IHHN
ORIC
Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)
Advance Knowledge Through Inquiry
This department is now serving as a focal and pivotal point for all research-related activities for conducting high-quality research. The goal is to support the strategic and operational unit for high-end research activities and programs for innovation in healthcare services and the commercialization of research outcomes, making patient care at IHHN self-sufficient and sustainable.
Overview
Before the establishment of ORIC, the Indus Hospital Research Center (IHRC) was the center of research activities at the Korangi Campus. ORIC started functioning as the official research unit at IHHN in November 2022. This was a dual change with a shift, both in the leadership from Chair Research to Director ORIC as departmental head and a change in scope and magnitude of research as the Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization.
Objective
To foster research and its impact, HEC emphasizes a linkage between research and industry academia for sustainable economic growth and a knowledge economy. To achieve this, HEC has been supporting Higher Education Institutes in setting up research, innovation, and commercialization offices (ORICs) as central hubs. These offices provide strategic and operational support, streamlining activities from research proposal development to research product commercialization.
Functions of ORIC
In alignment with HEC’s mandate, IHHN’s ORIC presently and will continue to function as the strategic and operational support to the research activities & programs of IHHN in facilitating the outcome of research to maximally benefit its true beneficiaries- our patients and our communities. It’s a comprehensive resource for faculty, student and business/industry where the multi-disciplinary team provides end-to-end services to students and professionals alike for capacity building to facilitate research development, innovation, commercialization and collaborations for patent and arranging platforms for knowledge sharing.
Core Facilities
Presently, IHHN, ORIC is in the inception phase and envisions to have distinct sections, namely, a) Research Management, b) Innovation and Commercialization. Each of these sections would be headed by a full-time Manager.
Research Activities
Research activities for all the departments of Indus Hospital & Health Network from the point of conception, induction to smooth implementation and successful completion are provided administrative oversight with the support of various other departments such as Human Resource, Pharmacy, EMR, IT services and Finance.
- Clinical Research Unit (CRU)
Clinical Research Unit (CRU) which began functioning in October 2021, today (2022-23), has more than 55 sponsored research studies that our CRU was approached for. These include projects which are either in the ongoing, complete or to commence phase. There is also an increase in collaborations with other local CROs as well as international universities for research.
- Research & Development (R&D)
The research and development activities help in supporting the coordination, assessment and delivery of programs across all academic levels at the Indus University of Health Sciences.
Table 1: Training programs offered at ORIC
| 01 | Development of research questions |
| 02 | Literature search |
| 03 | Proposal writing inclusive of introduction, methodologies, study design and questionnaire development |
| 04 | Reference management (Endnote training) |
| 05 | Consent form development (Adult, parental, assent, online, and telephonic) |
| 06 | Sample size calculation (Open epi, WHO and Pass software) |
| 07 | Statistical analysis (SPSS, Stata |
| 08 | Project management |
| 09 | Data entry (REDCap software, hardcopy) |
| 10 | Presentation skills |
| 11 | Manuscript writing |
| 12 | Searching Journals |
| 13 | Manuscript submission |
Key Achievements
- Introducing expansion of research portfolio through various initiatives, from merely generating research evidence to moving towards utilization of results for healthcare services.
- Roll on of the e-IRB system aligning IHHN’s paperless policy.
- A continuous service for research achievement to residents and professionals of IHHN.
Contact
Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)
Indus Hospital & Health Network
Plot C-76, Sector 31/5,
Opposite Darussalam Society, Korangi Crossing
Karachi, 75190, Pakistan
Phone: +92 21 35112709 (Ext.: 2411)
Director, Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)
Manager Grants, Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)
Sr. Research Scientist, Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)
Sr. Research Associate, Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC)