The Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, has said it was partnering with the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation to digitalize learning in the university fully.
The foundation also disclosed that it was working hard to drastically reduce breast cancer in the society.
FUTO Vice Chancellor, Prof Nnennaya Oti, who spoke during the handing over ceremony of a simulation laboratory, donated to the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the school by the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation, said that the school was committed to partnering with interested groups to advance learning and researches in the institution.
Represented by Prof Sylvester Alisi, the VC said that the university was grateful to the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation for donating such a digital laboratory to the school.
She said, “We are grateful to the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation for donating such a digitalized laboratory to us. We are happy because the Founder of the foundation was once our student. Giving back to the school that shaped his destiny is wonderful. We promise to make good use of this simulation laboratory to improve learning and research in the school.”
VNF founder, Obinna Ama, said that the foundation was working to ensure that FUTO is fully digitized, disclosing that apart from its program in FUTO, the foundation was also committed to reducing breast cancer in the country, pointing out anti-breast cancer programs it had successfully carried out in three local government areas of Borno State.
Represented by the secretary of the Foundation, Ijeoma Ogbonnah, Ama said that the Foundation was founded in memory of his mother, who he said died of breast cancer.
He said, “The Victoria-Nwaeke Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to advancing healthcare through technology in Africa, founded by Obinna Ama Collaborate with a wide network of partners.
“Our educational activities include undergraduate scholarships at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, with Education Technology Projects in FUTO, Imo State and David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Ebonyi State. We also give students scholarships to study abroad.
“For the FUTO Simulation Laboratory, we aim to empower the next generation of biomedical engineers by establishing a state-of-the-art Biomedical Engineering Simulation and Computational Laboratory, fostering innovation, collaboration, and impactful research to improve human health.
“Expected outcomes include bridging the knowledge and skills gap between domestic Biomedical Engineering students in FUTO and their international counterparts.
“Simulation and Computational skills include Bioinformatics,
Medical robotics, and Computational Modeling,
Infectious disease outbreak modelling (e.g. COVID-19)
“Stay up-to-date with the latest trends in the advances of Artificial Intelligence within the medical and healthcare sector.
“Long-term expected outcomes include strategically positioning to collaborate with other research institutions locally and internationally, given the computational capabilities of this centre.”
He added that the laboratory would serve as a one-stop shop for clinical and health research data; non-identifiable patient data;
genomics data; neuroscience data and registry data
The list of equipment in the laboratory are computer hardware and software + licenses (MATLAB, R, CADs, Solidworks, etc); virtual reality headsets; and a short demo on simulation of human anatomy.