Dean's Communiqué​ | Edition 12

 

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Dean’s Communiqué | Edition 12

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Dear colleagues, students, alumni and members of the AKU community,

What an incredible last week of 2020 for SONAM, the University, AKDN, nursing fraternity and Pakistan!

Our School’s faculty and alumni are being honoured on various national and international forums for their work following the recent unveiling of Women In Global Health’s 2020 “100 Outstanding Women Nurses and Midwives. I congratulate all our faculty members and alumni on the list.

It is with our Chancellor’s vision, the support of our University’s leadership and the commitment of our faculty and alumni that we continue to achieve significant milestones and progress towards advancing the profession.

I invite you to read through the stories we have gathered for you in this year’s last Communiqué.

We have ​specially prepared a 2-minute video to wish you all a very Happy New Year: Recapping 2020 and looking towards 2021 with hope

Peaceful thoughts!

Rozina

 

GLOBAL RECOGNITION

 


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100 Outstanding Women Nurses & Midwives
SONAM faculty and alumni have recently been honoured in the global 2020
100 Outstanding Women Nurses and Midwives list unveiled by Women in Global Health, World Health Organization, United Nations Population Fund, Nursing Now, International Council of Nurses and International Confederation of Midwives.

The news has been widely shared in print, broadcast and digital media. You may watch the TV interviews and talk shows on the below links.

Geo News | Samaa TV | Hum News | AAJ News | 92News

 

 

ALUMNI REUNION

 

 

#40YearsOfAKUSONAM

 

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2020 is a milestone year for SONAM as this year, the School completes four remarkable decades of creating an impact in nursing and midwifery education and practice across Pakistan and empowering thousands of young women and men to pursue professional careers. Here is a short video that highlights our story.


 

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Our first-ever virtual alumni reunion gave us an opportunity to connect with our graduates spread across 25+ countries, celebrate our achievements and imagine our future together.

 

 

ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSING

 


 

This year, SONAM Pakistan and East Africa collaborated for a 2-day virtual conference on introducing the role of Advanced Practice Nursing in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda where we were also joined by Dr Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination among other healthcare stakeholders from the two regions.

 

Conference Day 1 | Conference Day 2 | Stakeholders' Dialogue


 



As part of our APN conference, we also developed a short video that highlights the importance of creating and sustaining the role of advanced nurse practitioners in hospitals and communities to deliver high-quality, affordable and patient-focused care and help improve health outcomes. 

 

HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH ASSEMBLY

 

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I am very happy that SONAM was represented by Dr Tazeen Ali at the 12th HSRA happened virtually earlier this month. Led by Dr Asad Ali this year, it helped promote multi/interdisciplinary teams to showcase their research work, collaborate and innovate. I also congratulate our faculty members Zohra Jetha and Shagufta Iqbal on presenting their work.

 


PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS

 
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 This month, we also signed an agreement with the Department of Health,
Government of Sindh 
to enhance critical care capacity of nurses in the province working in Critical Care and High Dependency Unit in the presence of Ms Khair-un-nisa Khan, Director General Nursing, Sindh.


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To power up our digital teaching, learning and examinations, Medical College and SONAM partnered with the world's largest network of exam supervisors, the Umbrella Consortium for Assessment. 


SONAM STRATEGIC PLANNING

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In a first, SONAM Pakistan and East Africa are collaborating to begin a 6-month
Strategic Planning journey to devise strategies, develop action plans and make short-term goals
for long-term objectives. I am very thankful to Michele Lahey who'd be supporting us through the process; Dr Carl Amrhein, Dr Alex Awiti, Dr Adil Haider and Professor Lukoye Atwoli for being part of our virtual inaugural event earlier this month and sharing their experiences and thoughts with us as well as the entire AKU leadership for their support.


CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC


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SONAM alumna in AKDN's COVID-19 Taskforce

Our alumna Dr Zeenat Sulaiman from Tanzania had joined us in our Faculty Council meeting earlier this month. 

Both of us being graduates of the Diploma Class of '87, I could not contain my excitement and how proud I was hearing her share with us her work in Northern Pakistan as she led the nursing team under AKDN’s COVID-19 global task force. Working with various leaders in the Network, she ensured that the health facilities remain well-equipped to deal with and care for all COVID-19 patients, took steps to suppress the spread and trained the nurses and midwives to provide optimised care in health facilities and communities in the region.


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Wellness Survey

SONAM and the Department of Psychiatry have partnered for a mental wellness initiative designed especially for our employees in Pakistan and East Africa.

Our AKU family’s mental health and wellness matter to us and we encourage all employees to participate in the survey and help us understand how they are coping during this COVID-19 pandemic.


ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT


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Alumni Give Back to the School
Our Diploma in Nursing Class of ’91 has pledged to donate a generous gift of US$ 152,000 that will enable more students to pursue an undergraduate education in nursing. I can’t be more proud of my AKU family and our shared commitment to making a difference in the lives of people. 

 


FACULTY APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS


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Dr Rafat Jan
Appointed as Associate Dean, Outreach and Policy Unit


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Dr Pammla Petrucka

Appointed as Visiting Professsor


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Nasreen Panjwani
Appointed as Senior Instructor and Head, Outreach


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Dr Tazeen Saeed Ali
Promoted to Professor
of Nursing


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Khairunnisa Mansoor
Promoted to Senior
Instructor


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Shagufta Iqbal
Promoted to Senior Instructor

 
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We will be happy to receive your comments and feedback.
Please write to us at 
sonam.pk@aku.edu

 

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