EDITORIAL

The board of Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine (AIPMED) felicitates with the Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital (ARD-UCH) as they celebrate 50 years of existence this December. ARD-UCH was the pioneer branch of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD), and has also been at the forefront of contribution to scholarly works. About 16 years ago, ARD-UCH became the first and still remains the only branch of NARD that publishes medical journal; the AIPMED. Over the last 16 years, through the support of members of ARD-UCH, AIPMED is now a peer-reviewed international medical journal.

The Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital has also recently commenced paper/ abstract presentations as part of her activities during the scientific conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM). While abstract session may be considered a normal practice, the fact that this is not a common practice among her other 54 sister associations across the country shows that the executives of ARD-UCH are indeed keen on ensuring that the association contributes immensely to scientific evidence and knowledge. We therefore encourage other branches of NARD to take a cue from ARD-UCH.

In a bid to encourage and support research among young professionals (medical students, resident doctors, scientist), the board of AIPMED has decided to create a section in the journal to publish the abstracts that passed our review process during the last AGM of ARD-UCH. We look forward to publishing book for abstract for the ARD-UCH’s subsequent AGM. In this edition, we publish the best three abstracts presented at the 49th AGM/Scientific Conference of the ARD UCH, held on the 14th December, 2017. While we congratulate the authors, we also give them the opportunity to get the full manuscript published in AIPMED.