SOA is now one of the affiliate centres of Cochrane India Network. Here's what that means for the institute

Institute of Dental Sciences (IDS), Faculty of Dental Sciences of SOA, Bhubaneswar, has become one of the nine affiliate centres of Cochrane India Network (CIN) in India which was launched virtually this week making it possible for anyone interested in enhancing healthcare knowledge to access such information.

Cochrane is an international network, a registered not-for-profit organisation headquartered in the United Kingdom, making available high-quality information to facilitate health decisions, Prof Neeta Mohanty, Dean of Institute of Dental Sciences (IDS), SOA’s Faculty of Dental Sciences, who joined the launching ceremony, said.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, hosted the event. Besides IDS, the other affiliate centres for CIN are AIIMS, New Delhi; ICMR, New Delhi; Christian Medical College, Vellore; Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad; King George’s Medical University, Lucknow; Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal; Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

Dr Meenu Singh of PGIMER, Chandigarh and Dr Anju Pradhan Sinha of ICMR, New Delhi have been appointed as Co-Chair by CIN.
The event, which was attended by over 1,000 delegates, was addressed by Dr Vinod Paul, Member of NITI Aayog, who spoke about the importance of evidence in medicine decision-making while appreciating the Cochrane collaborative efforts to disseminate information worldwide. Prof Balram Bhargava, Secretary, Department of Health Research and Director General, ICMR, delivered the keynote address.

The other speakers included Dr John Grove, Director, Quality Assurance for Norms and Standards, WHO; Dr Karla Soares-Weiser, Editor in Chief of Cochrane Library and Dr Judith Brodie, CEO, Cochrane, UK.
Dr Thambu David Sudarsanam of CMC, Vellore, facilitated the launching of Cochrane India website while Prof Neeta Mohanty, Director of Cochrane, IDS, announced the names of winners in the national essay competition on Evidence Based Decision Making which was sponsored by SOA. Dr Saurav Panda and Dr Lora Mishra (both from IDS) were coordinators for the programme. The event was moderated by Sylvia de Haan, Chief Executive’s office, Cochrane Central Executive.