Forums Bolster Research and Health in Middle East

In the four years that the Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research (DHFMR) has been holding its annual Young Investigators Conference, the event has become one of the most recognized among scientists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Arabian Gulf and Middle East. The particular attraction is genetics research because many diseases based on inheritance from both mother and father have a disproportional prevalence in the region. These disorders involve mutations affecting the brain, heart, lungs, immune defenses and other organ systems.

The 2009 symposium, “Partners in Research,” held in mid-November in Dubai, drew more than 100 researchers, policymakers and officials from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and other nations. As in previous years, presenters represented collaborative work done by labs in the Gulf Region and at HMS that are supported by DHFMR. Together, the talks took a three-pronged approach, addressing molecular biology, healthcare policy, and public health and running the gamut from parsing disease pathways to advancing therapeutic strategies.

Immunologist Waleed Al-Herz, of Al-Sabah Pediatric Hospital in Kuwait, described the establishment of a network of researchers and clinicians focused on primary immune deficiencies (PIDs), a group of more than 100 disorders caused by genetic mutations that undermine the development or function of the immune system. This broad collaboration facilitates the identification of affected families and the sharing of discoveries. It also supports building awareness of PIDs, essential to early diagnosis and intervention. Before his talk, Al-Herz had expressed some frustration at the relative lack of understanding of these disorders and the challenge of galvanizing awareness through better public-health messaging.

Middle East–based investigators Rose-Mary Boustany, Bassam Ali and Fowzan Al Kuraya presented their work, respectively, on the neurodegenerative disorder Batten disease on autism and other cognitive deficiencies, and on a range of birth defects. This research is shedding light on a possible treatment approach to Batten disease. More fundamentally, it is identifying genes associated with other debilitating and lethal genetic disorders, assembling a mosaic of disease mechanisms that ultimately will render a better picture of the biological processes of health as well as disease. Boustany is at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon; Ali at United Arab Emirates University; and Al Kuraya, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Among the collaborating HMS investigators are Susan Cotman, with Boustany; members of the Christopher A. Walsh lab, with Ali; members of the Christine Seidman lab, with Al Kuraya; and Raif Geha and Luigi Notarangelo, with Al-Herz.

In the keynote address at the symposium, Barbara McNeil, head of the Department of Health Care Policy at HMS, addressed the state of the population sciences, which serve as a framework for channeling discoveries into clinical care. An increasingly popular tool is comparative effectiveness research (CER), the analysis of outcomes data for competing patient care technologies. Increased reliance on CER has sharpened some of the questions regarding its use. The trial of a chemotherapy protocol among a largely Caucasian population in the United States, for example, would not necessarily be a reliable guide for cancer care in the Middle East. “There is a lack of generalizability by population group, comorbidity status, age and gender,” McNeil said, regarding the application of clinical trial results.

She also presented later in the week at a conference focused on the challenges in healthcare facing Gulf states, organized by the Dubai School of Government, DHFMR and the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center under the auspices of H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan, the UAE minister of health. At the conference, officials and academic and industry leaders discussed issues in achieving an optimal balance of healthcare quality, financing and delivery.

The chief academic officer of the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center, Ajay Singh, led several discussions at the healthcare conference, probing the perspectives of speakers and attendees on the primary challenges of the region. Singh also gave remarks at the “Partners in Research” conference earlier in the week and at the concurrent 2009 Science Writers and Journalists Fellowship Program, administered by DHFMR.

The fellowship program, in its third year, provided background on scientific research in the Gulf Region and access to the presenters in the “Partners in Research” conference. Through broadening knowledge of science and scientists, the program is strengthening science reporting in the region and public understanding of advances that shape human health. The 2009 fellows were Rania Jammal of Al Jazeera TV, Sama Al Khaldi of Dubai Women’s College, Mahmoud Morsi of Dar Al Sada Press, and physician Hamid Saleh of King Abdulaziz University School of Medicine and Health and Life magazine. Enriching science journalism is an essential component of DHFMR’s efforts to invigorate science in the Gulf Region and the Middle East.