Yesterday, H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Health and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences, and Prof. Najeeb Al Khaja, Secretary General of the Award, announced the names of the winners of the Award in its 6th term, 2009 -2010.

 

The awards, with a total value of 2,800,000 DHs, will be distributed in a big ceremony which will be held on 13th of December, at Dubai World Trade Center.

 

The day after the ceremony, 6th Dubai International conference for Medical Sciences will be held in conjunction with Emirates Endocrinology Conference 2010 (14 – 16 December 2010) at Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City. The conference is held through cooperation between the award and Emirates Diabetes society. 

 

That was announced in a press conference held at Dubai Press Club, with attendance of ambassadors and consuls of the winners’ countries.

 

The first category: international awards:

 

1-Grand Hamdan Award: 

 

The topic of this award in the 6TH term 2009-2010 is Diabetes.

 

The award is equally won by Prof. Paul Zimmet, Director of International Research, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia, and Prof. Jacco Tumilto, Professor of Public Health and an academy professor at the academy of Finland.

 

The research of Prof. Paul Zimmet’s, dating back to the seventies of the last century, provided the first evidence of what is now a global epidemic of type 2 diabetes. 

 

As for Prof. Jacco Tumilto, he is probably best known for the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) which was internationally acclaimed and showed similar results to the Diabetes Prevention Program study done later on in the US.

 

He has made valuable contributions to type1 diabetes, especially in alerting the world to the huge variation in incidence worldwide. 

 

2 - Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence:

 

Three topics are included in this award:

 

Osteoporosis:

 

The winner is Prof. John A. Canes, UK. 

Prof. John A. Canes is currently the emeritus professor in human metabolism, and the director of WHO collaborating center for metabolic bone diseases, University in Sheffield, UK. 

 

He won the award regarding to his research interests which are largely related to disorders of skeletal Metabolism including osteoporosis, Paget’s diseases of bones, hyperparathyroidism, renal osteodystrophy and neoplasia affecting the skeleton. 

 

Obesity:

 

The winner is Dr. Jeffrey M. Friedman. His laboratory identified "Leptin", which may represent the most significant advance in obesity research in the last 20 years. 

 

Leptin is a hormonal signal made by the body’s fat cells that regulate food intake and energy expenditure and has powerful effects on reproduction, metabolism, other endocrine systems and even immune function.

 

Thyroid disorders: 

 

This award is won by Prof. P Reed Larsen in recognition to his significant contributions to the field of thyroid physiology and pathophysiology disease.

 

He managed to design sensitive method to screen newborn infants for congenital hypothyroidism and applying them to initiate the first two regional screening programs in USA.

 

He is also discovered a previously unrecognized mechanism for the activation of thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3) within cells and its critical role in regulating TSH secretion; the cloning of the first member of the selenodeiodinase family and the elucidation of the mechanism for selenocysteine incorporation at UGA codes in eukaryotic selenoproteins; and finally the identification of a new cause of hypothyroidism, usually found in infants, called “consumptive” hypothyroidism.

 

As for the third award in the international category:

3 - Hamdan Award for volunteers in humanitarian medical services: 

 

There are 4 winners of this award i.e. Zayed Giving Initiative, UAE, Dr Prakash and Dr. (Mrs.) Mandakini Amte, India, Cure International and Dr Ashok Gupta, India. 

 

Zayed Giving Initiative comes on top of the winners. It was established in 2003 to reflect the spirit of giving that is one of the most important features of H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. 

 

Zayed Giving initiative made UAE as one of the biggest world countries which implement humanitarian programs and help millions of patients through building new hospitals and health centers in various countries around the world. Also, the initiative has attracted around 50 thousand volunteers serving millions of Arabs and Africans. 

 

The UAE mobile hospital is considered the most important achievement of Zayed Giving Initiative. The hospital has achieved success locally and internationally, as it is the first hospital of its kind in the world providing therapeutic, surgical and awareness services. 

 

As for Dr. Prakash and Dr. (Mrs.) Mandakini, they won the award in recognition of their efforts in serving marginalized and poor tribes. 

 

The couple has decided to live away from all aspects of civilization for more than two decades, in order to provide their free medical services to tribes living in remote areas in central India. They handle more than 40 thousand patients a year in nearly one thousand Indian villages. 

 

The third winner of Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian medical Services is Cure International. It was founded by Dr. Harrison as a non-profit organization, with branches in 12 countries around the world. Its main objective is alleviating disabled children in developing countries. 

 

Cure International contributed in 45 thousand surgical operations, mostly for children. It also provided medical care and health counseling to more than 600 thousand children and contributed to train more than 300 physical therapy nurses and doctors in developing countries. 

 

Dr. Ashok Gupta is the fourth winner of the award. He is a well known plastic surgeon in Bombay, India. He devoted his life, for more than 20 years, to social services. Also, a group of doctors and volunteers in the various medical professions assist him. 

 

Dr. Ashok Gupta makes free surgical operations for poor children, and victims of crises, wars, terroristic attacks and natural disasters. 

 

The second category: The Arab World Awards: 

 

1 - Hamdan Award for best medical college / institution or center in the Arab world: 

 

The winners of this award are Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University – Egypt and Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, St. George Medical Center, Lebanon. 

 

Alexandria Faculty of Medicine is a unique and historical association with the development of allopathic medicine and is clearly responding proactively to the challenge posed in the present century of the need for training of doctors for the future. 

 

As for Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, St. George Medical Center, Lebanon, it is a pioneer in mental health research in Lebanon and the Arab World by promoting research in mental health, increasing public awareness and improving training and educational programs in mental health.

 

2 - Hamdan Awards for distinguished personalities from the Arab world: 

 

The winners are Dr. Hussein Al Gezairy, KSA, and Dr. Kamel Ajlouni, Jordan.

 

Dr. Hussein Al Gezairy is a former health minister, Saudi Arabia, and the founder of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Riyadh in 1969.

 

As for Dr. Kamel Ajlouni, he is a former Minister of Health, Jordan, a former president of the Science and Technology University, Jordan, (1986-1995). 

 

Dr. Ajlouni is one of excellent workers in the medical field in the Arab world. He is the founder of the National Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics in Jordan. He participated in the establishment of both faculty of medicine, Jordan University, and the Jordan University for Science and Technology in Irbid. He is a founder of the Council of Arab Doctors, and also contributed to develop the primary health care system in Qatar. 

 

The third Category: UAE awards: 

 

1 - Hamdan Award for outstanding clinical Department in the public sector in UAE: 

 

The winner is Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tawam Hospital. 

 

The Department at Tawam Hospital is the only clinical Department in the UAE that provides the whole spectrum of services in the fields described with full provision of all subspecialties. A number of the Units are regarded as being particularly meritorious in view of unique contributions to patient care in the UAE. These include the renowned Fertility (IVF) Unit, the Fetal Medicine Unit and Gynecological Oncology Unit.

 

In the IVF Unit, national staff members are currently being mentored with training for assisted reproduction and encouraged in research activity. Standards of care are facilitated by the conduct of several multidisciplinary clinics / meetings involving Pathology/Cytology, Radiology, Medical Genetics / Counseling and Medical Oncology.

 

2 - Hamdan Award for the best research published in the Journal of Medical Sciences or in the Emirates Medical Journal: 

 

This award is for the best research papers published in Journal of Medical Sciences or in Emirates Medical Journal.

 

Two papers won the award. The first one is entitled Genetic Polymorphisms, Protein Expression and Complications to Radiotherapy in Saudi Cancer Patients, Journal of Medical Sciences (2009); 2(2): 73-84

The paper is conducted by a team of researchers from King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre- Riyadh - Saudi Arabia. 

 

The second paper is entitled The NF-KB Inhibitor IKBa negates colon cancer cell migration, invasion, proliferation and tumor growth.  Journal of Medical Sciences (2010); 3(1): 62-71 by a group of researchers, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University in collaboration with a group of researchers from France. 

 

During the press conference, Prof. Al Khaja declared that the winners of Hamdan award for honoring individual working in the field of medicine and health in UAE will be announced during the awards ceremony in December. 

 

 

6th Dubai international Conference for Medical Sciences:

 

As for 6th Dubai international Conference for Medical Sciences, it was announced that it will be held in conjunction with Emirates Endocrinology Conference 2010, in cooperation with Emirates Diabetes Society, at Intercontinental Hotel, in Dubai Festival City (14-16 December 2010). 

 

World senior doctors will participate in the conference, to discuss latest papers in the field of diabetes and endocrine diseases. 

 

The conference will discuss the increasing world incidence of Diabetes, preventive plans, the incidence among young people, modern treatments, and the ways of reducing incidence of related diseases like heart disease, hypertension and high fat blood. 

 

The conference will also discuss related diseases to Endocrine Diseases such as Obesity, Thyroid Tumors, Osteoporosis and Vitamin D Deficiency. 

 

The conference will organize several workshops dealing with many important issues such as children's growth disorders, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, insulin pumps, awareness programs and osteoporosis.