Hamdan Foundation Honours Winners At The 2025 Medical Awards Ceremony In Dubai

Sheikh Rashid bin Hamdan Al Maktoum honoured winners of the 2025 Medical Awards at Etihad Museum in Dubai, where senior healthcare leaders, policymakers, academics and researchers from the UAE and overseas gathered, underscoring the strategic role of medical research, clinical innovation and professional excellence in the country’s development agenda.

The ceremony recognised 10 institutions, specialists and researchers through regional and national Medical Awards categories, including the Arab Award for Research in Healthcare, the Arab Award in Genetics, the Best Research in the Healthcare Award, the Innovation in Healthcare Award and the Hamdan Award for Distinguished Personalities in the Healthcare Sector.

The Arab Award for Research in Healthcare under the Medical Awards banner was shared by two studies, one examining long-read sequencing in rare diseases and another analysing dapagliflozin and cellular stress, reflecting collaboration between UAE and international institutions focused on advanced diagnostics and new therapeutic insights.

The long-read sequencing project involved Dubai Health Genomic Medicine Center, Mohammed bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences and Dubai Police Genome Centre, while the dapagliflozin and cellular stress research brought together teams from the University of Sharjah, Mayo Clinic, United Arab Emirates University, Emirates Health Services, the Armed Forces College of Medicine in Egypt and Mansoura University.

Within the Medical Awards regional genetics category, the Arab Award in Genetics went to Majed bin Abdullah Al Fadhel, Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and Chairman of the Genetics and Precision Medicine Department at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, in recognition of contributions to paediatric and genomic medicine.

At the national level of the Medical Awards, the Hamdan Award for Distinguished Personalities in the Healthcare Sector was conferred on Arif Abdulla Alnooryani of Al Qassimi Hospital and Wadeia Muhammad Sharif of Dubai Health Authority, recognising their leadership roles within the UAE’s clinical and health system landscape.

The Best Research in the Healthcare Award under the Medical Awards umbrella highlighted three studies from Gulf Medical University and Johns Hopkins University, The Life Corner Pharmacies and Seha Clinics – PureHealth, and University College London, signalling strong participation from academic, private and international partners in applied healthcare research.

The Innovation in Healthcare Award category of the Medical Awards recognised Al Jalila Children’s Hospital for its autism services transformation programme, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi for establishing the UAE’s first comprehensive deep brain stimulation programme for Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, showing a focus on specialised and complex care services.

Commenting on the Medical Awards process, Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences, said the event followed a stringent scientific evaluation and peer-review cycle, adding that the selected projects demonstrated strong research quality, practical application and measurable benefits for healthcare systems and communities.

During the Medical Awards ceremony, Sheikh Rashid said the medical sector is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development and a key driver of quality of life and human empowerment, noting that recognising high achievers reflects the Foundation’s commitment to excellence grounded in scientific research, innovation and professional integrity and continues the scientific and humanitarian legacy of the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum in promoting healthcare advancement and public health awareness.

Speaking for the Ministry of Health and Prevention about the Medical Awards, Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Under-Secretary Assistant of the Public Health Sector, said the awards celebrate excellence and innovation while reinforcing commitment to scientific research, knowledge partnerships and a sustainable culture of excellence, while winners said the programme supports the UAE’s ambition to be a global centre for medical and scientific distinction.

With inputs from WAM