Class of their own

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Dr Fowzan Al Kuraya, of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Winner of the Research Award for Excellence, from the young physician category.

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Mahnaz Zeinali, of the Genetic Center, Al Wasl Hospital, Dubai, UAE. Winner of the Research Award from the nursing and healthcare category.

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Dr Saud Al-Shanafey, of King Saud University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Winner of the Clinical Care Award, in the young physician division.

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Ahmed Al Hammadi, UAE University. Winner of the Research Award, in the trainee category.

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Harvard Medical School Dubai Center and Dubai Healthcare City recently hosted the second annual Tamayoz Awards, to recognise the rising stars of the region's healthcare sector. Medical Times catches up with the industry's brightest lights and hears how, in the Middle East, who cares wins.

What significant advances do you expect to see in your field in the upcoming years?

It is anticipated that the prenatal diagnosis (PND) programme will eventually have tremendous positive implications for the future generations, as it will prevent the birth of thalassemic babies.

The implementation of a successful PND programme has reduced the cost of patient treatment and clinical management drastically.

And furthermore, it is exerting considerable long-term positive social, psychological and socio-economic consequences on the entire UAE population.

As PND programmes have already been in place since 2005 in the UAE, my ambition now is to set up the latest techniques by replacing invasive prenatal diagnoses with non-invasive techniques as soon as we can.

For the first time in this region, we can offer this service to people who suffer from this common genetic disorder.

How will the field of genetics impact on the industry?

The fields of genetics and genomics are rapidly evolving and the practice of medicine can no longer afford to stay away from these developments. We're already seeing a paradigm shift to individualised medicine.

Healthcare professionals in the region, and all over the world, are facing the biggest challenge of their career in adapting to this new concept. But this new area of medicine is so promising that it's worth the effort.

The shift to a preventive model of healthcare, thanks to the exciting developments in our understanding of the relationship between genes and diseases, will leave no choice to the industry but change.

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