PASAY CITY, Metro Manila- To further improve their strategies on research utilization, the regional consortia of the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) gathered yesterday in a session at Hotel Jen Manila.

The session entitled “Rallying Communicators for Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health” aims to gather members for the Society of Health Research Communicators (SHARE), a new program of the System to ensure that research contributes to evidence-informed health policies and actions.

SHARE is a community of communicators who share health research stories, advocacies, and local and national initiatives. The community will reinforce the research dissemination activities of the regional consortia of PNHRS.

The first part of the session was allotted for discussions wherein three communication and health research experts were invited to guide the participants namely Dr. Clarissa David of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication, Dr. Mary Ann Lansang of the UP College of Medicine, and Dr. Iris Thiele Isip-Tan of the UP Manila Medical Informatics Unit.

In the afternoon, members of the regional consortia engaged in a discussion to form, gather, and sustain the SHARE community.

In her welcome remarks, Ms. Merlita Opeña, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) Division Chief, stressed that research utilization is an important process in the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS).

“I would like to emphasize that research utilization focuses on the impact or benefit of knowledge to our stakeholders. It is about what the people will gain from the research result or how they will make use of the knowledge or information.” Ms. Opeña explained.

The “Rallying Communicators for Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health” is part of the 11^th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week celebration. PCHRD is the lead coordinator of the System.