Cliniminds Coimbatore Centre Launched with Seminar on Career Opportunities in Clinical Research

Sept. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Cliniminds (www.cliniminds.com) is India’s largest and one of the most respected Clinical Research education and training institutes in the world, headquartered at New Delhi. Cliniminds offers wide range of job oriented training and educational programs with strong placement support. Students from Medical, Dental, Veterinary, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Siddha and BSc, MSc graduates with Life Science background are ideal candidates for these courses.

KTVR Vijaydeepa Group (www.ktvr.com) has entered into an agreement with Cliniminds to provide its classroom and e-learning courses in Clinical Research throughout Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. In addition to the Coimbatore centre, KTVR Vijaydeepa Group will also open a Cliniminds centre in Chennai shortly.

Er V Loganathan, Managing Director, Vijaydeepa Constructions (P) Ltd and Secretary, KTVR Knowledge Park for Engineering and Technology, delivered the welcome address.

Dr V Janarthanan, Senior Surgical Consultant & Managing Director, KTVR Group Hospital, delivered the Presidential address. He mentioned that by going for this unique Memorandum of Understanding with Cliniminds, KTVR Vijaydeepa Group aspired to fill in the huge gap in this part of the country between supply and demand for Clinical Research professionals. He expressed confidence that with Coimbatore and Chennai being medicities, it would be possible for such professionals to get practical training in hospitals, contract research organizations and pharmaceutical as well as biotechnology companies.

Dr J Vijay Venkatraman, Consultant Diabetologist, Diab-at-ease Clinik at KTVR Group Hospital and Head, Cliniminds Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, who also has considerable experience of working as a Physician in the Clinical Research & Pharmacovigilance industry, indicated that by the year 2014, over 50000 trained professionals would be required to meet the demand of the clinical research industry. “However, existing quality training academies in Clinical Research are few in number and only a handful of well-trained professionals pass out from them each year”, he said. He spoke about the special features of the courses offered by Cliniminds such as paid industry internships, videoconferencing lectures, scholarship programs are offered for the deserving students and tie-up with HDFC Bank for educational loans. He further stressed that genuineness and long-term focus were two qualities that Cliniminds shared with KTVR Vijaydeepa Group and were the reasons for them to choose each other as partners. He further mentioned that the Coimbatore centre would offer the following courses from September 2010:

• Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Trials Management – 9 months
• Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research & Pharmacovigilance – 6 months
• Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research & Regulatory Affairs in Pharma & Clinical Research – 6 months
• Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Data Management – 6 months
• Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Biostatistics & SAS – 6 months
• Post Graduate Diploma in Bio analytical Techniques – 6 months

Mr Kamal Shahani, Director of Cliniminds, from New Delhi who has 22 years of experience in the Clinical Research industry in global leadership roles in leading pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations spoke on Cliniminds and its achievements like having trained and placed more than 1200 clinical research professionals within the brief 6-year period since its start in the year 2004. He appreciated the fact that Coimbatore always led the list of clinical research sites which had topmost concern for ethics and recognized the investigators from this region specially. He added that people like Dr J S Bhuvaneswaran and Mr U K Ananthapadmanaban did a lot to put Coimbatore on one among the topmost positions in the World Healthcare & Clinical Research Map. He appealed to the younger generation to make use of the opportunities in clinical research and the extensive facilities offered by the Cliniminds Coimbatore centre located in the heart of the city at KTVR Gardens, 2nd Floor, 219, Marudha Konar Road, Velandipalayam, Coimbatore – 641 025.

Dr J S Bhuvaneswaran, Medical Director – Specialities & Head of the Department of Cardiology, PSG Speciality Hospitals delivered the Chief Guest address at the inaugural function during which he recollected his first exposure as an investigator in Clinical Research in the year 1997 following which the boom in the industry happened. He added that the Indian population would benefit a lot with newer drugs with the growth in Clinical Trials in India. He mentioned that taking up newer career paths in growing industries like Clinical Research would benefit the youth and the industry alike, as the need for trained professionals is always there in such fields. He appreciated KTVR Vijaydeepa Group and Cliniminds for establishing this novel venture in this region.

Mr U K Ananthapadmanabhan, President, Kovai Medical Center & Hospital, who delivered the Guest of Honour address, reminisced the long-term relationship and association he shared with KTVR Vijaydeepa Group and lauded their efforts in establishing a training institution for Clinical Research, an idea which did not occur to other hospitals even though clinical trials have been happening in Coimbatore since long. He stressed upon the importance to be given to ethics and patient safety during clinical trials. He added that all life science graduates had good prospects in this field. He, being a Mechanical Engineer, had switched to the hospital industry way back in 1983, much to everyone’s surprise. But, quoting that he never looked back in his career since then, he added that he himself was an example of how properly planned career diversification could benefit in the long-run. He also assured all support possible from his side for Cliniminds and KTVR Vijaydeepa Group.

Dr M Ramanathan, Principal, PSG College of Pharmacy, felicitated the function. He lauded the KTVR Vijaydeepa Group-Cliniminds partnership as a milestone in the Research & Development scenario of Coimbatore. He further added that academia-industry collaborations are indispensable in today’s education environment. He assured that his complete support as an individual as well as an institutional head was always available for the students of Cliniminds.

Dr Vikram Kukkadi, Clinical Safety Monitor, Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd, from Bangalore felicitated the function. He specified that since Dr J Vijay Venkatraman had worked in all aspects of Clinical Research and Pharmacovigilance, he had no doubt that the centres headed by him would be centres of excellence. He also mentioned that KTVR Vijaydeepa Group would be the best persons to manage Cliniminds centres in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. As an industry person, he strongly felt that the curricula offered by Cliniminds were exhaustive but at the same time practical-oriented. He offered his co-operation and support in all ways for the betterment of the students of Cliniminds.

Dr. S. Sundaramurthy, Consultant Paediatrician & Director, KTVR Group Hospital proposed the vote of thanks.   

During the inaugural function, Dr J Vijay Venkatraman and Mr Kamal Shahani exchanged copies of the Memorandum of Understanding between KTVR Vijaydeepa Group and Cliniminds, soon after the Coimbatore Centre was inaugurated by all the dignitaries on stage by lighting the lamp.

The inaugural function was followed by a seminar on “Career Opportunities in Clinical Research”. More than 200 delegates (students and working professionals) from Life Science backgrounds actively participated in the seminar. After the seminar, Mr Kamal Shahani and Dr J Vijay Venkatraman answered the questions from the attendees.

For more information, please contact tamilnadu@cliniminds.com or 94422-25311 or
Visit http://www.cliniminds.com/presentation/Coimbatore.aspx

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KTVR Vijaydeepa Group, founded in the year 1980, is based in Coimbatore and consists of Vijaydeepa Constructions (P) Ltd., KTVR Group Hospital, KTVR Knowledge Park for Engineering and Technology, Prathipa’s Archidesigns, www.ratedprofiles.com, etc.