Born in Dubai in 1957, Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash was brought up in a house in a family fond of knowledge and learning. Her earliest ambition was to study medicine.

In 1975 she joined the Cairo University Faculty of Medicine (Kasr Af-Eini). Returning home in 1983 after obtaining a degree in medicine and surgery, she joined Rashid Hospital for an internship. She was in fact a model of hard working and ambitious Emarati women. She is one of the female pioneers of medical practice in the UAE.

 

She was not content with her remarkable position, and therefore ventured to enter the field of medical education. In 1985 she was appointed as teaching assistant at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UAE University.

 

In a relatively short time she obtained a scholarship to proceed with her graduate studies. She obtained her first diploma in child psychiatry in 1988, and the second in general psychiatry later in the same year.

 

In 1992 she obtained her Ph.D. in psychiatric epidemics from London University. Returning home, she started her academic career at the Faculty of medicine, UAE University where she was appointed as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and in 1999 she was promoted to Associate Professor.

 

She has also acted as Assistant to the dean for Female Students Affairs, and later as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. 

Ultimately she was appointed as Dean of the Faculty. In 2001 she was appointed President of the Bahrain-based Arabian Gulf University, thus embarking on yet a new building mission at a new site.

 

Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash is interested in feminist action. She has participated in various conferences and seminars on women, both at the medical level, and through her societal activity. She is member of various professional and scientific associations, and was member of the UAE University Council. She was also Deputy Secretary General of the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences (1999-2003), Member of the General medical council in Britain, and Chair of the Clinical Doctors committee of the Overseas Doctors Society affiliated with the Psychiatry Institute in London.

 

Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash is author of numerous research papers and scientific studies. She is also author of a number of books, the most outstanding of which is "Medicine in the Emirates".

 

Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash has also participated in scores of conferences and seminars held in many countries. Her main concern is to perfect whatever work may be assigned to her, and to gain maximum self-satisfaction from her endeavors. This is evident from her career at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the UAE University considering the many responsibilities she had shouldered there, and her active participation in setting forth an educational and administrative system for the faculty.

 

Moreover, she maintains great interest in the status of women in the Arab world. This is evident from her membership of a number of civil society organizations, and her focus on the psychological complaints of women resulting from several social factors. Additionally, she has other cultural, political and intellectual interests.

 

Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash has won a number of awards, the most outstanding of which is the Al-Owais Cultural Foundation Award, and Middle East Women's Achievements in the field of Education Award offered by Datamatics foundation in 2002.

 

For all these achievements, Dr. Rafia Obaid Ghubash deserves the Hamdan Award for honouring individuals working in the field of medicine and health, for the year 2003-2004.