The 12th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC) held in conjunction with the 3rd International Conference on Faculty Development in the Health Professions (ICFDHP), was held in Asia for the first time, from 4 to 8 February 2015 at the National University of Singapore.
Organised by the Centre for Medical Education (CenMED), previously known as the Medical Education Unit (MEU), the Conference allowed participants to share their experiences as educators, learn the latest ideas and international best practices from experts in medical and healthcare professional education.
Now in its 12th year, the Conference continues to grow and strengthen, attracting over 1,100 participants from 46 countries this year, up from around 800 participants from 34 countries in 2014.
Chief Guest Professor Tan Eng Chye, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost, NUS, opened the Conference by sharing his own experience with developing faculty in higher educational institutes as the Opening Plenary Lecture.
In view of the joint organisation of the two conferences, the programme focused heavily on the theme “Enhancing Faculty Development at the Workplace: From Theory to Practice – Trends, Issues, Priorities, Strategies (TIPS)”. A wide array of pre- and post-conference workshops and training programs was conducted in collaboration with the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) and the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) to complement the main program.
With APMEC 2015 boasting a total of 41 Pre-Conference Workshops, 6 Plenary Lectures, 14 Symposia including the AMEE Symposium, 5 Meet-the-Expert Sessions, 1 Great Idea in Medical Education (GIME) Session, 8 Free Communication Presentations, 6 student presenters presenting on “Social Responsibility: Nurturing from Young – Students’ Perspective”, 20 Best Abstract for Poster Presentations, 210 Poster Presentations and 3 Post-Conference workshops, many participants responded positively and pledged to return for the 13th APMEC from 13 to 17 January 2016.
Participants from 46 countries at the Opening Ceremony held at the University Cultural Centre, NUS.
Prof Brian D Hodges (second from left) and A/Prof Chong Yap Seng (second from right) receiving the APMEC-MILES (Mentoring, Innovation and Leadership in Educational Scholarship) Award from Prof John Wong, Chief Executive of NUHS (middle) with Dr Dujeepa D. Samarasekera, Director of CenMED and Chairman of the Organising Committee (extreme left) and Prof Matthew Gwee, Professorial Fellow and Chairman, International and Education Programmes, CenMED (extreme right) looking on.