PHYSICIAN BAGS AMEE AWARD

       Dr Paphan Musikkawatr, a physician at Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital, has won a prestigious award from the Association for Medical Education of Europe Conference for her outstanding research to improve the curriculum for medical students.
       "This award will lift the standard of the Thai medical curriculum to be recognised at the international level," Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said yesterday.
       Prat, who led a delegation of 16 medical professors to the meeting in Malaga, Spain early this month, said the ministry had submitted seven research papers to the academic competition held during the conference.
       The competition committee had selected only one outstanding study conducted by Paphan to receive the AMEE's Patil Award for her excellent work in curriculum assessment.
       Paphan's research was on "the implementing portfolios in an objectivebased curriculum at the Maharaj Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital's Medical Education Centre.
       Her work focused on the evaluation of medical students' learning under the project to boost the number of rural doctors.
       Paphan will receive a certificate, AMEE membership and a year's subscription to a medical curriculum journal as her prizes.
       The AMEE is the largest conference for medical professors around the world to discuss medical curriculum development. This year it attracted over 2,300 medical professors from 81 countries.