Dr Asma Al-Thani is a Professor of Virology at Qatar University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, in the College of Health Sciences. Dr Al-Thani received her PhD degree in 2005 from the University of London in the United Kingdom.
Dr Al-Thani’s academic appointment started in 2005, as an Assistant Professor of Virology at Qatar University. In 2011, she was promoted to the position of Associate Professor, and in 2016, was promoted to full Professor of Virology
Dr Al-Thani has also fulfilled roles as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar since 2011, as Vice Chairperson of the Qatar Biobank Board since 2010, a Qatar Foundation nominate for Chair of the National Genome Qatar Committee in December 2013, and Director of the Biomedical Research Center at Qatar University from Fall 2014
Dr Al-Thani has numerous published articles in her field of expertise, including 35 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. She has also obtained several research grants, including 7 Qatar University grants, 13 UREP grants and 4 NPRP grants. She was the First Prize recipient of the Sheikh Hummaid Bin Rashid Award for Culture and Sciences, for research on Bird Flu and Means of Prevention in December 2006, and was awarded a prize from the Al-Jasra Cultural Club-Qatar for a student research competition entry titled Variety of Resident Nationalities in Qatar and its Effect or Presence of New Disease in the Qatari Society in April 2008. Dr Al-Thani was given further recognition through the Qatar University Outstanding Faculty Service Award in 2012, College of Arts and Sciences Research Award in 2012, the Arab Paediatric Medical Research Awards 2015, Best Student Award Poster in the field of Health and Biomedical Sciences at the Qatar Foundation Research Forum in 2012, and 2nd Winner of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF)’s Sixth Annual UREP Competition in 2014
Dr Al Thani is an active member in several external committees: The Institutional Review Board and Institutional Bio-Safety Committee at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (since 2009); Qatar Health Research Ethics Committee, Supreme Council of Health – Qatar (since 2009), and the National Cancer Research Committee-SCH (since 2011). She serves as reviewer and an editorial board member for several reputable, peer-reviewed scientific journals, and she is a member of the American Society for Microbiology.