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UCL and AIIMS strengthen clinical and healthcare engineering links

27 November 2019

The two institutions have agreed to work more closely together and launch new seed funding to support academic collaboration

UCL and AIIMS signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2019

UCL and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have strengthened their partnership by laying out plans to further develop and foster academic links.

The two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 4 November 2019, with a view to work more closely together in a range of research and education areas – from cardiovascular science, hepatology and neurology, to women and children’s health and healthcare engineering.

As well as formalising the MoU, the two institutions agreed to launch a seed funding stream to support collaboration.

Ongoing collaboration

AIIMS is India’s leading medical college and medical research public university based in New Delhi. It operates autonomously under the Indian government’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

UCL and AIIMS have had a range of collaborations over many years, in areas such as public, environmental and occupational health, infectious diseases and genetics.

The UCL-AIIMS partnership will encourage faculty and student exchanges, as well as joint workshops and conferences linked to research activities.

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, UCL’s Pro-Vice-Provost (South Asia) said: “It’s great that we have strengthened and cemented our partnership with AIIMS with these tangible, visible actions. This has been possible by positive action, mutual respect and a desire to work together.”

Sharing best practice

The MoU signing took place following a period of intense activity in the UCL-AIIMS collaboration.

In November, a UCL delegation travelled out to India to take part in the first ever international workshop on nursing care and community outreach at AIIMS.

The delegation included Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, Professor Terence Stephenson, Dr Suresh Pujar (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), Mr Abraham Cherian (UCLH) and Dr Darren Player (UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science).

AIIMS Director, Professor Randeep Guleria, also presented Professor Lakhanpaul with a recognition award at the parallel paediatric surgical conference to which some members of the delegation contributed.

With a view to tackling the health challenges that mothers and children can face, delegates discussed best practice and current trends in the fields of obstetrics, paediatrics and paediatric surgery. The Master’s students also presented their research responding to India’s challenges to the international audience.

Earlier in the year, UCL's Institute of Healthcare Engineering welcomed an AIIMS delegation to its Global Healthcare Engineering Symposium to profile their work together in developing affordable technologies.

The symposium was a showcase of excellence in interdisciplinary healthcare engineering across UCL, involving a mix of panel discussions, live research demonstrations and stories from people with lived experience.