Faculty Bios and Research Interest

Dr. Asad Zeidan, Coordinator of Graduate Studies

Dr. Asad Zeidan is an Associate Professor of physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Qatar. He received fellowships for graduate study in vascular physiology from Swedish Institute and Faculty of Medicine at Lund University in Lund, Sweden. In 2003 he received his Ph.D. degree in vascular physiology at Lund University, Sweden. His Ph.D. study focused on stretch-dependent growth and remodelling in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). The major goal of his Ph.D. research was to identify the signals behind mechanical stretch-induced growth and differentiation marker proteins in VSMC. He has also been an instructor for cardiovascular physiology and anatomy labs for medical students.  In January 2004, Dr. Zeidan moved to London, Ontario, Canada, for his postdoctoral studies in the department of physiology and pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine at University of Western Ontario. His research involved studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying hypertrophic effect of the obesity associated protein leptin in vascular and cardiac tissues. In December 2009, Dr. Zeidan accepted a faculty position in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Rochester, New York. During his stay, he received the highly competitive and prestigious Scientist Development Grant (#10SDG4250012 success rate: 8.3%) from the American Heart Association (AHA), which is reserved for promising young scientists.  In 2011, Dr. Zeidan joined the Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Physiology at American University of Beirut (AUB) as an Assistant Professor of Physiology. At the same time, he established his own research profile working on hypertension and obesity. His main research focus was on studying the relationship between obesity-associated proteins (adiponectin and leptin), hypertension, and mechanotransduction signaling in VSMCs/endothelial cells in vitro and in vivo. His projects utilize his experience and knowledge from both his graduate and postdoctoral training in vascular and cardiac research in order to study, in-depth, novel molecular mechanisms in the regulation of cardiovascular function in health and disease. In 2012, he received the Talal Zein award in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Prevention from the European Society of Hypertension. He was later awarded a travel research fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians (Daniel Turnberg Travel Fellowships). Dr. Asad has around 46 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in highly ranked scientific journals and his H-Index stands right now at 25.

His principal research activities focus on:

1. Characterizing the mechanisms by which VSMC in the vascular wall sense changes in blood pressure and modulate vessel size and tone. Using blood vessels organ culture, models of hypertension (in vivo) and cardio-vascular-proteomics platform; molecular signalling that are involved in hypertension-induced VSMC remodelling are being investigated. The goal is to identify novel biomechanical sensing molecules.
2. Understanding of the mechanisms of the obesity associated proteins (such as leptin and adiponectin)- and diabetes-induced cardiac and vascular remodelling.
3. Design and validation of a model for In Vitro investigation of shear stress and its role in atherosclerosis.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WleqHWoAAAAJ&hl=en 

Basic Medical Science Department

Dr. Marwan Abu Hijleh, Head of Basic Medical Science

Professor MARWAN ABU-HIJLEH graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Medicine & Surgery (MBBCh) from Cairo University Faculty of Medicine, Egypt (1980) and received his (Ph.D.) degree in Anatomy from Glasgow University Medical School, Scotland, UK (1987). He taught Clinical Anatomy to medical students for more than 35 years in UK, Jordan, Oman, and Bahrain. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Vice Dean for Curriculum & Medical Education, Jordan University of Science & Technology, Jordan (1998-2001). He also served as Chairman of the Anatomy Department, College of Medicine & Medical Sciences (CMMS), Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain (2005-2015). Over the past two decades, he developed an increasing interest in Medical Education which prompted him to earn in 2009 a Master in Health Professions Education (MHPE); a joint program between University of Maastricht, the Netherlands & Suez Canal University, Egypt. Before joining Qatar University in 2015, he was also Chairman of the BSc Examination Committee and Chairman of the CMMS Appointments & Promotions Committee. He also was a core member in several key committees at both College and University levels. He served as Acting Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the College of Medicine, Qatar University from 2016-2017. He is currently Professor of Anatomy & Medical Education, Head of Basic Medical Sciences Department at the College of Medicine, and Chair of Qatar University Academic Promotions Committee. Areas of his research interests include lymphatics and lymphoid organs, morphological variations, human fascia, radiologic and anthropological anatomy, and Medical Education. He published over 70 papers in highly rated international journals. He is a member in several international scientific organizations and societies. He is also editor, associate editor and reviewer in several regional and international medical journals. He supervised several postgraduate students and acted as an external and internal examiner on many occasions.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FGKmK0oAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Laiche Djouhri, Professor of Physiology

Dr. Djouhri obtained his Ph.D. in Physiology in 1991 at Sheffield University, UK. For his postdoctoral training, he worked for about 5 years at Edinburgh University (UK), investigating interactions between spinal cord neurons at the level of the spinal cord. Then he moved to work, as a research scientist for about 10 years with Prof. Sally Lawson at the University of Bristol (UK) where he was investigating the role of primary afferent DRG neurons in chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain. He also worked for about a year with Prof. Michael Gold at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. He then moved to work as a lecturer (assistant professor) and principal investigator for 5 years at the University of Liverpool (UK). In September 2012, he left the UK and moved to KSA where he worked as an associate professor for 2 years at King Faisal University (KSA) before moving to King Saud University (KSA) where he worked as a Full Professor in Physiology and as a director of PG studies in Department of Physiology. In August 2018, he joined Qatar University to work as a professor in Physiology at the College of Medicine. Throughout his career Professor, Djouhri has been using different approaches including the challenging and very demanding in vivo electrophysiology technique to investigate the role of ion channels and cytokines in chronic inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain including diabetic and chemotherapy-induced neuropathies. Nonetheless, he published 53 research articles in reputed peer-reviewed international journals. He is the first or last author in most of his publications. The total impact factor for his papers is >190; h-index= 23; i10-index =31; Citations >3500 (source: Google Scholar).

My research is focussed on the understanding of the processing of nociceptive “pain” information and in the peripheral mechanisms underlying hyperexcitability of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, and the hypersensitivity associated with chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain (NP), major health problems. My current research interests include the role of the immune and nervous systems and ion channels (e.g. KCNQ/Kv7, and HCN channels) in spontaneous activity in DRG neurons that drive chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain. I have been using the following animal (rat) models of chronic pain and approaches:

Animal models of chronic pain

• CFA (Complete Freund’s adjuvant) model of chronic inflammatory pain
• SNL (spinal nerve ligation) model of neuropathic pain
• STZ (Streptozotocin) model of diabetes-induced neuropathic pain
• Paclitaxel model of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain

Approaches/techniques

• In vivo single-electrode voltage clamp (SEVC) recordings in anaesthetized rats.
• In vivo voltage recordings in anaesthetized rats coupled with dye-injection and immunocytochemistry
• Immunohistochemistry of whole DRGs.
• Pharmacological and behavioural studies to examine the effects of modulating ion channels (e.g. HCN and Kv7) and proinflammatory mediators (e.g. cytokines and NGF) on the excitability of nociceptors and pain hypersensitivity in the aforementioned animal models of chronic pain.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bZOxBqEAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Saghir Akhtar, Professor of Pharmacology

Saghir Akhtar is currently Professor of Pharmacology at the College of Medicine, Qatar University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Drug Targeting. He was previously Professor of Drug Delivery in the Welsh School of Pharmacy and Director for the Centre for Genome-based Therapeutics, Cardiff University, UK and more recently as Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University,

Prof Akhtar obtained a First Class honors degree in Pharmacy from the Leicester School of Pharmacy (UK) and his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Bath in the UK. He then undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina Medical School at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA and began his independent academic career at Aston University (Birmingham, UK), firstly as lecturer and then as Reader in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He was also a visiting fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University, UK (with Professor Ed Southern).

He has published well over 120 full peer-reviewed research articles in leading journals and holds several patents that have emanated from his research in medical and health sciences. In addition, Prof Akhtar has trained and mentored many research students and post-doctoral fellows and serves the research community through his roles as Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and Editorial Board member of several peer-reviewed research journals. Prof Akhtar has also served as an invited organizer and/or keynote speaker at numerous international conferences.

Professor Akhtar’s research and teaching has been recognized internationally with the award of several prestigious prizes including the Lilly Prize, the Pfizer Academic Award, the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal, the Controlled Release Society (USA) Young Investigator Research Achievement Award, the Kappa Society Science Award and the Fazlur Rahman Khan Award for Excellence in Engineering, Science and Technology (London, UK). In 2020, he also received one of the top two best teacher awards from students at the College of Medicine at Qatar University.

In addition to his research and teaching, Prof Akhtar has previously held several senior administrative positions including as Head of Department and Director of Postgraduate studies. He has also served as a curriculum advisor and external examiner for several international universities.

Research interests

Professor Akhtar conducts basic and translational research in the fields of cancer and diabetes.  Current research interests include studying a) the molecular pharmacology and signal transduction pathways involved in breast and brain cancers, diabetes and/or hypertension-induced cardiovascular dysfunction; b) the nanotoxicology and biological activity of novel drug delivery systems especially for gene silencing nucleic acid-based nanomedicines and c) the impact of pharmacotherapy on clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=vJQ51RMAAAAJ&view_op=list_works

Dr. Ayman Mustafa, Associate Professor in Anatomy

Dr. Ayman Mustafa has earned his Ph.D. in Anatomy from University of Kentucky USA in 2010. Since then, he has been teaching anatomical sciences to medical students in Jordan and Qatar. His passion toward his career in teaching motivated Dr. Ayman to get involved in medical education research. In addition to that, Dr Ayman is interested in human morphology and its application in forensic sciences. He conducted several studies in this field and published them in reputable international journals. Dr. Ayman has been serving as an editorial member of and a reviewer for several international journals. Dr. Ayman is also interested in antioxidant-oxidant homeostasis in biological systems. During the course of his academic career, Dr. Ayman attended and participated in several international conferences in the United States, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Portugal, Malaysia, Italy, France, and Turkey. Now, Dr. Ayman Mustafa is an associate professor of Anatomy at the college of medicine, Qatar University.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tRB7zGoAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Mohamed Emara , Associate Professor of Microbiology

Dr. Mohamed Emara is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at CMED-QU. He has 20 years of experience in the field of molecular and cell biology with a specific focus on understanding the gene transcriptional regulation in cells subjected to different types of stresses. Dr. Emara has his PhD from Georgia State University, where he is the first one to discover the inhibition of specific stress related genes in cells infected with viruses and understand the exact pathways behind this inhibition (Emara and Brinton, 2007, PNAS). He is one of the pioneers to establish a virus-cell system to study the effect of different viruses on the molecular components of cell stress response program and how it regulates cell gene expression, which is a widely used approach today (Emara and Brinton, 2007, PNAS; Khaperskyy, Emara, et al., 2014, PloS Pathogen). As a molecular and cell biologist at Harvard Medical School, he is the first one to report the ability of different cells to control the expression of certain genes in response to a specific type of non-coding RNA molecules to induce the formation of SGs in different types of cells (Emara et al, 2010, JBC). Along with his colleagues, he was able to discover the novel function of this RNA and identify the pathways and mechanisms of how those genes are regulated within the cell (Ivanov, Emara, et al, 2011, Mol Cell). Recently, he was among the group who identify a protective effect of the DNA form these RNA molecules in motor neurons and highlight its possible role in motor neuron diseases pathogenesis (Ivanov, O’Day, Emara, et al., 2014, PNAS). In 2012, Dr. Emara moved to Qatar and joined QBRI, his research focus was directed towards using iPSC in disease modeling. Since he came to QBRI, he has been focused in establishing an iPSC niche at QBRI, where he is a key member in founding a fully functional stem cell platform at QBRI. Dr. Emara has a number of peer-reviewed international articles, one book chapter, and is an inventor on three international patents.

Dr. Emara research focuses is directed towards using iPSC in disease modeling of Cystic Fibrosis (CF). His lab generate iPSC from CF patients in Qatar, differentiate them into airway organoids, and perform transcriptomic and epigenomic analysis on these organoids aiming to identifying candidate genes that play role in the disease pathogenesis. Another branch in Dr. Emara’s lab is the understanding the possible role of stress response program components in regulating stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, with a special focus on airway differentiation. His lab was the first to elucidate the possible role of SGs in regulating stem cell fate (Palangi et al., 2017, PloS ONE). Also, he is currently a key member of other collaborative projects to use iPSC approach in modeling diabetes and ASD.  Dr. Emara’s team is composed of a highly experienced senior research associate, research assistant, and six undergraduate students. Team members are highly skilled in cell culture, molecular and cell biology techniques and are well trained to handle iPSC cell lines and characterize them in a very efficient and reliable way.

Google scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X0394fsAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Susu Zughaier , Associate Professor of Microbiology

Dr. Susu Zughaier is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. Trained as a clinical microbiologist, earned a Diploma in Clinical Microbiology, University College London; MSc in Medical Microbiology and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Cardiff University, UK. She did her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. Dr. Zughaier was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, USA before joining Qatar University College of Medicine in Fall 2017. Her research interests are focused on host-pathogen interactions and vaccine development. She investigates antibiotic resistance mechanisms and implements nanotechnology for rapid detection of bacterial infections. Her translational research is focused on vitamin D immune-modulatory effects. To date, Dr. Zughaier published more than 48 scientific research papers and awarded two patents on her discoveries. She serves as the Scientific Microbiology Councilor for the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society. She serves as Guest Editor, editorial board member and ad-hoc reviewer for multiple international journals. Dr. Zughaier is an expert in Meningococcal and Gonococcal nanovaccines and therefore served as consulted for Pfizer and the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2019 she joined Bacterial Vaccines Experts Network (BactiVac), University of Birmingham UK. Dr. Zughaier Google Scholar H-index is 28 and i10 index is 43, and her research is highly cited with more than 9,000 citations. Dr Susu Zughaier Laboratory is currently awarded NPRP12S grant, as well as QU internal, collaborative and student grants.

Research Interests:

Dr. Susu Zughaier research interests are focused on host-pathogen interactions, vaccine development and antibiotic resistance. She implements nanotechnology for rapid detection of bacterial infections and nanovaccine development and she has several international collaborations. Her translational research is focused on vitamin D immune modulatory effects. Dr. Zughaier research laboratory at Qatar University implements various biological and molecular methods, as well as in silico and bioinformatics approaches.  Current projects are:

• A: Host-pathogen interactions: Main research interests are in the field of host-pathogen interactions focusing on Toll-like Receptors and Innate Immunity in terms of macrophage inflammatory immune responses, epigenetic adaptation, and autophagy modulation in response to bacterial infection, bacterial virulence and immune evasion mechanisms.
• B: Antibiotics resistance mechanisms in terms of mobile genetic determinants that transfer resistance among bacterial pathogens in Qatar; how antibiotic resistance enables bacterial survival in the host and identifying novel bacterial targets for antibiotic adjuvants discovery.
• C: Vitamin D immune modulatory effects: Vitamin D status and it association with chronic diseases in Qatar in collaboration with Qatar Bio Bank as the main source for population-based biological data.
• D: Nanotechnology based research for biosensor and nanovaccines discovery: Developing sensor for rapid detection of bacterial infections in biological fluids using nano-substrates and smart material; as well as developing bacterial nanovaccine formulations for novel vaccine discovery and enhanced delivery methods for current vaccine.
• E: COVID19 in-house serology test: Developing a quantitative ELISA based serology test to assess antibody titers against SARS-CoV2.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XaxSmOwAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Abdella Habib, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry

Dr. Abdella M Habib was appointed as an assistant professor of Biochemistry at the college of medicine (CMED) in 2017; and he is also a visiting researcher/lecturer (assistant professor) in Metabolism and Experimental Therapeutics at University College London, U.K.

Before joining CMED, he undertook post-doctoral training at the University of Cambridge and University College London, the U.K. and post-graduate training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree from Imperial College London, U.K.

His research activities relate primarily to the nutrient-sensing endocrine cells in the intestine and the genetics of damage-sensing neurons particularly in the context of pain, diabetes, appetite regulation, critical illness, and aging.

Dr. Abdella M Habib has co-authored in top-tier scientific journals including Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, PNAS, Brain, the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Diabetes, Diabetologia as well as a book chapter. These papers have been cited in scientific literature 490 times in 2017 and 550 times in 2018 (source: google scholar).

His most recent works published in the neurology journal Brain, 2018 and the British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2019 result from work studying families with rare Mendelian pain disorders in which two novel pain insensitivity genes were discovered, ZFHX2 and FAAH-OUT. These discoveries attracted worldwide media attention including The New York Times, Nature, Smithsonian magazine, BBC and Aljazeera and are in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric (source: https://oxfordjournals.altmetric.com/details/30415264; https://www.altmetric.com/details/57897288 ).

Dr. Abdella M Habib’s research is being performed on a collaborative basis with research institutions in Europe and Qatar and would welcome enquiries from researchers and clinicians who wish to collaborate.

Interested Master and Ph.D. students, please email : ahabib@qu.edu.qa  to discuss availability.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tLpirtgAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Abdallah Musa Abdallah, Assistant professor of Genetics

Dr. Abdallah Musa Abdallah received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Molecular Genetics from the VU University Amsterdam, College of Medicine (2008). His dissertation work focused on several aspects of protein secretion mechanisms in mycobacteria and subsequently, the role of this secretion system and its substrates in virulence. Following postdoctoral appointments at the VU medical Centre and The Netherlands Cancer Institute, he started his academic career at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, KSA. He also serves as the lead of the Genomics Core Facility before joining Qatar University, College of Medicine in Fall 2019. Dr. Abdallah has an extensive experience in the fields of Genetics as well as Microbiology and molecular/cell biology and he is an expert in (myco)bacterial genetics and bacterial cell envelope processes. His research interests are focused on the area of Microbial Genetics, host-pathogen interaction and molecular pathogenesis of infectious agents, in particular as these fields related to pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. He investigates and describes the function of the ESX-5 secretion system in tuberculosis and he coined the term type VII secretion for these systems (Abdallah AM et al., Nature Rev Microbiol 2007). To date, Dr. Abdallah published more than 40 papers in peer reviewed high impact international leading journals including Nature genetics, Nature Microbiology and Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Dr. Abdallah joined the Qatar University, College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor on August 2019.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=i3uMg1wAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Farhan Cyprian, Assistant Professor of Immunology

Dr. Cyprian served as an assistant professor at the College of Medicine, UoS, UAE prior to joining CMED at Qatar University. He was working at Sharjah Institute for Medical Research where he contributed in the establishment of many active research projects in addition to designing the animal facility. Trained as a physician he joined cancer research at Prof Philippe Bouvet lab in ENS Lyon identifying the formation of nucleolin at the transcriptomic level and later at Institut Mérieux and Centre Leon Berard Lyon, France, Elucidating T cell regulation by regulatory factors such as transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β).

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oKsJU6YAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Hamda Al-Thawadi, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology

Dr. Hamda AL-Thawadi is an assistant professor in College of Medicine, Qatar University. She was awarded by H. H. Sh. Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani the Scientific Excellence Award in 2017 for the best Ph.D. thesis in Qatar. Dr. Hamda obtained her Ph.D. in molecular biology (cancer) in 2015 from Paris Saclay University, Paris, France. She worked on different projects in molecular biology in different labs in Paris such as Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, Hôpital Saint-Antoine and Faculté de Médecine VI, Paris, France. Furthermore, she worked on different projects about ovarian cancer in research labs of Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha, Qatar.

Dr. Hamda gained her BSc. and MD. from Arabian Gulf University, Medical College, the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2005. She has done her internship and residency in Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. Before joining QU, She joined Qatar Foundation in 2009 as a research analyst working on evaluating research proposals for international organizations and establishing partnerships with different institutes in and outside Qatar. In 2011 she started the Qatar Research Leadership Program-Science track where after that she has completed this program and graduated in 2015.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=DRCi3f4AAAAJ  

Dr. Karim Nagi, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Dr. Karim Nagi received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Montreal, Canada in 2015. He has a broad base of skills and experience in molecular pharmacology, proteins trafficking, signaling biosensors and bias signaling. Dr. Nagi has also ample of experience in monitoring protein-protein interactions in real-time and in living cells using cutting edge biophysical methods like BRET. This last expertise made him collaborate with scientists from Pfizer, USA in a project that aims to identify biased therapeutic compounds with reduced side effects. Dr. Nagi has authored several publications in highly ranked scientific journals and 60+ presentations in national and international scientific meetings. He has also been invited to present at several international conferences in Australia and Canada. The quality of his projects was acknowledged by eight presentation awards in scientific conferences, several travel awards, and his studies were supported by a number of fellowship awards including CHU Sainte-Justine and Foundation of Stars fellowship, fellowship from the Department of Pharmacology and a fellowship from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of Montreal. He was also granted a Recognition Award for the Best Scientific Contribution of the year at the Department of Pharmacology in 2015. After completing his graduate studies, Dr. Nagi continued focusing his research interests in characterizing several membrane receptors’ signaling and trafficking and completed two postdoctoral trainings at Duke University Medical Center, USA. The expertise that Dr. Nagi acquired during his postdoctoral positions provided an important complement to his graduate work, and together these two phases of his training constitute the foundation of his current research program.

Google scholar:  https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=nlBhV3EAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Mohammed Malki, Assistant Professor of Pathology

Dr. Malki received his PhD in Pathology from Liverpool University after successfully awarded a prestigious PhD studentship. Dr. Malki joined CMED as an Assistant Professor of Pathology in 2018.  He has been a clinical academic at the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle since 2013, initially as a clinical research fellow then a clinical lecturer of pathology (honorary) with a great experience in both basic and translational medicine. His main interests are on identification and characterization of the genes involved in malignant progression of prostate and breast cancers. His work is also extended to the identification of the possible biomarkers for prediction of the malignant tendency of the weakly malignant prostatic carcinomas.

Dr. Malki published in well-regarded specialist journals (e.g. British Journal of Cancer, International Journal of Oncology and Cancers) and generic journals (e.g. Genes and Cancer, Cancer Research) and presented in many national and international conferences. He has also been awarded several prizes and bidden successfully for large grants as a Lead Principle Investigator from QU and worldwide. Dr. Malki serves as associate reviewers for multiple international journals. He was also elected as an Ambassador of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) and a member of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dr. Mubarak Bidmos, Associate Professor of Anatomy

Mubarak Bidmos graduated from the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos in 1996 and completed his internship training in the four major clinical disciplines at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos. He obtained MSc (2002) and Ph.D. (2009) degrees in anatomy from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. During his time at Wits University, he was the course director of anatomy for medical students and taught gross anatomy and embryology to dental, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and pharmacy students. He also has an extensive teaching experience at the University of Toronto in Canada where he taught in the faculties of Medicine, Pharmacy, Kinesiology and Arts and Science. In addition, he taught anatomy at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College and the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. His research interest is in the establishment and validation of standards for human identification from skeletons. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in reputable journals. He is currently the Sectional Editor of Forensic Science International: Reports and acts as a reviewer for a number of journals in anatomy and anthropology.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5pvWKY0AAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Sami Ismail Zaqout, Assistant Professor of Anatomy

Sami Zaqout is an Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine, Qatar University. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Medicine from Damascus University and MSc. in Anatomy from Jordan University of Science and Technology, after which he worked as a lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza, for four years. In 2017 he obtained his MD/Ph.D. degree in Medical Neurosciences at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. He then assumed a position as a Research Associate at the same university till June 2019. During his postgraduate research, he published ten scientific articles focusing on the cerebral cortical development. One of his major research skills is performing Golgi staining method in studying nerve cells. His paper on this method has been cited in more than forty articles within the first three years from the date of publication. In addition, he practiced immunohistochemistry, histological preparations of different tissues, western blot, primary neuronal culture and live cell imaging. He experimented teaching Anatomy to medical students using human cadavers, plastic anatomical models and computer 3-D software in Palestine, Jordan and Germany. Through his current position at Qatar University, he is looking forward to sharing his experience and learning from students and colleagues alike.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MMa7CjgAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Semir Vranic, Associate professor of Pathology

Dr. Vranic graduated from the University Of Sarajevo School Of Medicine in 2004. Completed residency program in pathology in 2011 and obtained PhD in pathology in 2012 at the Zagreb University School of Medicine. Worked as a consultant pathologist at the Department of Pathology, Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo from 2012-2017. Joined the College of Medicine, Qatar University in September 2017. Did two post-doc fellowships (2008/2009 at the Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, USA; 2012/2013, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Italy). Additional training programs in breast pathology were completed at Nottingham City Hospital (UK) in 2008 and at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust/King's College London (2012). Was awarded as UICC Lifetime Fellow in 2010 and "The rising stars in pathology" by the Pathologist in 2016. Active in many professional and academic associations related to pathology and academic/scientific publishing (USCAP, European Society of Pathology, UICC, COPE, WAME, CSE). Actively involved in pathology education through establishment of the Bryan Warren School of Pathology (since 2007 annually) in collaboration with the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology (BDIAP) and Bosnian Turkish School of Cytopathology (since 2016 annually) in collaboration with the Turkish Division of IAP (TDIAP). Served as a president of national association of pathologists in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2015-2017). Has been section editor and editor-in-chief of Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences (since 2014), consulting editor in Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy (since 2015), academic editor in PLOS One (since 2018), associate editor in Cancer Cell International (since 2019) and editorial board member of Annals of Translational Medicine (2017-2019). Has been serving as a peer-reviewer for >50 academic biomedical journals.

Research interests:

Has been actively involved in breast cancer, genitourinary and gynecologic cancer research as well as novel predictive biomarkers for precision medicine purposes (>90 peer-reviewed publications + 90 abstracts for scientific conferences/meetings). Published one book (Review of Gynecologic and Breast Pathology, 2017) and three book chapters (one in Encyclopedia of Pathology, Springer 2018, one in WHO Classification of Breast Tumors, IARC Lyon, 2019 (in press) and one in book “Precision Medicine in Cancer Therap

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9FowakAAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Ali Hussein Eid, Associate Professor of Pharmacology

Dr. Eid obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the Ohio State University where he conducted his doctoral (and later postdoctoral) research at the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. He had previously obtained his MSc from Bowling Green State University, USA and his BSc from the American University of Beirut.

The main research focus in Dr. Eid's laboratory is the molecular and cellular pharmacology that culminates in drug discovery. Dr. Eid has leveraged his training and experience in cellular and molecular biology to pursue research questions related to alpha 2 adrenoceptors (α2-ARs) in the context of vascular disease. Specifically, the role of the neuronal (norepinephrine), humoral (epinephrine) and endocrine (estrogen and cortisol) factors that govern the function of vascular α2-ARs is of prime importance.

In the interest of pursuing a long-term career in pharmacology with a defined and a clear path for growth, Dr. Eid has set up a drug discovery program that screens, identifies and characterizes new drugs from natural and synthetic origins. For the natural sources, his team first selected several plants with established medicinal value in the culture. To this end, Dr. Eid and his students published several papers in highly reputable Q1 journals; many of these papers were invited papers, indicative of the team’s sought expertise.

As an example of the synthetic chemistry element, Dr. Eid and his medicinal chemistry collaborators have identified a few compounds that are more efficacious and more potent than 5-fluouracil, a standard anti-cancer drug. Importantly, these newly discovered compounds elicit their anticancer effects even in cancer cells that are resistant to current treatment.

Dr. Eid has garnered several teaching and research awards, and has secured many national and international research awards. Dr. Eid enjoys teaching his students the art of research and scientific writing. He has published over 135 peer-reviewed papers in highly reputable journals. His h-index is currently 32, with a steady increase in citations as per the following scholar link.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pj2rOPkAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Aida Habib, Professor of Pharmacology

Dr. Aida Habib is a full professor of Pharmacology at the College of Medicine, Qatar University. Dr. Aida Habib obtained her MS in Molecular and Cellular Biology- Immunology from Université de Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology of Vessels and Platelets-coagulation from Université Paris 7 (now Université de Paris), working on arachidonic acid and cyclooxygenase-2 in endothelial cells.

After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in the group of Garret FitzGerald, she was appointed as a senior researcher at the CNRS in Paris, France, conducting her research on the regulation of cyclooxygenases and the signaling of the thromboxane receptors in the vascular and inflammatory cells. In 2002, she joined the faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut as an associate professor of Biochemistry.

She was promoted to professor in 2008. During this time, she was a visiting researcher in the group « Inflammatory responses in chronic liver diseases », led by Dr. Sophie Lotersztajn at the Center for Research on Inflammation (CRI, INSERM U1149), Paris, France. Dr. Aida Habib is an internationally recognized researcher working on prostanoids and the arachidonic acid pathway in inflammation vascular biology.

She has also contributed to important studies on liver fibrosis. She carries out translational research on inflammation and liver pathophysiology through projects covering molecular and cellular aspects as well as animal models. Her research aims for a better understanding of the mechanisms of inflammatory disease and liver failure. The focus is on the identification of targets in macrophages that limit inflammation.

Dr. Aida Habib is the recipient of the Bronze Medal for research from the CNRS in France. She published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals (Google scholar h-index 41, ˃ 6500 citations).

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=521MHrcAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Mohammed Hamza Z. E. Seed Ahmed; Assistant Professor of Physiology

Dr. Mohammed Hamza has a long standing dedication to the profession of teaching. He took the first steps towards this career as a Physiology Teaching Assistant in 2006, after graduating from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan, in 2005. He then went on to complete his Ph.D. in Medical Science as well a Masters in Medical Education from Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) in 2013, and spent the following years in various academic positions.

His work experience ranges from a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Division of Neurogeriatrics (Karolinska Institutet), to being a Visiting Research Fellow at Wolfson Centre for Age-related disease (King's College London, United Kingdom), a Lecturer and Educational Developer in the Unit for Medical Education and Technology (Karolinska Institutet), and an Assistant then Associate Professor at the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan.

Dr. Mohammed’s expertise extends to various other domains; he conducts medical education and capacity-building workshops, has extensive knowledge in the international accreditation of medical schools and even has an administrative background after acting as the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (National University, Sudan) for two years.

Dr. Mohammed Hamza is particularly interested in student-centered educational practice. He believes that teachers should focus not on what they teach but rather what they would like their students to learn and how they can help them achieve that.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ojm6tKwAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Ajith Sominanda, Associate professor in Anatomy 

Education and academia:

• Graduated in Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) at Faculty of Medicine (FOM), University of Peradeniya-Sri Lanka (UOP). For post-graduation, reading for Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Anatomy and Cell Biology (2006) at FOM-UOP, and reading for Ph.D. in Neurology/Neuroimmunology at Karolinska Institute, Sweden (2008) followed by the postdoctoral fellowship (awarded by European Neurological Societies) at University hospital Dusseldorf, Germany (2009-10).
• Completed the residency in four major clinical specialties, followed by working as a physician in internal medicine and neurology at General Hospital (teaching) Peradeniya Sri Lanka (1998-2000).
• Teaching, Examination, curricular development, evaluation and monitoring, course coordination for undergraduate medical, allied health sciences and postgraduate MD-Surgery, ophthalmology, and Gyn-Obs, in the capacities of a lecturer, senior lecturer, and aa a professor in anatomy (major) (2001-2020). Teacher and examiner in immunology for undergraduate medicine (2010-2020).

            https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/IAQ-1703-2023

            https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=16231628700

Research:

• Visiting researcher to MRC/University of Oxford, UK to study genomic instability in irradiated fibroblast cell lines with confocal and electron microscopy.
• Histo-morphometric studies on human trophoblastic tissues in normal and pathological pregnancies.
• During the Ph.D. and postdoctoral period, studied Anti-drug antibody development in multiple sclerosis (MS), innovation and optimization of novel bioassays to detect neutralizing antibodies, effects on natural cytokines and immune-gene expression pattern in antibody-antigen interaction with macrophages.
• With the NRC grant (Sri Lanka) as a principal investigator, studied Clinical and immunological characterization of MS and rheumatoid arthritis in Sri Lanka with an outcome of publications (few more pending by November 2020), MPhil degrees, validation and optimization of clinical assessment protocol and, cytokine profiling with disease modifying drugs.
• Miscellaneous research collaborations to study biomechanical and kinesiology studies in neck movements, cluster headache and cytokine profiles and diabetes.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=pJSCyQIAAAAJ

Dr. Shona Pedersen, Associate Professor of Biochemistry

Dr. Shona Pedersen graduated with honors from Natal University with a B.Sc. in Biomedical Science in 1992; and a M.Sc. in Medical Biochemistry from Pretoria University in 1998. In 2004, she was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Medical Biotechnology, Biochemistry, and Protein Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University, Denmark. During her Ph.D., she was invited to present her work on “Protein Stability, Folding and the interaction with Ultra Violet light” at the two International conferences in France (Toulouse) and Baltimore (Maryland).

After completing her doctoral degree, she continued as a Senior Scientist (2004 –2021) at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Aalborg University Hospital, where she played a central role in initiating and developing the proteomics and metabolomics research laboratory. In 2007, she was also awarded an Associate Professor position from the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aalborg University, Denmark. In addition, Dr. Pedersen serves as a board member of the Clinical Cancer Research in Denmark. Dr. Pedersen joined Qatar University in August 2021 as an Associate Professor in Biochemistry at the School of Medicine, Department of Basic Medical Science.

Dr. Shona Pedersen has proven ability to lead and connect clinical research with advances in health technology and collaborate with key opinion leaders, health care professionals, patients, and medical science liaisons or medical doctors. Over the last 16 years, Dr. Pedersen’s research group has positioned itself to map the protein and metabolite diagnostic and predictive signatures in small cell lung cancer, multiple myeloma, cancer-associated thrombosis, Acute Lung Injury, Atrial Fibrillation, and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Pedersen was nominated as the best oral presenter at the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) in Rotterdam. Moreover, she is frequently invited as a speaker at numerous international scientific conferences and has peer-reviewed in international journals. Dr. Pedersen has also chaired sessions on “Extracellular vesicle (EV) biomarkers in Cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.” Dr. Pedersen is also the main inventor of 2 patent applications on “Biomarkers for prediction of development of hypoxemia due to acute lung injury,” and “Software method for screening patients at risk for hypoxemia based on NMR spectroscopy and machine learning.” Her record of performance is accentuated by over 60 peer-reviewed and two highly cited position papers publications in high impact factor journals, corroborating Dr. Pedersen’s diligence in basic and translation research productivity. She has supervised and evaluated numerous graduate and Ph.D. students. Dr. Pedersen is also leading the neuro-cardio networking group at Qatar University.

Dr. Pedersen’s primary research focuses on applying Shot-gun Proteomics and Metabolomics:

• To expand the existing knowledge on the pathological mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease by elucidating the role of disease-related EV-proteome and metabolome changes and its diagnostic potential.
• To investigate proteome dynamics of circulating microvesicles and exosomes in newly diagnosed SCLC patients to improve early detection.
• To identifying metabolite alterations related to small cell lung cancer and to expand our knowledge relating to this aggressive cancer.
• To map the altered protein and metabolite signature in Autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qeODW3cAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Ammar Boudaka, Associate Professor of Physiology

Dr. Ammar Boudaka is an Associate Professor of Physiology in the College of Medicine at Qatar University. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh) form the Faculty of Medicine, Tripoli University (formerly named Alfateh University) in Libya (1997), where he ranked first among his peers. After graduation, he worked as a general practitioner for five years in different government and private hospitals and clinics before moving to Japan to obtain his PhD in Physiology (2007). He did his postdoctoral fellowships in Germany (DFG scholarship, 2007-2008) and Japan (JSPS scholarship, 2008-2010). In February 2010, he left the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan and moved to Oman where he worked as an assistant professor for 2 years at University of Nizwa (UoN) before moving to Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) where he worked as an assistant professor and then as associate professor for the last 10 years. In August 2022, he joined Qatar University to work as an associate professor in Physiology at the College of Medicine.

Throughout his academic career he was extensively involved in teaching physiology at different levels (undergraduate and postgraduate) as part of the multidisciplinary integrated MD curriculum, as well as teaching physiology to dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and biotechnology students. He is the associate editor and scientific abstract translator (English to Arabic) of Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal (SQUMJ), and a reviewer in many field-related scientific international journals. Moreover, he is an AHA certified BLS instructor delivering BLS provider course to MD students before their transition to phase 3 and an active member of different committees at the department and college levels.

His research interest is mainly on the functional role of Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, a superfamily of cation permeable ion channels, that are abundantly expressed in the body and integrate numerous physiological processes. He specifically focuses on the functional role of TRPV4, a non-selective multimodal cation channel, in different organ systems and its role in the pathogensis of different disease conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, peptic ulcer, renal failure and osteoporosis, using murine models of these diseases and employing different in vivo and in vitro experimental approaches.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tARNh44AAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Rafif Abdulaziz Mahmood Mohmood, Assistant Professor of Pathology

Dr. Rafif received her MBChB from Basrah Medical College (Iraq) in 1991, and obtained her fellowship in Pathology from The Iraqi Board for medical Specialization in 1998. Dr Rafif obtained also European board of pathology in 2008, and a Diplomate membership from Royal College of Pathologists (UK) in 2019.

Dr. Rafif started her teaching carrier in Basrah Medical College as a lecturer for under and postgraduate medical and pharmacy students. In addition, she was working as consultant pathologist at Basrah Teaching Hospital, head of cytology laboratory at Basrah Centre of early detection of breast cancer and participating in cancer control program in Basrah. She moved to Qatar in 2005, and established the histopathology and cytology laboratory section at Al Ahli Hospital.

She joined Qatar University College of Medicine in 2020 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology. She published numerous peer-reviewed academic works in the field of pathology. Her main interest is in early diagnosis of cancer, putting strategies for cancer screening programs and control, targeted therapy and cancer biology and behavior, in addition to understanding disease s pathology and different diagnostic modalities.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=HGc4VlYAAAAJ

Dr. Aisha Ahmad Al-Kinji, MD, PhD

Aisha Ahmad Al-Khinji is an Assistant Professor of Basic Science at Qatar University. She obtained her MD degree from King Faisal University in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in 2002, followed by a residency at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, completed in 2008. After joining National Cancer Care Center and Research (NCCCR) in 2009, she decided to do her fellowship in Hematology and bone marrow transplant (BMT) in Seattle at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Dr. Al-Khinji worked in multiple BMT research labs in the United States. She generated a couple of protocols and assessed BMT scoring tests in stem cell transplants in hematological malignancies in the clinic. She worked as a Hematology Oncology consultant at NCCCR after finishing her MPH degree at the University of Washington, Seattle. She recently graduated from the University of Arizona with Ph.D. in Translations Science, where she studied in the drug and therapeutic development lab the role of adhesion molecules in Pancreatic Cancer.

During her training, she volunteered for the Seattle Science Children's education program at Pacific Science Center in 2014 and participated as an organizer in Seattle Expanding Youth Horizons in 2013. In October 2017, she joined Qatar Charity in developing healthcare services and establishing an outpatient clinic in Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees.

Outside work, Dr. Al-Khinji enjoys playing badminton and swimming in her backyard pool.

Dr. Zhila Mohammed, Teaching Assistance in basic medical science

Dr. Zhila Mohammed graduated from Sulaimany University in Iraq with a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery (M.B.Ch.B), and completed a medical rotation in Iraq. She did MSc degree in assisted reproductive technology and infertility at Nottingham University in the UK. Dr Mohammed joined Qatar University/college of medicine as a TA in 2021 and has been working since then. She has an interest in research work and academic teaching.

Ms. Soumaya Allouch, Teaching Assistance in basic medical science

Soumaya graduated with honors from the College of Pharmacy, Qatar University with a BSc of Pharmacy in 2014, and an MSc of Pharmacy 2016. She was granted a Graduate Teaching Assistant position throughout her studies and she competed and was awarded in different national and international conferences. Mrs. Allouch won the Student Research Excellence Award in Health Sciences at the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum 2016 (ARC’16) and she received the Graduate Student Travel Award for outstanding graduate studies work from The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), USA. Furthermore, she was invited to give a talk about her MSc project at Pharmacology 2016, London, UK. Soumaya worked in several prestigious academic institutes in Qatar including; Weill Cornell Medicine and Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, Qatar foundation, before joining the College of Medicine, Qatar University as a Teaching Assistant in 2018.

Google scholar:https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0d9NfMEAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Aswathy Gopinath, Teaching Assistant, Basic Medical Science

Dr. Aswathy Gopinath, graduated with a bachelor degree in medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from Government Medical College, Alappuzha, India in 2005. Thereafter Dr. Gopinath worked as a tutor in Biochemistry and physiology in various Medical colleges in India. She also has 2 years of clinical experience working as Assistant Surgeon in District Hospital, Alappuzha, India. There after she completed her Master’s in Anatomy from Government Medical College, India in 2015. Dr. Gopinath joined Qatar University as a TA in CMED since 2018 and has been working there since then.

Ms. Yara Majed Al-Badriyeh, Lab Technician

Mrs. Yara Majed Al-Badriyeh is an anatomy and physiology Labs Technician in the College of Medicine, Qatar University since 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (BSc) from Petra University (2004), a Master’s in International Human Resources Management (MSc) from Aberdeen University (2022), and a Diploma in Quality Auditing from Tafe, NSW. She has worked as a quality auditor and also as a laboratory analyst in IPRC, Jordan (2004-2007). And she has experience in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry LC-MS/MS instruments, and in managing good laboratory practices.

Clinical Science Department

Dr. Khalid Bashir, Clinical Associate Professor

Department Head of Clinical Academic Sciences

I have worked as an emergency consultant since 2001, initially in the UK for twelve years before coming to Qatar in 2012. As well as completing the American College of Emergency Physicians Teaching Fellowship, I am also a fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons – of both Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the UK, I was involved in teaching undergraduate medical students from the Cardiff and Swansea universities and also served as an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh. My special interests include point of care ultrasound, sports medicine, ENT and pre-hospital care.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tM71legAAAAJ 

Dr. Maha Desouki,  Section Head of Preclinical Education

• Graduated (MBBCh.) from faculty of medicine, Cairo University in 2001. Grade excellence with honor.
• Achieved Master degree (MSc.) in pediatrics, Cairo University in 2008. Grade: Very good.
• Worked as a pediatric specialist at El-Galaa Teaching Hospital, General Organization for Teaching Hospitals and Institutes in Cairo from 2008 till 2015.
• Joined CMED Qatar University’s clinical department as a clinical tutor in 2016 and till date.
• Excellent experience in undergraduate tutoring in the clinical education as well as problem-based learning programs.
• Has a growing interest in medical education research, she is working now on student grants and participating in research work with local and international institutes.
• Languages: English and Arabic

Sawsan Gholam  A. A. Mohammed, Assistant Professor of Clinical Education

Biography

Dr. Sawsan Mohammed obtained her medical degree (MD) from the Arabian Gulf University in 1997. Afterwards, she joined Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Doha, Qatar. She has 13 years of experience as a clinician in both Qatar (HMC) and Sweden (Karolinska Institute), where she dealt mainly with patients in need of neurorehabilitation and acquired an interest in molecular medicine. Later (2011–2014), Dr. Sawsan received additional training at Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany and Harvard University in Cancer Biology and Therapeutics (CBT, 2015- 2016). At Heidelberg University, she continued her research work in the areas of late diabetes complications as well as cancer at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), eventually attending graduate medical school. In 2019, she received her doctoral degree (PhD). In 2022, Dr. Sawsan joined Qatar University as an assistant professor of clinical education at the College of Medicine. Her areas of research interest include precision medicine (precision nutrition), neurodegeneration, and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.

Research Focus

During her graduate medical research work at Heidelberg University, Dr. Sawsan became interested in the field of precision medicine and, more specifically, precision nutrition. Her initial attraction was in the areas of diabetes and cancer. This attention has evolved to apply precision nutrition to neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. Here, she wanted to focus on Autism since it is one of the most common and challenging neurodevelopmental disorders in children and because of its importance to Qatar and impact on society. Additionally, she is passionate about applying precision nutrition concepts to maternal and neonatal health in Qatar. She has published several papers and book chapters.

Dr. Rania Al-Hawry, Clinical Tutor

Dr. Rania Al-Hawry graduated from Jordan University with a bachelor degree in medicine and surgery. She did her internship in Jordan University hospital. Her training in internal medicine was between Jordan and Ireland. She did a post-graduate certificate and studied for a diploma in palliative medicine from Cardiff University, UK. She joined the department of pre-clinical skills education, College of Medicine in Qatar University in 2020 as a clinical tutor. Recently she became interested in medical education, and currently pursuing a master degree in the field of health professions education. Has a growing interest in medical education research, currently working on two papers.

Dr. Sumaya Muin Yahya, Clinical Tutor

Dr. Yahya is a clinical tutor at the College of Medicine and an MScHPE candidate, QU Health, Qatar University. She earned her MBBS from Beirut Arab University, Lebanon 2003-2009. She then joined the Department of Family Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center for residency training and received her Specialist Degree in Family Medicine 2009-2013.

Dr. Yahya then started her private family medicine practice along with her work as a consultant in several primary health care centers and school clinics. Her last position before joining Qatar University in 2021, was in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center as an ER hospitalist.

Stemming from her interest in the biopsychosocial model of health, and her view of medicine as a human science, she received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the Lebanese University in 2020. Academically, Dr. Yahya was involved in clinical teaching of senior medical students and residents since 2009 in different outpatient and inpatient settings. She was also a Clinical Associate at the Faculty of Medicine, Lebanese University for two years. Her research interests evolved from the principles of family medicine to behavior change and its applications in medical education.

Dr. Samar Zakria Batran, Clinical Tutor

Dr. Samar received her MBChB from Cairo University, Egypt and completed her internship training at Cairo University Teaching Hospitals. Dr. Samar obtained her MSc in Family Medicine and Community Health from Suez Canal University, Egypt. She joined QU Health as a physician at Qatar University Health Clinics in 2013 then moved to CMED as a member of The Clinical Education Department. Besides her interest in Family Medicine, Dr. Samar has developed a passion in Medical Education which is her current research project.

Research interests:

• Family medicine
• Medical education
• Public Health
• Emergency Medicine
• Pediatrics
• Hematology
• Mental health

Dr. Osman Ibrahim Osman Ameen, Clinical Tutor

Dr. OSMAN AMEEN is GP doctor who graduated from college of Medicine, University of AL-Neelain in 2015; he did his Master degree in Clinical Anatomy in Dec 2017, and Full Registration as Medical Practitioner, Sudan Medical Council.

He worked as Teaching Assistant, Department of anatomy, AL-Neelain University till 2017. Then as Part time Lecturer of clinical anatomy in Delta College of Medicine till 2019. At the same time he was working as Trauma Resident doctor, Emergency department, Military Hospital, Khartoum until July 2019.

In August 2019, he joined Qatar University as a Teaching assistant of Anatomy and physiology, Biomedical Science Department, College of Health Science.

Now he works as a Clinical Tutor, Clinical Academic Department in College of Medicine.

My Career inspiration is that am interested in Clinical cases, procedures, surgical techniques, and Patients health care, with focus on Radiology and clinical anatomy experience as a future line of work, and am interested in any researches that’s related to them. Also am interested in educational process with especial interest in improving the studying of Clinical Science with visual modules, videos and simulation. Also interested in health management and charity health campaign.

Scopus ID: 57225184792

ORCHID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8947-0292

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=DVVz9tsAAAAJ

Ms. Soniya Chacko, Clinical skills Lab Technician

Ms. Soniya Chacko is a Clinical Skill Lab Technician in College of Medicine, Qatar University since 2018. She holds Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSc) from Kerala University (2010) and Master’s in Pediatric Nursing (MSc) from Amrita College of Nursing (2013). She has clinical nursing experience from Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute (2010-2011). She also worked as Clinical Nurse Educator at Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala (2014-2017).

Dr. Maham Batool Hadi, TA/ Lecturer of family medicine

I graduated from University of Manchester Medical School in 2015 where I also gained my Masters in Research in Tissue Engineering. I completed my foundation years (internship) in Manchester Teaching Hospitals and then went on to finish early surgical training in Birmingham, UK after which I gained Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

I have been a keen educator throughout my time as a student and doctor participating in peer to peer teaching, mentoring, and working as a Widening Participation Fellow at the University of Manchester. My main areas of interest as a medical educator are provision of clinical and communication skills.

In my spare time I love to travel, learn about different cultures and peoples. My passion for travelling led me to Qatar. And my interest in teaching has led me to CMED at Qatar University.

Ms. Sarah Al Qahtani, Administrative Coordinator

Ms. Sarah AlQahtani is an Administrative coordinator in College of Medicine, Qatar University since 2019. She joined the department of Clinical Science education .She holds Bachelor of Accounting and international business from Qatar University 2017. She frequently used her creativity to bring many entrepreneurial ideas to Clinical program.

Population Medicine Department

Professor Suhail A. Doi, Head of Department of Population Medicine

Professor Suhail A. Doi is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology (MBBS and MMed) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP) and is listed as a specialist in endocrinology on the General Medical Council register of specialists UK. He worked as an academic endocrinologist for many years before transitioning full time to academia in the area of clinical epidemiology after obtaining academic credentials in clinical epidemiology (MClinEpid and PhD from Australia).

His most recent position before coming to Qatar University was as the Associate Dean (Director) of the Research School of Population Health at the Australian National University in Canberra, one of the top 10 universities in the world and ranked first in Australia. He has a very strong research agenda and is listed amongst the top 2% of scientists in his field and has over 250 publications listed on PubMed. He is renowned for his work on evidence based medicine on which he has published two books (published by Macmillan and Springer) and has developed robust methods of evidence synthesis that are widely used and implemented through Stata.

He also has a method that takes his name, the Doi plot, used for assessment of publication bias in meta-analysis, implemented in both Stata and R. He has a strong teaching portfolio in medical education and has developed seminal courses in Population Medicine. He has graduated more than a dozen PhD and Masters students in Clinical Epidemiology. After coming to Qatar, he assumed the role of Founding Chair of the Department of Population Medicine and helped QU develop a world-class curriculum for medical students in Population Medicine integrated into the PBL system at the College of Medicine. He also helped develop the PhD program at QU and was also instrumental in developing the curriculum for the common year introductory course in clinical epidemiology.

He has led the research agenda in the Department of Population Medicine at QU which has received several millions in grant funding from national funding agencies and has led several international collaborations in research. He contributes regularly to several international, QU and Health System committees and frequently is called upon to advise the Health System in Qatar on matters of national importance to health. Prof Suhail Doi is actively seeking PhD candidates in research methodology or applied clinical projects (outcomes research) and prospective students should contact him directly.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qJFH4NMAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Giridhara Rathnaiah Babu, Professor of Population Medicine

Giridhara R Babu has a medical degree (MBBS) from Kasturba medical college Manipal and has completed MPH and PhD from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). He has two decades of experience in public health research, practice and academics.  He began his career at the Center for Community Medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi as a Junior Resident. Next, he worked with World Health Organization where he led the efforts in stopping polio transmission in the state of Karnataka. He initiated advocacy for Measles surveillance in Karnataka leading to constitution of Multi Year Plan (MYP) for Measles elimination in India. He is awarded the prestigious intermediate and now the senior fellowship of Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance to start and expand cohort study. Giridhara has over 115 papers published in national and international high impact journals. He has served on several national and international committees. He is actively involved in writing articles for general public, providing his expert opinion to media houses and consultation to several states.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bkD2NjEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Dr. Muhammad Naseem Khan, Associate Professor of Population Medicine

Dr. Muhammad Naseem Khan graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Medicine & Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Peshawar (Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad), Pakistan (2002). He did his Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) from Quaid-i-Azam University (Health Services Academy), Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2009. Following his MSPH, he achieved the prestigious Higher Education Commission Ph.D., scholarship award in 2010. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, the United Kingdom in 2014. After completing his Ph.D. in 2014, Dr. Muhammad Naseem Khan was involved in collaborative research for his Post Doc from the University of Liverpool (2014-2016). This was two and a half year project to adapt and evaluate a community intervention to improve maternal mental health based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in post-conflict settings in Pakistan. He was the site Principal Investigator (PI) of this large research trial and led to peer-reviewed publications.

He taught Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Research Methods for more than 8 years in Peshawar and Islamabad in Pakistan. He served as the Director Institute of Public Health & Social Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar for around 2 years. As an administrator, he worked very hard to improve the curriculum of the Master of Science of Public Health, Master in Health Research & MS Epidemiology and Biostatistics programs being taught at the Institute of Public Health & Social Sciences. He served Khyber Medical University for almost six years before moving to Islamabad to join his alma mater i.e. Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan as a Professor of Public Health. He also served as Chairman Curriculum Review Committee, and Member of the Syndicate and Academic Council at Health Services Academy Islamabad, Pakistan. In August 2022 he joined Qatar University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the College of Medicine.

Areas of his research interests include public mental health with a special focus on maternal mental health and the impact on their children. He also has research interests in the areas of nutrition, early childhood developments, violence against healthcare, and the health system. He has published around 30 papers in highly rated international journals. The pioneer Ph.D. student of Dr. Muhammad Naseem Khan has achieved his Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Public Health & Social Sciences Khyber Medical University Peshawar recently (2021) in Public health. During his supervision, his first Ph.D. student published four peer-reviewed publications with more than 20 impact factor. He is currently supervising four Ph.D. Students. Apart from these, he has supervised many postgraduate master's students in public health.

Dr. Tanya Kane, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science

Tanya Kane is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science in the College of Medicine at the University of Qatar. She holds a Ph.D. and MSc in Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, an MA from McMaster University, a BEd from the University of Toronto, and a BA from Queen’s University (Canada). Her research interests include globalization of higher education, knowledge-based economies, medicine and gender, especially in relation to the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Tanya’s current research project is examining the psychosocial dimensions of infertility in Qatar. Her previous work has focused on dementia, cultures of expertise, the intersection of religious and scientific knowledge, language in transnational education and the universality of medicine. Dr. Kane has held posts at Northwestern University in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. A former teacher, she has taught in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bhrsdZgAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Tawanda Chivese, Clinical epidemiologist

Tawanda Chivese is a clinical epidemiologist in the Department of Population Medicine. His main interests are in non-communicable disease epidemiology, health systems strengthening and health effects of climate change in low to medium-income countries.

Google Scholar:  https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=XE7U0acAAAAJ&hl=en 

Dr. Habib Hasan Farooqui, Lecturer of Clinical Education

Habib Hasan Farooqui, is Faculty at College of Medicine Qatar University and visiting Fellow at the Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, UK. He also serve as an adjunct Additional Professor of Health Economics at the Public Health Foundation of India.

Previously, he has worked as Early Career Research Fellow (2016-18) and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2013-14) and Surveillance Medical Officer at World Health Organization (2007-08). He obtained his medical degree (Doctor of Medicine) from Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (2007) and Non-Degree Medicine PG from Sydney University (2010). He has also received fellowships for research and training from AusAID, Wellcome Trust, and Columbia University.

He has supervised more than 30 masters level students and published more than 40 peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and serve as reviewer and editor on top international journals. He has served as member and technical expert on several national and international advisory committees including IVIRAC-WHO-HQ, Chatham House, UK, Board of Immunisation Economics, USA, WHO-SEARO, WHO India, WHO Maldives, MOFHW in India and Maldives, and International Health Economics Association.

His research and teaching interest include EBM, intersection of infectious disease epidemiology and economics, and health economic with focus on pharmaceutical economics and HTA. One of the core areas of his research are vaccine preventable childhood diseases. He has generated first ever state specific estimates of pneumococcal pneumonia related mortality and morbidity for India which guided the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) introduction planning in India. He has has reported first ever country level estimates on antibiotic use and paediatric vaccine use in the private sector in India, and conducted qualitative research into parents and paediatricians decision making process on immunisation with PCV and Rotavirus vaccines. In addition, he has also conducted impact evaluation of several public policies and programs and provided technical advice to Competition Commission of India on merger and acquisitions (M&A) in Indian pharmaceutical market, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on pharmaceutical price regulation.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=O1H_BxwAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Dr. Salma M. Khaled, Associate Professor of Behavioral Science

Dr. Salma M. Khaled, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Population Medicine, College of Medicine, Qatar University. Her research interests are focused on the biopsychosocial determinants of mental health and illness. With Bachelor degree in Psychology and a Doctoral degree in Community Health Sciences with specialization in Epidemiology, she brings a unique perspective to research in this area that aims at bridging the gap between non-clinical and clinical perspectives of mental health and disease. Dr. Khaled conducted the first epidemiological study of mental disorders in Qatar. She also leads many national and international collaborations aimed at measuring and understanding psychological phenomena and international diagnostic classifications in the context of Arabic-speaking populations of Qatar and the Middle East.

Find my profile at google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=OfI8nsMAAAAJ

Find my profile at researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Salma-Khaled-3/research