in Advancing Diabetes Care in partnership with the University Hospitals Birmingham Diabetes Team.
The course is aimed at helping healthcare professionals develop specialist skills and techniques to enhance the level of care provided to people living with diabetes.
The first cohort of students being sponsored by Lupin Pharmaceuticals taking up their places on the course are based in India, which is home to nearly 77 million people with diabetes, and the students were given a special online welcome at a virtual event held yesterday (Thursday 1 October).
Key speakers from the UK and India gave a special welcome to the cohort and highlighted the importance of further research and development into diabetes care, particularly with Covid-19 having a disproportionate mortality rate for people with diabetes.
Among the speakers on the day were:
- Dr Anne Phillips is an Associate Professor in Diabetes Care at Birmingham City University
- Dr Shashank Vikram, Consul General of India, Birmingham
- Professor Philip Plowden, Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University
- Professor Wasim Hanif, Professor of Diabetes & Endocrinology, Consultant Physician, & Head of Service in Diabetes at University Hospital Birmingham
- Dr Andrew Fleming became the Deputy High Commissioner to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in July 2017.
- Mr Rajeev Sibal, President Lupin Pharmaceuticals
- Mr Brijendra Singh, Senior Vice President, Lupin Pharmaceuticals
Dr Shishank Vikram said: "When I was an undergraduate student of medicine, at that point in time in India we used to read about diabetes in the subcategory of lifestyle diseases. Now we have seen the spread of this disease across all age groups, impacting people with different social backgrounds.
"At this particular juncture the launch of the MSc is a very important step which will go a long way in not only providing quality training but in the exchange of best practice between the two sides.
"The students that are joining this course are all medical doctors and I wish them the best.”
The course has been designed for healthcare professionals including GPs, hospital-based doctors, specialist nurses and practice nurses, midwives, dietitians, podiatrists, pharmacists, psychologists and other roles in many healthcare sectors.
It takes a global focus on the rise in diabetes to contribute to tackling the rising problem facing the world.
Professor Philip Plowden, Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham City University, said: "This celebration is all about those of you who are studying on the programme. We welcome you and we recognise how important this is.
"The skills and knowledge that you develop on this course are going to result in evidenced-based effective diabetes care. We know the impact of this is going to be felt for generations.
"I wish all of you the very best, and thank all of our partners for what you've done."
Professor Hanif said: "The reason why this course is important is, if you look at the numbers there are currently 463 million people with diabetes globally. In India we are approaching 77 million people living with diabetes.
"Globally every seven seconds somebody dies from diabetes, including in countries like India. To give you some perspective on these things, every day nearly 12,000 people die from diabetes.
"The aim of this course is to try and give the most advanced skills to healthcare professionals trying to manage diabetes.”
More information about the course can be found on the University’s website.