The Medical School at Georgian American University is pleased to announce the Fourth International Multidisciplinary Conference of Biomedical Students, titled “Empowering Health through Science: Connecting Minds, Creating Solutions!" The conference will be held in Tbilisi from June 15-17, 2024, and is organized by GAU Medical School.

The conference will take a hybrid approach, with both online and on-site formats available. For the on-site portion, the venue will be located at 10 Merab Aleksidze Street, Tbilisi, Georgia 0160.

Working language is English!

This conference will provide an excellent opportunity for students worldwide to share their research work and ideas with a global audience. It is an ideal platform to interact and collaborate with peers, mentors, and renowned professionals from the field of biomedical science. Moreover, the event doubles up as a competition for the best student papers, further emphasizing its significance. It is worth noting that all selected papers will be published in the highly regarded GAU Annual Scientific Journal, providing an excellent platform for students to disseminate their findings.

This year we have a special news!!!

Unlike the previous conferences, this year a new section is added to the conference - the section of clinical cases.

Clinical case conference sessions serve as valuable opportunities for medical students to enhance their clinical reasoning, diagnostic skills, and medical knowledge through interactive discussions of patient cases. These sessions aim to provide students with real-world clinical experiences and foster critical thinking in a supportive learning environment.

This session of the conference will dedicate a segment to clinical cases spanning various medical specialties, with a primary focus on diagnosis and differential diagnosis. Students are encouraged to share particularly notable and intriguing clinical cases with a diverse audience. Clinical cases submitted for presentation must adhere to the specified criteria outlined in the application (see below), akin to research papers. Only clinical cases meeting these criteria will be considered for inclusion in the conference program.

We would like to draw your attention to the important dates related to the conference, as follows:

• Abstract submission deadline: May 3, 23:00.
• Deadline for submitting scientific articles: May 17, 23:00.

Conference dates:

June 15, 12:00 PM – Online

June 16-17, 12:00 PM - On-site at GAU University

Kindly note these dates in your calendar and plan accordingly. Please ensure that you adhere to the submission deadlines to avoid any inconvenience.

For registration 

If any questions, please send it to us to: mdstudentsconference@gau.edu.ge 

Participants:

We welcome students of the biomedical field from all over the world to participate in this conference. There is no age limit, and group projects are also accepted. However, every participant or team (working on one project) must have a mentor or supervisor.

All conference participants will receive certificates of participation. Additionally, the author of the best work will receive a certificate and a prize [IS2] . We encourage you to participate actively and make the most of this opportunity to showcase your work and network with fellow researchers from around the world.

Topics:

We welcome both original research and literature reviews for this conference. Research projects are highly encouraged! We invite submissions on a wide range of topics covering the following areas:

• Basic Bioscience
• General Medicine
• Clinical Medicine
• Life Science
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Research and trials
• Behavior
• Learning, memory and cognition
• Healthcare services, research and education
• Instrumentation and methodology, etc.

Timeline of the conference and important dates

The conference will be held in three stages, as follows:

Stage 1: Abstract Submission 

During this stage, we will be receiving applications from participants. To register, please fill in all the required fields in the Google registration form available on our website. We encourage you to review the submission guidelines and ensure that you meet all the criteria before submitting your abstract both for research paper or clinical case report.

Upon filling out the registration form, you will receive a confirmation letter or directives to make changes if necessary.

Stage 1 will commence on April 1st at 11:00 AM (Georgia Standard Time GMT+4).

The deadline for abstract submissions is May 3 at 11:00 PM (Georgia Standard Time GMT+4).

We encourage you to submit your abstract as early as possible and review the submission guidelines thoroughly to ensure that your submission meets all the criteria.

Stage 2: Complete scientific paper/clinical case report submission deadline – May 17, 11:00 PM (Georgia Standard Time GMT+4)

Stage 3: Opening the conference

June 15, 12:00 PM – Online (Georgia Standard Time GMT+4)

June 16-17, 12:00 PM - On-site at GAU University

NOTE! You will be given a chance to upload your paper/clinical case report right away when the stage 1 opens if you have your paper ready by then. After the undergoing stage 1 all participants will receive a confirmation letter with detailed information about the upcoming deadlines. Papers and any questions should be sent to: mdstudentsconference@gau.edu.ge

Notifications of acceptance/rejection 

Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be sent out no later than May 31. We appreciate your patience as our team carefully evaluates all submissions to ensure that each meets the necessary criteria.

If your paper is chosen for presentation at the conference, please ensure that the prepared presentation is submitted three days prior to the event. This ensures efficient time management during the conference proceedings. Sending the presentation three days in advance - deadline June 13, 2024!

Thank you for your interest in our conference, and we look forward to your participation! 

Author Guidelines for Conference Proceedings

Technical requirements for all works submitted to the conference:

• MS Word

• A4-format
• Fields 2.5 cm
• Fonts: Times New Roman/Sylfaen
• Font sizes: Title -14 / Bold; Text Body -12
• Distance between lines = 1.5
• Margins: 2cm all margins, and justified text
• Graphical material JPG, GIF and BMP
• Length: Papers should be no less than 5 and no more than 15 pages, including references and acknowledgments

THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONFERENCE ARTICLE (research paper):

• Title
• Author/ Author(s) -Full name of the student/ author (s), University, faculty, educational program;
• An Abstract - no more than 300 words;
• Keywords: Three to five keywords
• Introduction (Includes Literature review)
• The main part - Methodology - Results - Discussion
• Conclusion (Includes Recommendations)
• References
• Annexes (If any)

In-text citations and reference list should be done in Chicago format Chicago Style

CLINICAL CASE REPORT FORMAT 

Title – The title is a summary of the abstract itself and should convince the reader that the topic is important, relevant, and innovative.  

Authors – Include name, degree and institutional affiliation. The authors included should be those who contribute significantly to the intellectual content of the case report.  

An abstract:   no more than 300 words;

Key words: Three to five keywords

Introduction - Describe the context of the case and explain its relevance and importance 

• Describe whether the case is unique. If not, does the case have an unusual diagnosis, prognosis, therapy or harm? Is the case an unusual presentation of a common condition? Or an unusual complication of a disease or management? 
• Describe the instructive or teaching points that add value to this case. Does it demonstrate a cost-effective approach to management or alternative diagnostic/treatment strategy? Does it increase awareness of a rare condition?  

Case description – Follow the basic rules of medical communication. Report the case in sequence. 

• Describe the history, examination and investigations adequately. Is the cause of the patient's illness clear-cut? What are other plausible explanations? 
• Describe the treatments adequately. Have all available therapeutic options been considered? Are outcomes related to treatments? Include the patient’s progress and outcome.  

Discussion – Discuss rationale for decisions that were made and the lesson from the case.

• Report a literature review of other similar cases. Describe how this case is different from those previously reported.  
• Explain the rationale for reporting the case. What is unusual about the case? Does it challenge prevailing wisdom? 
• In the future, could things be done differently in a similar case?

A case report template and checklist can be found at the following link: Global-Health-Case-Report-template-2023

In-text citations and reference list should be done in Chicago format Chicago Style

ORAL PRESENTATION - in the Power Point format, up to 10 minutes+ 5 min-for discussion

NOTE! Papers/Clinical Case Reports that do not meet the technical requirements outlined in the author guidelines will be rejected. Therefore, we kindly ask you to carefully follow the guidelines and ensure your paper meets all the necessary technical specifications before submitting it.

Conference papers will be accepted through the Email: mdstudentsconference@gau.edu.ge or during the stage 1 with the application form.

Special Rules and Conditions

To ensure the quality and integrity of the conference proceedings, we kindly ask all authors to adhere to the following special rules and conditions:

• By submitting an article/case report, all authors certify that all information contained within the article/case report is correct.
• Submitted article/case report cannot be modified or corrected after the submission deadline. By submitting an article, the authors consent to its publication.
• The conference organizers reserve the right to remove any paper that does not comply with the requirements and rules.
• All text will be checked for plagiarism. Any instances of plagiarism exceeding the allowed level of similarity (20%) will result in the rejection of the paper.

Criteria for Evaluating Papers and Presentations: 

• The title and abstract clearly and effectively communicate the scope and results of the research - 2 points

• The relevant previous work is described briefly but clearly, in accordance with the research goals and objectives - 5 points

• The methodology, including clearly articulated questions, data sources, data collection procedures, and analytical approach, is appropriate and the results are consistent with the research scope and linked to findings - 10 points

• The results are properly described, visualized, and discussed - 5 points

• The quality of the writing style is evaluated based on accuracy, clarity, readability, use of scientific literature, and correct citation of references; the standard structure of the scientific paper is also considered - 5 points

• The presentation is evaluated based on coherence and clarity of structure and thought, proper time management, and effective presentation skills - 10 points

 Criteria for Evaluating Clinical Case Report/ Rubric

• Case details communicated clearly, concisely and logically – 20 points
• Case management and clinical reasoning process   - 30 points
• Demonstration of critical reflection centered on evidence based medicine (EBM) - 20 points
• Case is original and interesting as it meets one of the following criteria: 1) an unexpected association between diseases or symptoms; 2) an unexpected event in the course observing or treating a patient; 3) findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect; 4) unique or rare features of a disease; 5) unique therapeutic approaches; variation of anatomical structures. – 10 points
•  Appropriate use of references  -  5 points
• Case report meets ethical standards accepted in clinical medicine and research – 5 points
• Overall attention to case report technique and construction including: scientific language and terminology, referencing format, spelling and grammar, adherence to word limits. -10 points

THRESHOLD FOR ACCEPTING A CLINICAL CASE AT THE CONFERENCE - ≥70 POINTS

 Thank you for your interest and we are waiting for you at the Fourth International Multidisciplinary Conference of Biomedical Students, titled “Empowering Health through Science: Connecting Minds, Creating Solutions!"