The final special virtual event with the award and diploma ceremony marked the conclusion of this year's and already the seventh consecutive International Medis Awards for Medical Research contest. The contest recognizes and awards the best doctors and pharmacists who, in addition to their clinical work, also dedicate their time to research. Out of 222 nominees, 19 finalists and today 9 winners were announced.
This year, the expert panel received as many as 309 scientific articles, which is the most so far, 222 nominees were shortlisted and 19 were placed in the finals. One winner was awarded in all included categories: gastroenterology, gynecology, intensive care medicine and anesthesiology, neurology, ophthalmology, pediatrics, pharmacy, pulmonology and allergology, and rheumatology. There were two finalists in each category, with the exception of gynecology, where this year three finalists competed for the title of the best researcher.
IMA 2020 winners are:
- Georg Semmler, MD in Gastroenterology
- Assist. Prof. Igor Hudić, MD, PhD in Gynecology
- Nermina Rizvanović, MD, PhD in Intensive Care Medicine and Anesthesiology
- Tomaž Rus, MD in Neurology
- Assist. Alenka Lavrič Groznik, MD, MSc in Ophthalmology
- Jasna Šuput Omladič, MD in Pediatrics
- Assist. Prof. Matej Štuhec, MPharm, PhD in Pharmacy
- Robab Breyer-Kohansal, MD in Pulmonology and Allergology
- Rok Ješe, MD in Rheumatology
This year also, the expert panel awarded the prize in a special category in which, in addition to professionalism, the care for a fellow human being stood out. It was awarded to the staff of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. After the devastating earthquake on 22 March this year, the hospital staff together with great efforts of all doctors and nurses, as well as with the selfless help of volunteers, managed not only to relocate all newborns, including those in incubators, and their mothers, but also take proper care of them. In doing so, they demonstrated a great deal of professionalism, knowledge and organizational skills, and also immense interpersonal solidarity.
All this year's finalists and their research work were presented in the Pledge to Science documentary film which also starred some other eminent scientists and more prominent figures from science.
The international expert panel, consisting of ten members coming from seven countries from which the candidates applied, ensured credibility of the whole International Medis Awards contest. The criteria for inclusion in the competition were clear – the publication of an article in an expert international publication with an impact factor of at least 1.500.
Winning at the IMA means that you have succeeded in designing, implementing and publishing important research work in an international journal with a high impact factor. And it is the quality of the journal that mainly decides the position which the candidate will occupy. At the IMA, we designed a scoreboard that shows to two decimal places exactly which place the candidate occupied. In terms of points, we evaluate the impact factor of an international journal, whether the candidate is the first or the leading author, and whether it is mainly clinical or basic research work. Everything is very transparent, which is also the first and main condition for me,
said the president of the panel, Prof. Matija Tomšič, MD, PhD, a rheumatologist from the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The video of the virtual event, together with the Pledge to Science film, can be seen on YouTube or here:
