The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), yesterday presented a preview of its research and findings, including a smart clinic to fight diabetes in Qatar, as part of its midterm summit.
Prof the Lord Ara Darzi, executive chair, WISH; Dr Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, managing director, Primary Health Care Corporation; Fahad Saad al-Qahtani, president, community development, QF; Dr Mark McClellan, director, Robert J Margolis Centre for Health Policy; and Dr Victor Dsau, president, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, discussed the activities at the event.
Prof the Lord Ara Darzi described the midterm summit as an opportunity to convene the global community around healthcare issues that really matter.
“This year we are focusing on topics that resonate around the world and here in Qatar as we continue to create evidence-based research that offers policymakers practical solutions to create change.”
Al-Qahtani said that WISH is not only delivering tangible benefits to the people of Qatar, but, internationally, it is raising the nation’s profile in influential health policy circles through its research, ongoing programmes,
and global partnerships.
Egbert Schillings, CEO, WISH, said WISH continually works towards building a community of health leaders for whom their subject matter is a calling rather than an industry.
“By supporting the local healthcare leadership community, as we did with the Al Wakrah clinic, among other projects over the last two years – the WISH programme is directly contributing to the success of Qatar’s exceptional healthcare sector.”
According to Dsau, the Qatar Genome Project is one of the boldest in the world. “Working with Qatar Biobank, we are sequencing the genomes. Many samples have been sequenced and we are in for some exciting results. Last month, we created a new project which allows people to come in with new ideas to utilise all that information developed through Qatar Genome project.”
The chairs of WISH Forums took part in group workshops and open discussions as part of the final phase of their year-long research initiatives. Their final reports will be made public at the 2016 summit, that will take place on
November 29 and 30.
The evidence-based research will highlight and put forth policy recommendations on seven key topics: Accountable Care, Autism, Behavioural Insights, Cardiovascular Disease, Economic Benefits of Investing in Health, Healthy Populations, and Precision
Medicine.