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DOI: 10.2174/0250688201999200713195917, 2020, 1(2), 20-21

New Emirates Medical JournalContent list available at: https://newemiratesmedicaljournal.com

PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE

Fostering University-Community Partnership in the Biomedical & HealthService Research in the UAE: Prospects for Change

Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula1,*

1Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE

The Research Institute for Medical and Health Sciences(RIMHS) at the University of Sharjah, organized a half-dayworkshop on Thursday, 13th February 2020 to leverage on thepartnership between the healthcare providers and the RIMHS.This professional meeting used a combination of presentationsfrom various institutions and stakeholders, following paneldiscussions to understand the current challenges andopportunities to foster biomedical and health research in theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE).

A large number of graduate students and faculties from theUniversity of Sharjah (UOS) attended the sessions. Expertsfrom Mohammed Bin Rashid University (MBRU), SheikhKhalifa Specialty Hospital (SKSH), Emirates MedicalAssociation (EMA), Ministry of Health and Prevention(MOHAP), Public health and Central lab sector of SharjahMunicipality, Dubai Health Authority (DHA), and Abu DhabiHealth Services (SEHA) participated in the panel discussion.

The program started with the welcome speech by Prof.Maamar Battayeb, Vice-chancellor for research and graduatestudies, University of Sharjah. Through his inspirationalspeech, Prof. Battayeb discussed the current status of UOSresearch initiatives. Prof. Taleb Al-Tel, the director of theResearch Institute for Medical & Health Sciences (RIMHS),detailed the purpose of the meeting to foster health research inthe UAE in collaboration with key stakeholders. After that,delegates from various departments of UOS presented anoverview of their research initiatives, and opportunities forpartnerships with the community were also detailed. Thedetails of the presentations are described in Table 1.

1. FOCUS ON HEALTH INNOVATION

The workshop discussed a few of the challenges that werein line with the UAE’s 2021 vision to be one of the mostinnovative countries in the world. Innovation in healthcare has

* Address correspondence to this author at the Institute of Public Health, Collegeof Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE;Tel: +971543226187; E-mail: akshaypharmd@gmail.com

great importance to develop a high standard health system andenhance the quality of life. In this context, this meeting was thefirst to discuss the possible opportunities to use innovations inhealth research and to exchange dialogue with experts fromvarious institutions, associations, and stakeholders. Eachdelegate presented ideas on health innovation and currenttechnologies used in their institutions. Experts participated inpanel discussions to elicit perspectives regarding the currentchallenges facing health research in the UAE.

Further, panel members were also asked to discuss theissues and to identify optimal research areas for potentialpartnerships on health innovation. Some of the questionsaddressed include: What is the future of smart healthcare?Current challenges in health research? How can healthtechnologies bridge the healthcare gaps? What is thedevelopment of research centers, and how collaborativepartnerships have the potential to improve healthcare services?What is the role of artificial intelligence in data mining and bigdata analysis? How can innovation in healthcare benefitcommunities?

Table 1. Presentations on research perspectives atUniversity of Sharjah.

Presenter Topic DepartmentProf. NabilSuleiman

Diabetes studies National Projectof the UAE: Epidemiological

studies and beyond

College ofMedicine

Dr. BasemaSaddik

Epidemiology/clinical data studiesof multiple prevalent diseases: best

practice of health care delivery

College ofMedicine

Dr. HamzahAlzubaidi

Community participatory research:opportunities to improve healthcaredelivery and medicines use in theUAE

College ofPharmacy

Dr. MohammadHarb

Quality assurance andpharmaceutical analysis labservices

College ofPharmacy

Prof. ReyabShakir Obaid

Food and nutrition lab services:quality and toxicity control

College ofHealth Sciences

Fostering University-Community New Emirates Medical Journal, 2020, Volume 1, Number 2 21

The Editor-in-Chief of New Emirates Medical Journal(NEMJ), Prof. Abdulla Shehab was invited as a special panelistto discuss the changes in clinical research in the UAE and theimportance of technology in research publications. Dr. ThomasBoillant addressed the “Design Lab”, a point-of-caretechnology program of MBRU, in collaboration with variousinternational universities. Through this international exchangeprogram, students from multiple branches, including business,engineering, design, and medicine, will exchange their ideas asa team to identify the challenges in healthcare and proposepossible solutions to overcome these challenges. The chiefgeneral officer of international relations from SKSH, Dr.Mustafa Alhashimi, described various opportunities in thebiomarker’s discovery and drug development in cancerresearch. Dr. Suad Hanawi, deputy chairman of the centralresearch ethics committee from the MOHAP, detailed theimportance of ethics in the health technology research,MOHAP interests in collaboration with academic institutionson various research projects. Dr. Sumaya Mohamed AlBooshi,director of Nursing Department, MOHAP, highlighted the useof various technologies such as VR, E-platform, and evidence-based frameworks for research in nursing.

2. SUCCESS STORIES

A panel of five members is invited to share theirexperience in health innovation and contributing factors toachieve success. Details about the panelists are presented inTable 2.

Each delegate from various institutions presented-successstories from their fields and described the importance ofpotential research collaboration with academic institutions.Such research collaborations can enhance the development of

research materials or programs, joint curriculum according tothe paradigm shift in healthcare research, as well as facultyexchange programs to strengthen the relationship with theinstitutions. Particular emphasis was given to initiatecollaborative health research projects, and clinical trials withacademic institutions, talent exchange programs forpostgraduate students, and establishing a centralized databaseof disease registries can help translate scholarly researchactivities in the UAE.

Table 2. Panel discussion on health innovations in the UAE.

Panelist Designation InstitutionMs. Alya Rashid

AlmuallaChemical Lab Technician,

Head of scientificresearch team in public

health & central lab sector

SharjahMunicipality

Dr. Ahmed Alosi Research Expert MOHAPDr. Byoungkwon

KimConsultant Pathologist SKSH

Ms. Mai Faisal AlDossari

Director of HealthInnovation Center

Dubai HealthAuthority

Dr. Souher El Amouri Chair of SEHA nursingresearch committee

Abu Dhabi HealthServices

CONCLUSION

This meeting was initiated by the UOS to fosterpartnerships between academic institutions and the UAEhealthcare stakeholders in support of research in health andbiomedical. The focus was to bring together experts fromdifferent disciplines and key stakeholders to assess theopportunities and address challenges through a collaborativeresearch ecosystem and strengthening the partnership withvarious research partners in the UAE.

© 2020 Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which isavailable at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original author and source are credited.