London, February 08, 2007 -- BioMed Central, the world's largest publisher of peer-reviewed, open access research journals, is proud to announce the winners of the first BioMed Central Research Awards. The awards, given in the categories of medicine and biology, recognize excellence in research that has been made universally accessible by open access publication in one of BioMed Central's journals.
Award winners and honorable mentions will be officially celebrated at BioMed Central's Open Access Colloquium being held today at The Royal College of Physicians in Regents Park, London. The colloquium, entitled "Open Access: How Can We Achieve Quality and Quantity?" will bring together a range of today's leading authors, researchers, funders, librarians and publishers to examine the value of open access publishing. Scheduled speakers include Sir Muir Gray, the Director of Clinical Knowledge, Process and Safety for England's National Health Service's Connecting for Health agency, and Robert Kiley Head of E-Strategy, Wellcome Library at the Wellcome Trust, an independent charity that funds research to improve human and animal health.
About the Honorees:
Lalit Dandona, M.D., Senior Director of the George Institute for International Health in Hyderabad, India, received the BioMed Central Research Award in the field of medicine for his article, "A population-based study of human immunodeficiency virus in south India reveals major differences from sentinel surveillance-based estimates." The research, which first appeared in the journal BMC Medicine, finds that official government figures may over-estimate the number of HIV-positive people in India.
Dr. Dandona's major area of professional interest is to contribute to the development of a systematic evidence base for effective health systems and policies that will facilitate better public health for India and other less-developed countries.
Flavio R Zolessi Ph. D., Univ
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Contact: Robert Brumfield
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BioMed Central
8-Feb-2007