LAHORE - Dr Umer Saif has been appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of Punjab IT University.
Greeting Dr Saif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the VC had taken commendable steps for the promotion of information technology in Punjab and hoped he would continue doing so.
Dr Saif said that he will utilize all his capabilities for making the IT University one of the best institutions in Pakistan.
He said that his main objective is to equip the young generation with IT facilities and modern trends so that Pakistani youths could play their active role in IT industry.
Dr. Umer Saif has been working as Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He completed his B.Sc. (Hons) from LUMS in 1998, PhD from University of Cambridge in 2001 and Post Doctorate from MIT in 2002. He also served as Research Scientist at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Dr. Umer Saif was the first Pakistani amongst the top 35 young innovators in the world by the MIT Technology Review (TR35) in 2011. He was also the first Pakistani who received the Google Faculty Research Award in 2011.
UHS to strengthen allied health sciences: VC: University of Health Sciences is committed to strengthening allied health sciences education, research and provide courses and training through formal and e-learning method.
Addressing the newly-admitted class of 2-year transitional programme in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) on Saturday, UHS VC Prof I A Naveed said that the programme was designed to provide contemporary knowledge and skill to practicing physical therapists for better patient care.
“What makes physical therapists important is that they know how to look at the bigger whole picture and take care of the smallest details which sometimes means nothing to others even patients themselves, but at the end make a huge difference”, he added.
I A Naveed emphasized the need of research and evidence-based clinical practice and said that there would be no compromise on quality and standards of education at the university.
UHS registrar Dr Asad Zaheer said that the role of physiotherapists was important because they took care of all three dimensions of healthcare-preventive, curative and promotive. He further said that the university was in contact with the Higher Education Commission to make t-DPT programme equivalent to M.Phil.
Course Coordinator Dr Muhammad Asim said that the curriculum of t-DPT had been designed in line with international standards with a focus on the evidence-based format. The teaching would be through the highly sophisticated web portal to encourage constant and active learning among students in term of discussion board activities and projects.
One of the faculty members, Dr Fariha Shah, said that across the globe, physical therapy had gotten its recognition in healthcare due to its research backed validity as a necessary and important treatment for patients suffering from a variety of pathologies including musculo-skeletal, neuro-muscular, cardiopulmonary, integumatary, vestibular and sports related injuries. She added that with the launch of new programme by UHS, it would be ensured that the knowledge which is required out of these professionals would truly be displayed through their practice.