A delegation representing Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences returned back from Montpellier, France, after participating in the Human Genome Meeting 2010.

 

For the first time in the Arab World, Professor Edison Liu, the president of human genome organization, declared in the closing ceremony of the meeting that Dubai will host the 15th Human Genome Meeting from 14th to 17th March 2011 under the title “genomic diversity and hereditable disorders” and the meeting will be organized by the award’s Centre for Arab Genomic Studies.

 

 

 

Following this important declaration, Dr. Mahmoud Taleb Al Ali, Director of the Centre, delivered a speech in which he expressed deep thanks for the great confidence given by the Human Genome Organisation and said that the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies will employ all of its experience to hold the conference in the best way to be in line with the valuable position of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences in particular and the UAE in general, and to be in line with the progress made in genome studies all over the world. 

 

Following the speech, a short film about Dubai was screened. The film presented touristic, economic, and technological qualifications of Dubai to host this important global event. The movie also emphasized the great developments achieved in the medical sector in Dubai over the past few years. The film also cited the great achievements of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance, and the Chairman of Dubai Health Authority. Such achievements have been crystallized in establishing the Award and the Centre. 

 

 

The film was concluded with a message from H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Health and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences, through which he welcomed guests of the meeting next year in Dubai and expressed the Award’s readiness to host this important conference, which overshadows a better future for mankind in the world. 

 

It should be noted that the delegation included Dr. Mahmoud Taleb Al Ali, the Director of the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, Dr. Ghazi Tadmouri, Assistant Director of the Centre, a representative of Dubai Convention Bureau Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing Government of Dubai, and a representative of the next year’s Conference Organizing Company.

 

On the sidelines of the sessions, the delegation held several meetings with Council Members of the Human Genome Organisation during which they agreed upon most organizational matters and the framework of the scientific program of the next year’s meeting.

 

Dr. Ghazi Tadmouri also participated in the HGM2010 with a lecture on “Science Networks among Arab Geneticists” over the last 20 years in a special session that discussed “Genomic Medicine and Developing Countries”.

 

He noted that although the international proportion of cooperation among researchers in medical field is 2.7 per published scientific paper, the proportion is 3.9 on average in the Arab World and reaches a high of 5-6 in countries such as Tunisia, Morocco. As for genetic research papers, the proportion of cooperation among Arab geneticists reaches an average of 5.7; demonstrating the collaborative nature of this demanding science.

 

By attending the Human Genome Meeting 2010 in France, the prestigious Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences was the major and best representative from the Arab World in general and the UAE in particular. The level of planning achieved, thus far, to organize the Human Genome Meeting 2011 in Dubai demonstrates that the meeting will be held in the highest level of international standards. 

 

Since the award’s establishment in 1999, 60 scientific research papers in all fields of medicine have been supported and the award is ready to support serious medical research in the future.