Professor Laith Abu-Raddad, Ph.D.
Professor of Population Health Sciences
Weill Cornell Medical College
Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad is a highly esteemed Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar of Cornell University and the WHO Collaborating Center for Disease Epidemiology Analytics director. He has a wealth of experience in the field of infectious disease epidemiology. He has published his work in numerous leading journals, including New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Lancet journals, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Hepatology, PLOS Medicine, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. His research focuses on a wide range of diseases, including COVID-19, HIV, and others, and has been instrumental in shaping public health policy at the national, regional, and international levels. He will be joining us as a speaker at the 7th QU Health Annual Research Symposium and is sure to provide valuable insights and thought-provoking discussions.
Dr. Nahla Afifi, Ph.D.
Director of Qatar Biobank
Dr. Nahla Afifi earned her MBBCh with honors, a Master of Anatomy and Embryology, and a Diploma in Gynecology and Obstetrics from Ain Shams University in Egypt. She earned her PhD with joint supervision from UMD in New Jersey, USA. Dr. Afifi began her career as a Medical Researcher in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at UMD, NJ, USA, before continuing her academic career at Ain Shams University, Dubai Medical College for Girls, UAE, and Qatar University. She was promoted to the rank of full professor of Anatomy and Embryology in 2007. In 2013, Dr. Afifi joined Qatar Foundation as Education and Scientific Manager and was subsequently appointed Director of Qatar Biobank in 2017. Dr. Afifi has published numerous research papers in her field of expertise. She is a member of several international societies, including the American Association of Anatomists, the American Society for Investigative Pathology, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, the International Human Cell Culture Society, and the European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in biobanking, Dr. Afifi was awarded the ISBER Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biobanking in 2022.
Dr. Hamdi Mbarek, Ph.D.
Research Partnerships Manager at Qatar Genome Program
Dr. Hamdi Mbarek is the Research Partnerships Manager at Qatar Genome. He is responsible for the research collaborations projects at Qatar Genome. His background is in genetic and epidemiological analyses of complex traits, the molecular study of complex diseases, and the relationships between human behavior, lifestyle, traits, diseases and genetics. He published more than 100 articles in high impact scientific journals (Nature, Cell, Nature Genetics..) and is the author of a book chapter with Springer. Dr. Mbarek leads an international collaborative consortium, the Twinning Genetics Consortium, to study the genetics of twinning and birth weight in twins. After 30 years of research, Dr. Mbarek was the first scientist to find the first genes responsible for dizygotic twinning. His paper was selected among the best groundbreaking genetics research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG) in 2015 and 2016. In 2019, he was nominated for the Prix Galien Research award. With a strong background in molecular genetics, Dr. Mbarek was formerly an assistant professor at VU University in Amsterdam and contributed to the teaching of classes on human molecular genetics, omics, twin research, and human genetics. He acquired extensive research experience and a rich network aboard during his time in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Dr. Mbarek obtained his PhD in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Évry Val d'Essonne in Paris, France. He completed a first postdoctoral research on the genomics of complex diseases at University of Tokyo in Japan, and a second one on the genetics of psychiatric diseases and genetics of addiction at VU University in the Netherlands.