Weill Cornell Medicine — Qatar’s (WCM-Q) seventh Annual Research Retreat looked at the transformation of biomedical research in Qatar and the accomplishments of WCM-Q’s scientists over the past year.
Delegates attended from a broad range of biomedical institutions to hear of the latest developments in biomedical research, and to examine the work of students, research specialists and post-doctoral scientists.
Dr Khaled Machaca, associate dean for research at WCM-Q, said that the mission of the biomedical research programme was to create a centre of research excellence in Qatar.
He explained, “Our goal was to become a beacon of knowledge creation, contributing to Qatar’s drive towards a knowledge-based economy, while also focusing on the health needs prevalent in Qatar.
“To be successful, we have had to create the infrastructure and develop the research workforce, thereby adding research capacity to the wider industry.
“Over a six-year period, our scientists had their work published in 587 publications, and this culminated in an annual citation rate of 3,411 citations in 2016 alone.”
Dr Machaca noted that the college now has 32 active laboratories, centred around eight research cores, and employs 181 researchers, the vast majority of whom are recruited locally.
In addition, Research Division has trained 130 research specialists – 28 of whom are Qatari nationals.
The Nationals Training Programme is also allowing WCM-Q to retain some of the extremely talented individuals as permanent employees.
Dr Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCMQ said, “Qatar has, in a very short time, established a robust research infrastructure and is conducting significant basic research.
“This will support the commercialisation pipeline in the long term and will contribute towards Qatar transitioning to a knowledge-based economy.
“Multiple research institutions in Qatar are well on their way toward establishing collaborative programmes in the fields of basic, translational, clinical and population research.”
The Research Retreat also featured a total of 92 poster presentations by research specialists, students, postdoctoral fellows and research associates from WCMQ, highlighting a broad spectrum of scientific areas.
The event closed with the announcement of the winners of the poster presentation in three categories.