Great Arab Minds 2025 Medicine Award Honours Dr Nabil Seidah For Heart Health Research

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has congratulated Dr Nabil Seidah on receiving the Great Arab Minds 2025 medicine award. The honour recognises work that reshaped understanding of cholesterol control and heart disease. Dr Seidah’s discoveries helped create widely used therapies that lower blood lipids and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Dr Seidah leads the Neuroendocrine Biochemistry Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute. Research by Dr Seidah examines how the human body handles fats at the molecular level. This focus on lipid metabolism has supported new approaches for treating cardiovascular conditions, while also informing prevention strategies that benefit patients in the Arab region and worldwide.

The 2025 Medicine Award was given to Dr Seidah for clarifying key pathways that influence heart health and cholesterol regulation. His studies explore the biological signals that govern fat transport and breakdown. These findings underpin medications that help protect millions of people from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular complications linked to high cholesterol.

A central achievement in Dr Seidah’s career is the discovery of the PCSK9 enzyme, which regulates blood cholesterol levels. Research showed that increased PCSK9 activity raises harmful cholesterol. This insight enabled the development of PCSK9 inhibitors. These medicines are now widely prescribed to reduce cholesterol and cut cardiovascular risk when standard treatments are not enough.

Beyond lipid disorders, Dr Seidah has advanced research into fatty liver disease and obesity-related conditions. Work by Dr Seidah has also addressed cancer incidence and how specific viruses enter human cells. These investigations have helped guide experimental therapies across several branches of medicine, linking basic biochemistry with clinical innovation in multiple disease areas.

Great Arab Minds is a strategic initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The programme celebrates outstanding Arab talent across six areas: medicine, engineering and technology, natural sciences, architecture and design, and economics. Its stated goal is to renew the Arab region’s role in global knowledge and scientific advancement.

Now in its third edition, Great Arab Minds is described as the largest initiative of its type in the Arab world. It offers top regional recognition in its six disciplines and supports scientific, intellectual, cultural and creative productivity. The platform aims to encourage young Arabs to engage actively in research, innovation and high-level professional practice.

The 2025 committee overseeing the Great Arab Minds medicine award included regional and international health leaders. Their backgrounds span academic medicine, health system leadership and neuroscience research. The committee reviewed candidates’ long-term impact on clinical practice, scientific understanding and human wellbeing before selecting Dr Seidah for the medicine category.

His Highness highlighted the medical legacy of the Arab world while announcing the award for Dr Seidah. His Highness wrote on X, "We congratulate the winner of the Great Arab Minds award 2025 in medicine, Dr Nabil Seidah, from Egypt’s scientific community, Director of Biochemical Neuroendocrinology Research Unit at Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM)." His Highness also underlined how Arab expertise continues to shape global medicine.

His Highness added, "Medicine is a humanitarian mission, and our region has contributed for centuries to the development of medical sciences, practices, tools, and research. Today’s and tomorrow’s generations are capable of continuing this vital journey for humanity." This message aligns with the initiative’s aim to support current researchers while inspiring future scientific leaders.

Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chair of the Higher Committee for Great Arab Minds, informed Dr Seidah of the result during a video call. Al Gergawi praised research that has led to new drugs and specialised treatments built on advanced data and technology, reinforcing the award’s scientific and societal focus.

Al Gergawi said, "The launch of the Great Arab Minds initiative by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the largest of its kind in the region, recognises Arab innovators and achievers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of science and human development. Dr Nabil Seidah is among these distinguished scientists and doctors who have dedicated their lives to improving public health and introducing new treatment and prevention approaches that have marked a new chapter in medical science." The recognition of Dr Seidah’s lifetime work reflects the initiative’s wider ambition to highlight Arab scientific excellence and sustain momentum in medical research across the region.

With inputs from WAM