Introducing our education committee
One of Binaytara Foundation’s (BTF) goals is to provide medical professionals opportunities to share, collaborate, and grow, and we accomplish this through our globally attended conferences. We have been organizing hematology-oncology conferences for the last 10 years. While the COVID-19 pandemic has halted in-person meetings, it has also created an opportunity for us to create more accessible, frequent virtual events. We took on this challenge by starting a multi-part monthly series where we present updates in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of various cancers through lectures and discussions with experts from all over the US and abroad.
“By design, our conferences not only discuss the standards of care but also guide how to handle complicated and controversial areas in the field,” Dr. Siddhartha Yadav, an oncologist from Mayo Clinic and co-chair of the BTF education committee shares. “Approximately one-third of our participants are practicing oncologists outside of the United States, which I think is huge. Also, I am proud of the fact that our conferences maintain the diversity of speakers in terms of gender and geographical location.”
Dr. Yadav is supported in this initiative by his education committee co-chair, Dr. Sakti Chakrabarti, a practicing hematologist-oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine from Medical College of Wisconsin.
“We have assembled a large number of authority figures in the field of oncology as our speakers. I believe participants will receive authentic and cutting-edge information through these educational events,” Dr. Chakrabarti explains.
The education committee is responsible for designing in-person and virtual educational activities, including the selection of faculties, implementation of interactive activities, and evaluation of conference outcomes.
“We have emerged as a major continuing education provider in the Pacific Northwest and nationally. The Education Committee was established to improve our ability to meet the needs of hematology and oncology clinicians nationally and globally”, explains Dr. Binay Shah, the co-founder and president of BTF.
Like everything we do at BTF, we wanted to make our conferences innovative and engaging. For us, that meant using tools such as gamification — the incorporation of gaming elements such as timed and scored trivia challenges — to reinforce the lecture content.
“Dr. Siddhartha Yadav and Dr. Sakti Chakrabari have all the qualities to lead this committee,” Dr. Shah shares. “They are passionate about improving patient care by educating healthcare providers.”
BTF recently launched education.binayfoundation.org where people can register for upcoming conferences and utilize enduring materials from previous virtual conferences to earn credits. Take a look at what we accomplished through our last three conferences in this series, and be on the lookout for updates from our other conferences in future newsletters!
