Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, held talks with senior executives from Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) and Harvard Medical School on Thursday February 6, 2014. The group included Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation; Professor Sehamuddin Galadari, Member of the Board of Directors, Dubai Healthcare City Authority and Al Jalila Foundation Research Centre Advisor; Salmaan Keshavjee (MD, PhD, ScM), Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change, Harvard Medical School; and Robin Wheatley (MA); Director at Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research.
The delegates came to update Mr. Al Habtoor on the status of the ‘Khalaf Al Habtoor Harvard Medical Research Fellowship’, which was sponsored by the Chairman. The Fellowship, in its third year, offered a qualified post-doctoral researcher from the Arab World the opportunity to work at a research centre/laboratory based at Harvard Medical School. The group said he will be receiving a full annual report on the progress of Dr. Sherin Shaaban, the recipient of the Fellowship.
Dr. Shaaban, who is conducting her post-doctoral research program under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Engle, Professor of Neurology and Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital, Boston is investigating the genetic causes of strabismus, with particular focus on population groups in the Arabian Gulf region.
They also informed Al Habtoor, one of their biggest donors, that they will soon open a Harvard Medical School - Global Research Centre in Dubai to help improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. The Centre, which will be based at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Academic Medical Centre in DHCC, will focus on research and diabetes care, as well as research for Hepatitis C, tuberculosis and mental health.