On Saturday, 3 June, an outreach event ‘Biryani with Scientists and Medical Doctors’ organised by Dr Muhammad Awais and his colleagues from the Liverpool Pancreatitis Research Group, took place at the Central Teaching Hub in the University of Liverpool.
The event focused on pancreas diseases, pancreatitis and diabetes, which are on the rise globally. Pancreatitis is increasing by ~3% per year in England. Severe form of acute pancreatitis could cause multi-organ failure, and currently there is no drug treatment available for this complex disease.
In the UK alone, there are around 4.5 million people live with diabetes. BAME communities are at high risk of developing these diseases for several reasons including lack of awareness, socio-economic status, lifestyle and type of food intake with high calories and cholesterol.
The event was very well attended by BAME communities, with more than 55 people of varying ages, including sixth form students, listening to interactive talks on pancreatic diseases, pancreatitis and diabetes, by university researchers Professor Robert Sutton, Dr Muhammad Awais, Dr Rishi Mukherjee, Dr Uazman Alam and a local GP Dr Rubina Aniq.
In addition, an interactive session on “Mental Health Challenges: Are our youth ready for the higher education” was delivered by Dr Raheela Awais from the School of Life Sciences. Two young doctors from BAME community, Drs Sana Aniq and Hania Aniq also shared experiences and challenges of their student life.
All attendees were keen to learn and participated enthusiastically in discussions during and after the talks.
Dr Awais and his colleagues will organise more outreach events targeting hard-to-reach communities in the Liverpool City Region.
Previously, Dr Awais and Colleagues have organised a successful public engagement event ‘Coffee with Scientists and Medical Doctors’, targeting hard-to-reach ethnic minorities in Liverpool. Dr Awais is a recipient of the Wellcome Trust Public Engagement and Involvement Grant Scheme 2022 by the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.