Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research organizes first scientific symposium

Prominent academic and scientific leaders, from the Gulf Region and Harvard University, will gather to provide local faculty and scientists with an overview of the kind of cutting-edge research that the Foundation will enable.

This initiative is part of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's vision towards making Dubai an international center of excellence for healthcare, medical education, and research. The Foundation has recently launched a donation campaign in order to create a fund to support its future programs.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was the first to donate to the Foundation's medical and research program followed by a donation from Prince Al Walid bin Talal, CEO and Founder of the Kingdom Holding Company in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, on behalf of Mashreq Bank, and Sheikh Suhail Salim Bahwan, Chairman of Suhail Group Holding.

The first day of the symposium will include a reception at Johara Ballroom in Madinat Jumeirah, where a number of scientists and officials from the healthcare sector will be able to meet the most prominent medical researchers and doctors from the Arab world and Harvard University.

The Foundation was established through the collaboration between Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical International, and Dubai Healthcare City. It was founded with the ultimate goal of creating new generations of scientists and healthcare professionals who will make groundbreaking discoveries that will change the way medicine is practiced not only in the Gulf Region, but throughout the world.

The Foundation's focus is on developing scientific leaders who will build a life sciences research infrastructure in the region. The Foundation will establish both Dubai Harvard Foundation Centers of Research and collaborative research programs that enable scientists in the Gulf Region both to build regional programs and to participate in state-of-the-art research at world renowned research institutions, including Harvard Medical School.

The Foundation's programs will be implemented through Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center Institute for Postgraduate Education and Research (HMSDC).

Speaking about the establishment of the Foundation, Joseph B. Martin, MD, PhD, Dean of Harvard Medical School, said: "The Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research has been designed as an enduring vehicle for attracting, educating, and supporting the Middle East's most preeminent and most promising life science researchers."

"It is our hope that research funded through the Foundation will help to drive scientific inquiry and discovery in the Middle East, and lead to innovations that will address the region's most pressing health problems," Dr. Martin further added.

Saeed Al Muntafiq, CEO of Tatweer and a principal figure in the Harvard-Dubai partnership, said, "Healthcare research is at the heart of every advanced world-class health care system. Scientific research had been at the heart of our Arab world for many years, but recently it has virtually ceased to exist. Hence, the need to create this Foundation to develop and encourage scientific research of a world standard."

The Foundation has launched a major fundraising effort with the goal of creating an endowment fund to support its programs. Sheikh Mohammed has pledged US$13.6 million to the Foundation, and Prince Al Waleed bin Talal has pledged an additional US$5 million. Membership in the Foundation offers philanthropists the opportunity to drive biomedical research in a number of critical disease areas, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disease.