Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation announces President's Mission of Excellent Emirati Doctors to US

Abu Dhabi, October 11, 2015 (WAM): The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has launched the President's Mission of Excellent Emirati Doctors to the United States, on directives from President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs. Thirty-four medical doctors were approved for secondment to USA-based MD Anderson Cancer Centre and Mayo Clinic as part of the mission. 17 of them will pursue medical studies while the other 17 will study hospital management, Mohammed Haji Khouri, Director General of the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, told a medical forum at Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi. In addition, Emirati medical students will join the secondment programme to pursue post-graduate studies at the American hospitals. Khouri said the collaboration with MD Anderson and Mayo Clinic and the secondment programme is part of the Foundation's continuous efforts to develop the skills of Emirati doctors, medical students and administrators. The Foundation seeks to raise the number of Emirati specialists in all disciplines to compliment the health system and aid the continuous pursuit of medical excellence, Khouri noted. Ali Al Obaidli, Group Chief Academic Affairs Officer at Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), noted that Humaid Al Shamsi was the first Emirati doctor to specialise in oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Centre. In 2011, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation gave the University of Texas an Dh550 million grant to fund cancer research. The grant was awarded by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Foundation to enable MD Anderson to make significant advances in personalised cancer therapies and accelerate the pace of pancreatic cancer research. The grant was used to establish the Zayed bin Sultan cancer treatment clinic at the university’s hospital, in addition to funding research based on genetic analysis and programmes dedicated to finding better treatments. The grant also funds a number of annual fellowships, and three academic chairs - the Sheikh Zayed chair of oncology, the Sheikh Khalifa University chair of cancer knowledge and the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed chair of scientific and medical knowledge in cancer research. – Emirates News Agency, WAM -http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395286552478.html