Speakers – 1st International UAE Rare Disease Society Congress

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Dr. Aziz Mhanni

Department of Pediatrics & Child Health Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada. Consultant, Medical Genetics and Genomics Genetics and Metabolism Program, Shared Health, Canada

Dr. Aziz Mhanni

Dr. Mhanni is a Clinician Scientist in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, in the Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada, and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. He is a is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and a Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics.

Dr. Mhanni's clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and management of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM). His focus in clinical research has primarily been concerned with the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. He completed an 18-month academic leave (2018/2019) working with colleagues in UAE focusing on developing new approaches to the diagnosis and management of Inherited Metabolic-Genetic diseases, and the development of local educational specialty programs.

Dr. Fatih Ezgu

Professor of Pediatrics and Head of the Department of Pediatric Genetics at Gazi University, Turkey.

Dr. Fatih Ezgu

Dr. Fatih Ezgü is a Professor of Pediatrics and Head of the Department of Pediatric Genetics at Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Ankara, Turkey. He is also a faculty at the Department of Pediatric Metabolic Disorders and Vice Head of Phase 1 Pediatric Clinical Research Center at the same institution.

Prof. Mohammad Asif Khan

College of Computing and Information Technology, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Qatar.

Prof. Mohammad Asif Khan

Dr Khan is interested in the area of biological data warehousing and applications of data science to the study of immune responses, vaccines, viruses, venom toxins, drug design, and disease biomarkers. He has thus far published more than 75 research/review journal articles, conference articles/abstracts, book chapters, books, and over 58 posters presented at numerous scientific platforms. Over the years, he has developed several novel bioinformatics methodologies, tools, and specialized databases, and currently has three patents granted. He is also heavily involved in imparting bioinformatics/data science education to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Besides a heavy focus on research and education, he is particular in giving back to the community through involvement as a reviewer for numerous journals, conferences, and funding agencies, and has donned various important roles in the organization of several local and international bioinformatics conferences, meetings and workshops.

Prof. Mohd Shahrir Mohamed

Senior Consultant Physician and Rheumatologist
Department of Medicine Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM, University Kebangsaan, Malaysia

Prof. Mark Kilby

Senior Principal Clinical Scientist, Honorary Consultant in Fetal Medicine

Fetal Medicine Centre, Medical Genomics Research Group, United Kingdom

Prof. Mark Kilby

Prof. Mark Kilby has practiced Fetal Medicine and therapy in the United Kingdom for 28 years. In the last 15 years, one of his‘pillars’ of research was to investigate the application and clinical utility of new genomic technologies in prenatal diagnosis. Initially, he was involved in the clinical application of Chromosome Microarray platforms in the investigation of the fetal with congenital malformations. He was a Principal investigator on the Welcome Trust funded Prenatal Assessment of Genomes and Exomes (PAGE) study which involved the feasibility, diagnostic accuracy and utility, patient acceptability and health economics of the prenatal application of exome sequencing in the fetal with congenital malformations. He is Chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' RCOG) Genomic Taskforce, a member of the Joint Colleges Committee of Genomic Medicine and a member of the Genomics England, Newborn Screening group for a ‘pilot study’ investigating the use of whole Genomic sequencing. He is also the RCOG Representative at the Joint Colleges Committee on Genomic Medicine. Since August 2022, he is a member of the Medical Genomics Research Group at Illumina, Cambridge, UK. He continues to work as a clinician in the Joint Fetal Medicine /Genetics Clinic, in Birmingham, UK. He was Clinical Lead in Fetal Medicine and Therapy in that Birmingham and West Midlands Fetal Medicine Centre, at Birmingham Women’s & Children’s Foundation Trust from 1995 – 2022.

Prof. Nor Azian Abdul Murad

Director and Research Fellow

UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute University Kebangsaan Malaysia

Prof. Nor Azian Abdul Murad

Director and Research Fellow

Dr. Nor Azian Abdul Murad graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science) from UPM in 1999, MSc (Medical Sciences) from UKM in 2004 and a PhD (Clinical Medicine) from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2011. Currently, she is the Director of the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI). Her research interests include non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes and hypercholesterolemia, rare diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. Currently, her work focuses on identifying mutations or variants involved in these diseases using whole exome sequencing, targeted sequencing and genotyping using mass spectrometry. Her previous PhD work focuses on mitochondrial functions and oxidative stress in a rare ataxia case known as Ataxia Oculomotor Apraxia type 3 (AOA3). She received several grants, namely Newton-MRC, FRGS, GGPM, and GUP, from the MOSTI and UKM from 2011 - 2020.

Dr. Ranad Shaheen

Senior Scientist, Diagnostic Genomics, Monash Health Pathology, Melbourne, Australia

Dr. Ranad Shaheen

Dr. Shaheen holds a master’s degree in Science with Distinction from University of Otago, New Zealand, and has completed her Ph.D. from the University Of Helsinki, Finland prior to moving to Saudi Arabia. She joined the genetics department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in 2010, working on a large-scale government funded program to help molecularly diagnose patients with rare diseases. She has recently obtained Fellowship of the faculty of science of The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia FFSc (RCPA) in genetics pathology.

Dr. Almundher Al Maawali

Senior Consultant in Medical Genetics Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, and Head of Department, Department of Genetics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

Dr. Almundher Al Maawali

Dr. Al-Maawali obtained his medical degree (MD) from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. He finished his Medical Genetics residency training at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, and then the fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA. Currently at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, he is a practicing medical geneticist and a researcher. His research interests are intellectual disability, gene discovery and the use of next generation sequencing in patients’ care.

Dr. Amal Al Hashem

Consultant, Medical Genetic and Metabolic
President of Saudi Society of Medical Genetic, Prince Sultan Medical Military City
Adj. Professor at Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Amal Al Hashem

Dr. Amal Al Hashem is Pediatric and genetic consultant at prince sultan medical military city Head of the genetic and metabolic division at PSMMC. President of Saudi Society, Medical Genetic. Head of the Scientific Committee of birth defect registry at Saudi Health Counsel. Professor at Al Faisal University, Riyadh. President of Saudi society of medical genetic. Interested in treatable genetic disease and in increase society awareness of rare disease, and have more than 100 publication. Awarded many award for best poster and King Fahd Medal for Excellence in Medicine.

Dr. Fathyia Al Murshidi

Senior consultant Clinical and Biochemical Geneticist
Sultan Qaboos University Hospital

Dr. Fathyia Al Murshidi

Dr. Fathiya Al Murshedi is a Senior Consultant Clinical and Biochemical Geneticist at the Genetic and Developmental Medicine Clinic at Sultan Qaboos University hospital, Muscat, Oman. She is also the program director of the Medical Genetics Fellowship Program. Her current research interest is in the field of biochemical genetics disease manifestations, characterization of new genetic diseases and treatment outcomes. Her background qualifications included fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) in Medical Genetics in 2007, fellowship of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists (FCCMG) in 2010 and Clinician Investigator Program (CIP) from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Khalid Fakhro

Chief of Research and Chair of the Precision Medicine Program at Sidra Medicine, leads the Laboratory of Genomic Medicine,

Dr. Khalid Fakhro

Dr. Khalid Fakhro is the Chief of Research and Chair of the Precision Medicine Program at Sidra Medicine, the largest tertiary care women and children hospital in Qatar. Dr. Fakhro leads the Laboratory of Genomic Medicine, which focuses on bringing emerging genomic technologies from the lab close to the patient’s bedside. Over the past decade, his group has sequenced thousands of genomes from patients and volunteers across the Middle East, leading gene discovery efforts for a wide range of rare disorders, as well as landmark studies on population structure, genome structural variation, and the role of Islamic ethics in genome research. To date, his lab has been awarded competitive grants exceeding $7m to study genome structure and the genetic etiology of rare diseases and Autism, and their discoveries have featured in high-impact journals worldwide. In addition to research and hospital duties

Dr. Fakhro serves multiple leadership roles in Qatar’s growing biomedical ecosystem, including as a Board Member of the Qatar Precision Medicine Institute, and Adjunct Faculty at both Weill-Cornell Medical College and Hamad Bin Khalifa University, where he teaches and supervises Masters and Ph.D. students in genomics and precision medicine.

Dr. Malak Al Ghamdi

Associate professor of pediatrics and head of Medical Genetics Division and College of Medicine Research Centre- Biobank Division at College of Medicine, King Saud University Medical Cities, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Malak Al Ghamdi

Dr. Malak Ali Alghamdi, M.D., MSc is an associate professor of pediatrics and head of Medical Genetics Division and College of Medicine Research Centre-Biobank Division at College of Medicine, King Saud University. Her primary research interests are in the application of genomics, metabolomics and informatics technologies to problems relevant to human diseases. She is particularly interested in understanding rare diseases at molecular, cellular, organism, and population levels. Her work focuses on the analysis of lethal diseases causing recurrent pregnancy loss in consanguineous population. Dr. Malak Alghamdi an MBBS from King Saud University, and a FCCMG Board in Clinical Biochemical Diseases from Canadian College of Medical Genetics. She is a fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Genetics (CCMG), the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada. She is a Board member of the Saudi Society of Medical Genetics (SSMG), Middle East Genetics and Metabolic Academy (MEGMA). She is a member of American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), American Society Human Genetics (ASHG), European society of Human Genetics (ESHG) and Society of study of inborn errors of Metabolism (SSIEM). She is the establisher of Medical Genetic Division and central Biobank at KSU and KSU medical cities. Dr. Alghamdi has several publications and papers in the field of genetic and inborn errors of metabolism and she several talks and presentations in the national and international conferences.

Dr. Maryam Al Shehhi

Clinical Geneticist, Pediatrician Director Pediatrics Residency OMSB
National Genetics Center & Department of Child Health
Royal Hospital, MOH, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

Dr. Maryam Al Shehhi

Dr. Maryam Al Shehhi, is a Consultant Clinical Geneticist at the National Genetic Centre and the Head of clinical genetics unit at The Royal Hospital in Oman. She is an MD graduate of Sultan Qaboos University in 2007 and achieved her pediatric specialty training in 2012 at the Oman medical Specialty Board OMSB with post graduate Certificate of Arab Board in Pediatrics and the Membership of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child health. Then she completed a fellowship at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in Clinical genetics in addition to obtaining a certificate of training in Medical Genetics of the Royal College of Pathologists UK. She is currently the assistant Program Director for OMSB Pediatric Program and a Member of the Centre of Arab Genomic Studies Board. She was the vice President of Oman society of genetic Medicine 2018 till 2022 and she has worked closely with families with Rare Diseases to establish a Rare Disease support group in Oman. She attended and spoke at many conferences in the region and she has many publications and collaborations in medical genetics including new discoveries of rare disease genes. Her areas of interest are Rare Genetic Diseases and Dysmorphology. She is working on many projects including exploring rare and neurodevelopmental disorders in Oman. She is a known rare diseases advocate in the region and has been hosted on the national television and radio as an expert in genetic Medicine many times.

Dr. Moeen Al Sayed

Professor of Genetics, College of Medicine, Al Faisal University
Director, MSc Genetic Counselling Program, Al Faisal University
Consultant, Department of Medical Genomics, Center for Genomic Medicine King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Moeen Al Sayed

Professor AlSayed obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh. He completed his paediatric residency at Yale–New Haven Children’s Hospital, Connecticut, USA and his fellowship in clinical genetics and clinical biochemical genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA. Professor AlSayed has an MBA from the University of Tennessee, USA. Professor AlSayed is the x-chair of the Department of Medical of the Department of Medical Genetics at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh. He served in this position for 11 years. During his tenure as a chair and among several achievements, he has established a completely new and unique Adult Genetics, Metabolic Diseases and Cancer genetics service and a fully dedicated genetic counselling service in his institution. Most of the practicing genetic counsellors in Saudi Arabia are graduates of the MSc Genetic Counselling Programme that was established by Professor AlSayed in 2014. AlSayed is a Consultant Clinical Geneticist, Clinical Biochemical Genetics and Metabolic Diseases at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is also a Professor of Genetics at Alfaisal University in Riyadh. Professor AlSayed has established, and is the director of the MSc Genetic Counselling Programme at Alfaisal University.

Dr. Nadia Alhashmi

Senior Pediatric Consultant
Clinical & Biochemical Geneticist
Child health Department, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman

Dr. Osama Aldirbashi

Biochemical Genetics Senior Consultant Clinical Scientist Metabolic Lab, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar

Dr. Osama Aldirbashi

Dr. Osama Aldirbashi is a Senior Consultant Clinical Scientist at the Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics (adjunct), Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Aldirbashi is a clinical biochemical geneticist certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists and the European Board of Medical Genetics. He attended graduate school at Nagasaki University and completed fellowship training at the Children’s Hospital of East Ontario, University of Ottawa. Dr. Aldirbashi received specific biochemical genetics training at Toronto, Calgary, London and San Diego. His expertise spans newborn screening, inborn errors of metabolism, mass spectrometry, quality improvement of screening and diagnostic methods, development of new lab tests and metabolomics biomarker discovery. During his career, Dr. Aldirbashi led major screening and diagnostic labs in North America and the Middle East where he was instrumental in refining testing methodologies, devolving new screening algorithms, and establishing new screening programs. He also was appointed as faculty at medical schools in the UAE and Canada where he supervised numerous MSc and PhD students as well as trainees, fellows and residents training in his lab. He received several grants and published more than 70 articles in prestigious journals including Pediatrics, Hum Gen, Genet Med, Clin Chem, Anal Chem, J Inher Metab Dis and others. Throughout his career, Dr. Aldirbashi volunteered on various editorial boards and committees including the International Journal of Neonatal Screening and the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists.

Dr. Tawfeg Ben Omran

Division Chief, Genetic and Genomic Medicine – Sidra
Senior Consultant, Department of Medical Genetics – HMC
Associate Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College Adjunct Professor, College of Health Services, Qatar University

Dr. Tawfeg Ben Omran

Dr. Tawfeg He is a senior consultant and Division Chief, Genetic and Genomic Medicine in Qatar. He is a Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar & New York-USA. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital-USA.

He contributes to the body of published knowledge in clinical and metabolic genetics, with over 150 published articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters and abstracts. He is reviewer for many clinical genetics journals.

He is an active clinical researcher, collaborating on projects with local, regional & international communities. He is a lead primary investigator in many high profile research projects & clinical trials.

Dr. Abdelaziz Tlili

Associate professor and Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies, Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of, UAE

Dr. Abdelaziz Tlili

Dr. Abdelaziz Tlili is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies at University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Genetic engineering (2007) from National Engineering School of Sfax, under the supervision of Professor Hammadi Ayadi. In 2019, Dr. Tlili received the Habilitation in Biological sciences from the College of Sciences, Sfax, Tunisia. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Pasteur Institute, Paris, France (2009-2011,) he was appointed to the Department of Applied Biology at University of Sharjah in 2013 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019.

Dr. Abdelaziz research is interested in identifying and characterizing genes and mutations responsible for hereditary hearing loss. His research has been funded by University of Sharjah and Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Award for Medical ‎Sciences. For his research efforts he received 3 awards: UoS_SIB outstanding research in 2019, Hamdan journal best publication (2019) and Hamdan Journal best publication (2021)

Dr. Ahmed Tarawa

Dr. Aman Sohal

Consultant Pediatric Neurologist
Division Chief, Pediatric Neurology Department
Al Qassimi Women and Children's hospital, Sharjah
Founding Partner Neuropedia Children's Neuroscience Center, UAE

Dr. Aman Sohal

Dr. Sohal PS Sohal is a Consultant Pediatric Neurologist with over 12 years of experience in Paediatric Neurology. He trained in Pediatric Neurology at the prestigious Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. He was then appointed as Consultant in Pediatric Neurology at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, UK, which is a large tertiary/quaternary level pediatric hospital. He worked in the UK as a Consultant until September 2015. Dr Sohal then moved to the UAE and was appointed as Consultant Pediatric Neurologist at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City which is a tertiary level hospital catering for children in the UAE.

Dr Sohal’s specialist areas include general paediatric neurology, paediatric epilepsy, pediatric headache, inherited metabolic diseases/inborn errors of metabolism, movement disorders, developmental delay, paediatric neuromuscular conditions, neurorehabilitation and pediatric Neurodisability. He also has added experience in Clinical Neurophysiology including interpreting pediatric EEGs, EMG and nerve conduction studies.

Dr Sohal has published widely, with numerous peer reviewed articles in national and international journals. He has also been an invited speaker in national and international meetings.

Dr. Amal Altenaiji

Metabolic genetics consultant at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Prof. Asma Deeb

Chair of Pediatric Endocrinology at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Prof. Asma Deeb

Prof. Asma Deeb, Chair of Paediatric Endocrinology, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She is the Chair of research ethics committee at the SSMC and a clinical professor at the Gulf University and Khalifa University, UAE. Prof Deeb is the president of the Arab Society of Paediatric Endocrinology. She is an executive board member at the Global Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (GPED) and the International Consortium of paediatric endocrinology and a previous chair of the communication committee chair for ESPE and an advisory board member in ISPAD. Prof. Deeb has special interest in treatment of diabetes using technology and disorders of sexual differentiation. She is a keen researcher and has multiple publications in peer reviewed journal. She is an Associate editor and an editorial board member for multiple prestigious international journals in the field of diabetes.

Dr. Azza Attia

Clinical Geneticist, G42, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Azza Attia

Dr. Azza is experienced Medical Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in medical faculties, hospital & health care industry. Skilled in Medical clinical genetics, Molecular Biology, Stem cells, cell biology, medical education, Healthcare, and Clinical Research. European board certified

Dr. Aamna Al Shehhi

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering , Khalifa University, UAE

Dr. Aamna Al Shehhi

Dr. Aamna AlShehhi joined Khalifa University as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in 2021 and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2020. Her research interests include Statistical Analysis, Big Data analytics, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from the United Arab Emirates University (2009), and Master's in Computing and Information Science (2013), and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering (2017) degrees from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During her Ph.D., Dr. AlShehhi was part of an exchange program for one semester at MIT (2015). Throughout her studies, her research was based on time series analysis, big data analysis, and machine learning modeling for weather forecasting for different weather stations in the UAE and Twitter data analysis in the context of the Arab world with a special focus on the UAE.

Prof. Bassam Ali

Professor Genetics and Genomics Medicine College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAEU, UAE

Dr. Elsadeg Sharif

Consultant pediatric Rheumatologist Al Jalila children’s specialty hospital, UAE

Dr. Elsadeg Sharif

Dr. Sharif has around thirty years of vast experience in General Pediatrics and Pediatric rheumatology, Neonatology, and Community Pediatrics. Prior to joining AJCH, Dr. Sharif has worked in many reputable Hospitals in the UK, UAE, and Libya such as Southmead Hospital, Bristol, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Hospitals, Al Ain Hospital, Children’s Hospital Tripoli – Libya. In addition to his clinical role, Dr. Sharif held many key positions such as Chair of the Child Health Institute (CHI) at Al Ain hospital, President of the Pediatric Rheumatology Arab group (PRAG), co-chair and head of organizing committee at the SEHA International Pediatric Conference in January 2020 in Abu Dhabi, and the divisional clinical director, at the pediatric department Hull Royal Infirmary. Dr. Sharif has played key role in clinical governance through planning, conducting and participating in audits to improve the quality of patient and healthcare in the Hospitals where he used to work. Dr. Sharif was an Adjunct Associated Professor at the College of Medicine and Health Science (CMHS) at UAE University. Throughout his career, he has received many awards such as clinical excellence award in March 2010 at Hull Royal Infirmary UK, best trainer award from the Tawam pediatric residency programme at for the year 2014-2015, and the teaching excellence award for the academic year 2013 – 2014 from the Medical School at the UAE University.

Dr. Elham Alamiri

Pediatric Consultant Endocrinologist, Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital, Sharjah, Medcare clinic, UAE

Dr. Elham Alamiri

Dr. Elham Al Amiri is a Pediatric consultant and chief of Diabetes and endocrine unit at Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital, Sharjah. Dr. Al Amiri is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in College of Medicine, University of Sharjah. She has obtained her medical degree from King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, followed by Masters of Science degree in Pediatrics from Trinity College, Dublin and Membership of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child health (MRCPCH) from UK. She has obtained her ESPE clinical fellowship in pediatric endocrinology in Manchester-UK. She has established the pediatric endocrine and diabetes unit, serving as the only referral center in the EHS-Ministry of Health and prevention. In 2009 Dr Al Amiri founded “Friends for Diabetes” a volunteer support society by a decree from the government of Sharjah. She was the first author in one of the UAE diabetes landmark researches was on the prevalence, risk factors, and screening measure for prediabetes and diabetes among Emirati overweight/obese children and adolescents. Dr. Al Amiri has received several awards; the last being Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Excellence award of best Physician January 2017.

Dr. Eman Taryam AlShamsi

UAE Rare Disease Society Member
Consultant and Head of Pediatric
Hematology Oncology Division, Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital, UAE

Dr. Entesar Alhammadi

Director of Academic Affairs and Deputy Medical Director Consultant Pediatrics Nephrologist
Al Jalila Children's Speciality Hospital
UAE

Dr. Entesar Alhammadi

Dr. Entensar She is working currently Director of Academic Affairs and Deputy Medical Director (Education and Learning), Consultant Pediatrics Nephrologist at Al Jalila Children's Speciality Hospital , UAE. Head of Child Protection Unit, Director of Pediatrics Residency Program, DHA, Dubai. Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dubai Mediacal College. Consultant Pediatrics Nephrologist.
She worked as Medical Director at Aljalila Childrens Hospital, Dubai. Head of Pediatrics Nephrology Department, DHA, Dubai. She held Bachelor of Medicine And Science, Bachelor of Medicine And Surgery, Jordan. Board of Pedatrics, The American Board Of Pedatrics, USA. Canadian Board of Pediatrics: General Pediatrics, Canada

Prof. Fatma Al Jasmi

UAE Rare Disease Society
Founder and Member, Chair, Genetics & Genomics Department, UAEU
UAE

Dr. Fatima AbdulAziz Al Ali

Consultant Pediatric Clinical Geneticist
Al Qassimi Hospital
Sharjah, UAE

Dr. Fatima Al Bastaki

UAE Rare Disease Society
Founder and Board Member
Consultant Clinical Geneticist, Latifa Hospital - DHA, UAE

Dr. Fatmah Alzahmi

Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Genetics and Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Dr. Fatmah Alzahmi

Dr. Fatmah held American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), Vascular Neurology Board October 2016. ABPN, General Neurology Board, American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), General Medicine October 2012.

She got her education: Neuromuscular Fellowship Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, Neuromuscular fellowship at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, Vascular Neurology fellowship at Rush university medical center. Completed a 3-year internal medicine residency program at University of Alberta,

Dr. Feda Mohamed

Postdoctoral researcher Department of Genetics and Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Dr. Feda Mohamed

Dr. Feda E. Mohamed’s work is mainly focused on studying the effect of genetic variations in the molecular pathogenesis of different rare genetic metabolic disorders (mainly lysosomal storage diseases) and successfully published her work including the effect of missense variants in GM1-gangliosidosis, Schindler, PEPCK deficiency, and Gaucher diseases. In parallel, she is involved in multiple collaborative projects related to COVID-19 evaluating the effect of genetic variations in ACE2 gene as well as testing different potential Mpro inhibitors as potential targets for COVID-19. She is also actively involved in the training and guidance of postgraduate and medical students in the lab.

Dr. Hamda Belhoul

Consultant Pediatrician in Inborn Errors of Metabolism, Al Jalila children’s specialty hospital, Dubai, UAE

Dr. Hamda Belhoul

Dr. Hamda Abulhoul is a consultant pediatrician in inborn errors of metabolism. Dr Abulhoul graduated from Edinburgh Medical School, U.K. in 1995. She completed all her postgraduate training in the UK becoming a consultant in 2005. From 2008-2016 she worked as a Consultant in Metabolic Medicine at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, U.K. During her time at Great Ormond Street Hospital she was Clinical Lead for the metabolic department with a strong focus on patient experience and safety. Dr. Abulhoul moved to U.A.E and started working in Dubai in 2016. She is currently working at Al Jalila children’s specialty hospital, Dubai.

Dr. Hiba Alblooshi

Assistant Professor in the Genetic and Genomics department in the United Arab Emirates University. Director of the UAEU Genomic Laboratory, UAE

Dr. Hiba Alblooshi

Dr. Alblooshi is currently an assistant professor in the Genetic and Genomic department in the United Arab Emirates University. She holds a PhD degree in Medical and Forensic Sciences from the University of Western Australia in 2018. She completed her Master degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Science from the University of Western Australia (2012). Dr. Alblooshi completed her Bachelor degree in Science majoring in Genetic and Anatomy from The University of Melbourne in 2008. Dr. Alblooshi research focus is in Neuropsychiatric Genetic particularly, Substance Use Disorder. She conducted the first Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of Substance Use Disorder in the UAE population. With her research work she hopes to provide new insights for the pathophysiology of the disorder and improv the application of genetic technology in understating the underling biology of the disease.

Dr. John D. Phillips

Director of Research and Innovation
Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. John D. Phillips

Chair of the DSMC responsibilities of the Chair of the DSMC include the responsibilities of a DSMC member in addition to Acting as the primary contact person for the DSMC; Chairing the DSMC meetings; Ensuring that the meeting minutes and recommendations are appropriately documented; Signing the final minutes of each meeting and the DSMC Recommendations Form.

Dr. Madiha Fathi Ibrahim

Consultant Pediatrician, Al Qassimi Women & Children Hospital
AQWCH Assistant Professor, University of Sharjah, UAE

Dr. Majid Al Saleh Alteneiji

Pediatric Pulmonologist , Sleep Physician at Tawam Hospital, UAE

Dr. Majid Al Saleh Alteneiji

Dr. Majid AlSaleh AlTeneiji (Mb Bch BAO ABMS ERS Dip) is a pediatric pulmonologist and sleep physician at Tawam hospital. Dr. Majid completed his pediatric residency at Tawam hospital where he was a chief resident. Later, he pursued fellowships at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada in pediatric pulmonology while working as a co-chief fellow, and another in pediatric sleep medicine. His interests are quality improvement, chronic ventilation, respiratory neuromuscular disease and sleep medicine.

Dr. Mohammed Uddin

Associate Professor - Human Genetics, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, College of Medicine, UAE

Dr. Mohammed Uddin

Dr. Mohammed Uddin is a geneticist who obtained his BSc., MSc. and PhD from Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada. Mohammed has received the international Banting Fellowship 2014 by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and was also awarded the Andrew Sass-Kortsak award by SickKids as the fellow of the year. He made significant contribution into the etiology of autism and neurodevelopmental disorder genetics. His current research interest primarily focuses on the application of CRISPR technology and single cell genomics to identify genetic etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Min S park

Director of Genomic Medicine, Sanimed Group, IHC, founding Director of the UAE National Genome Program at Group 42 (G42), Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Min S park

Dr. Min S. Park is CSO and Director of Genomic Medicine, Sanimed Group, IHC, is the founding Director of the UAE National Genome Program at Group 42 (G42), Abu Dhabi, UAE. Before his professional career in the UAE, Min was the Director of Grandomics Institute, Grandomics Group, CSO, and Director of Genome Editing Center, Nextomics Bioscience Inc, China. Before joining the Grandomics Biosciences Group, he was the Distinguished International Fellow and Professor invited by the President Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), IHB-CAS, Wuhan, China. Min also served as the senior advisor for the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC),Beijing, China. Before joining CAS and SDIC, he served as the Deputy Director/Acting Director of Advanced Biomass R&D Center (ABC), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, one of the most significant algal biorefinery projects in the world ($100 million). Before moving back to Korea to join ABC, Min has been active in Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, for 25 years.

Dr. Mohd Saberi Bin Mohamad

Professor and Director of the Health Data Science Lab in the Department of Genetics and Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Science, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Dr. Mohd Saberi Bin Mohamad

Dr. Mohd Saberi Mohamad is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Health Data Science. He is now the Director of the Health Data Science Lab in the Department of Genetics and Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Science, UAE University (CMSH-UAEU). His research area includes Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Data Science, and Computational Biology. He applies his research area in fields such as Genomics, Rare Diseases, Cancer, Metabolic Engineering, and Drug Repurposing.

Before joining CMHS-UAEU, he was in Malaysia universities as the Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, Head of the Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics Research Group, founder of the Department of Data Science, Manager of Information Technology, and Deputy Director (Academic) for Centre of Computing and Informatics. In appreciation of his leadership, the university has appointed him as a member of the University Senate. Additionally, he is a member of the advisory board for the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and loT Digital Innovation Hub in Europe.

Dr. Nadia Akawi

Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics & Genomics, College of Medicine & Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Dr. Nadia Akawi

Dr. Nadia Akawi is a member of the British Society for Genetic Medicine (BSGM) and a member of the Clinical Genetic Science (ACGS) with a significant publication record in international scientific journals, including Nature Genetics, Nature Communications and Science. During the past years she worked in UAE and UK on analyzing genomic data from thousands of families with children exhibiting severe, undiagnosed developmental disorders revealing underlying genetic abnormalities. Later on, her research has expended to analyzing more Omics data such as genome-wide genotyping, metabolomics, and transcriptomics to provide novel insights into the causes and predictors of cardiovascular diseases and accompanying metabolic risk factors (i.e. obesity, diabetes, and hypertension). Recently, Dr. Nadia Akawi has returned back to UAE University to become a faculty member in the Department of Genetics and Genomics at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences to apply her wealth of expertise in translational medical research to develop her own research group and train enthusiastic students at the UAE University on how to deploy large-scale genomics and functional genomics to gain causal insights into the biological basis of human disease, identify new disease biomarkers and drug targets.

Dr. Najla Al Jaberi

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University Consultant Pediatric Rheumatologist at Tawam Hospital, UAE

Dr. Najla Al Jaberi

Dr. Najla Al Jaberi is an Academic Pediatric Rheumatologist in Al Ain. She graduated from UAE University and completed her residency and fellowship in pediatrics and pediatric rheumatology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio USA in 2020. She is currently dedicating her time to academia at UAE University where she is faculty at the department of pediatrics. She is interested in the genomics of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and childhood lupus and is currently leading clinical and translational research in these areas in the UAE.

Dr. Noura AlDhaheri

Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics & Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University

Consultant Genetics and Metabolism, Tawam Hospital, UAE

Dr. Noura AlDhaheri

Dr. Noura AlDhaheri is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS), UAE University. Dr. AlDhaheri holds American Board of Pediatrics certification and is qualified in Medical Genetics & Genomics and Medical Biochemical Genetics.

Dr. AlDhaheri obtained her pediatric residency training at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, USA (2012-2015) then training in Medical Genetics from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and National Institute of Health in the United States (2015-2017). Following that, she completed Medical Biochemical Genetics Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children Hospital in Houston, TX, USA in November 2018 and joined CMHS- UAE University as an Assistant Professor. She is also a consultant Clinical Genetics and Medical Biochemical Genetics at Tawam Hospital, Al Ain.

Dr. AlDhaheri’s current research focus is in Genomic Medicine. Specifically, rare disease and identification of novel genes for rare disease in several cohorts including: cleft lip/palate, VACTERL/VATER and vertebral malformation cohorts in an attempt to help “solve” Mendelian disorders for which the genetic etiology is presently unknown.

Dr. Nuha Al Zaabi

UAE Rare Disease Society Member
Metabolic Genetics Consultant
Fujairah Hospital, UAE

Dr. Rabih Halwani

Research Institute of Medical & Health Sciences
Professor, College of Medicine

Dr. Rabih Halwani

Dr. Rabih Halwani is a professor of Immunology and the director of the Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Sharjah. His research interests include understanding immune dysregulation during chronic respiratory diseases and COVID19 infection, as well as the discovery of novel genetic variants associated with Primary Immunodeficiency diseases. Prof. Halwani has published more than 150 articles in esteemed journals including NEJM, SCIENCE, Nature medicine, Cell, and others. He also trained and supervised many Medical, Masters, and Ph.D. students; and conducted several training workshops on various areas of Immunology Research. Moreover, Prof. Halwani secured considerable prestigious research grants for his research from external and internal funding agencies including Aljalila Foundation and Sandouk Alwatan. He is also the recipient of several international awards including the King Saud University Award for Scientific Excellence, 2017; and KSU Elite Journals Publishing Award, 2016

Mr. Shivang Agarwal

Director, Account Management, Middle East, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, UAE

Mr. Shivang Agarwal

Mr. Shivang has extensive and diverse technical-commercial experience of over 10 years in life sciences and clinical market. He holds, M.Sc Forensic Sciences (Sheffield Hallam University, UK) and B.tech in Bioinformatics (Pune University, India). Currently working as Associate Director in Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Gulf. Mr. Shivang started his carrier with applications support staff working for Illumina certified lab in India and later moved to UAE in 2014 where he headed application support department of Illumina’s channel partner in Gulf and Africa. In 2017-18 he co-founded and worked as Assistant-BDM in Scientechnic-Life Sciences division. The last 2-year work journey of Shivang is with Thermofisher Scientific where he was responsible to manage relationship and business in strategic accounts spread across middle east. He has managed multiple population scale\ genomics project, National covid screening labs, US-MRU defence project, Amgen screening program

Dr. Watfa AlDhaheri

Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist, SKMC, UAE

Dr. Watfa AlDhaheri

Dr. Watfa completed a pediatric nephrology training at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) from July 2012-June 2014. She also completed an Academic Pediatric Nephrology training at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) from July 2014-June 2015 with a main focus on Kidney Genetics. During the same year, she obtained a training certificate in Global Clinical Scholars Research Training program from Harvard University. I was awarded a Commendation for the capstone project submitted during the program. She worked as a consultant pediatric nephrologist in August 2015 in Al Ain Hospital and established general pediatric nephrology service at Al Ain Hospital.

Dr. Zubaida Masoud

Chief Medical Officer, Pediatric and Acute Adult Medicine
SKMC, UAE

Dr. Zubaida Masoud

Dr. Zubaida Al Ismaili, Caring for patients has been always my passion; Pediatric and acute adult medicine have a special place in my heart. At the beginning of my journey at SKMC, she had the opportunity to take over some administrative job in my career. She was appointed as contract management unites manager for the SEHA Dialysis Services (SDS). On August 2013, she was promoted to be the Deputy CEO of SEHA Dialysis Services (SDS) that was a big change in my carrier with more responsibilities. My main goals was to provide the best quality of dialysis treatment. In July 2019, she was blessed to work as a Deputy Chief Medical officer at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City under a great leadership that helped me reach my potentials. This opportunity came shortly before the unfortunate COVID 19 pandemic that brought a new challenge to all of us. We were able to experience a fast development in our career and put our hands together to support our country. Now as the pandemic is waving off, we are working heavily on regaining strategies to get back our pre-COVID volumes and focus on boosting our center of excellences. In February 2022, she was honored to be given the role of an interim Chief Medical Officer at SKMC. Despite the challenges, she do see her self-capable to build the right team that would carry on the journey after the departure of her respected colleagues.

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