Responsible Office: Office of the Dean, Faculty senate

Chair: Initially the Chair of the Research Committee will be appointed by the President’s Cabinet. The initial appointment will be for a period of one year. Once the institution has more faculty members the Chair will be selected by the members of the Research Committee and will serve a three-year term.

Once the faculty senate is fully operational the research committee will report to the faculty senate.

Scope: All faculty members, students and other individuals interested in carrying out original research at the institution.

Review articles and other scientific publications will also be encouraged.

Overview: The research committee works toward fostering research at CUCOM. The committee will also work toward fostering academic collaboration with other institutions and universities.

Purpose: The research committee has the mandate of promoting and strengthening research at the university. The committee will strive toward encouraging collaborative research by faculty members. Collaborative research between students and faculty members will be strongly encouraged.

The committee will work toward promoting research directed toward the healthcare situation in Saint Lucia and in economically disadvantaged communities in the United States and other locations.

Meeting Schedule: The committee will meet once every two months. The external member will join the meeting electronically. The agenda for the meeting will be circulated by the member secretary at least five working days before the meeting.

Procedures:

The committee will work toward creating and modifying a research plan for the university. The initial area of focus will be educational research. As the institutions develops research in the areas of telehealth, lifestyle apps and other areas is planned to be developed.

The committee will have overall responsibility for conducting the annual research day. The committee will work out incentives to encourage participation and submission of posters. All research projects conducted by faculty and students of CUCOM and approved by the Institutional Review Board will be provided an incentive of USD 200.

Output:

The output of this committee will be number of research projects conducted, number of posters presented and published research.

Membership: The members will be initially selected by the President’s cabinet.

There will be a maximum of two members from the Basic Sciences, one from the Clinical Sciences, and one external member. After starting of the MD program one student will also be appointed to the committee.

Voting: Decisions will be arrived at through consensus.