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Healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, and experts from around the world gathered in Doha to explore evidence-based strategies for mitigating the health impacts of climate-related issues. The conference was co-ordinated by the Division of Continuing Professional Development at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). Titled “Exploring the Nexus of Climate, Health, and Environment” (CHE2025), the two-day conference addressed the intersection of climate change, environmental pollution, and human health, with a strong emphasis on the unique challenges faced by the Mena region. Other areas of focus included sustainable urban planning and healthcare delivery, the food-energy-water-health nexus and strategies for achieving net-zero emissions in healthcare systems. Featuring plenary sessions, expert panels, and interactive workshops, CHE2025 offered participants actionable insights to enhance resilience and promote the integration of climate and health in research, policy, and practice. Dr Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, said: “At WCM-Q, we recognise that the health of our communities is deeply connected to the health of our planet. CHE2025 demonstrates our commitment as an institution to bring together regional and global experts to discuss and address the urgent health threats posed by climate change, particularly in the Mena region.” The conference was directed by Dr Sadeer al-Kindi, a WCM-Q alumnus and associate professor at Houston Methodist and Weill Cornell Medicine, and medical director at the Centre for Health & Nature in Houston, US, and Dr Nasrin Mesaeli, associate professor of biochemistry at WCM-Q, who also served as speakers. Dr Sanjay Rajagopalan, chief of cardiovascular medicine and chief academic and scientific officer at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, who also serves as the Herman K Hellerstein MD, professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Case Cardiovascular Research Institute at Case Western Reserve University, described the global health impacts of climate change and pollution and how environmental stressors contribute to disease patterns. He also evaluated strategies to address environmental challenges in clinical care. Dr Thurayya Arayssi, vice-dean for academic and curricular affairs at WCM-Q, said: “Discussions about climate change are critical. Through this conference, we seek to foster collaboration, knowledge exchange, and actionable solutions to drive climate-resilient healthcare and communities in the Mena region. We are extremely pleased by the high level of interest expressed by all participants in addressing this global health challenge.”

The annual Healing Hands essay competition of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has recognised four Qatari high school students for their outstanding 800-word essays on the social consequences of obesity.The winners were Almayasa Waleed Alkhal (Qatar Academy High School), Shamma Mubarak al-Nuaimi (Gulf English School), Fatima Mohammed A M al-Rashid (American School of Doha), and Amna Khalid al-Hajri (Swiss International School in Qatar).The programme is designed to inspire young nationals to pursue careers in medicine and biomedical science. Many previous winners of the Healing Hands contest have gone on to join WCM-Q as students.Each of the four winners received the WCM-Q Doctors of the Future Scholarship, which offers an opportunity to spend a week gaining hands-on research experience in one of the college’s state-of-the-art core laboratories. Two of the winners completed their placements at the Proteomics Lab under the supervision of Prof. Dr Frank Schmidt, professor of biochemistry and director of the proteomics core at WCM-Q.An awards ceremony was recently held at WCM-Q, where each of the four winners was presented with a certificate and a prize. A further eight students received honourable mention certificates in recognition of the high quality of their essays, and 13 students received participation certificates.The essays of the four winners and those who received honourable mentions were noted for the originality of their ideas, their command of written English, the soundness of their supporting arguments, and the coherent structure of their essays. The judges also acknowledged the high level of the participants’ essays, noting the generally high standard of all of the entries this year.Noha Saleh, director of premedical administration, student outreach and educational development, said: “We are confident that this experience will inspire these students to consider a future in medicine."Dr Rachid Bendriss, professor of English as a second language, assistant professor of education in medicine, and associate dean for foundation, student outreach and educational development programmes, said: “We were extremely impressed by this year’s essays, which included such a sophisticated level of innovative and thought-provoking arguments and ideas."

Specialist physicians from across the globe convened in Doha for a two-day event coordinated by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) to share the latest best practice on the diagnosis and management of nerve damage associated with type 2 diabetes.The CONNecting Experts for Clinical besT practice in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (CONNECT-DPN) event, endorsed by the International Diabetes Federation, welcomed 10 senior clinicians from South-East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Mexico.The first day of the event was held at WCM-Q and featured sessions by expert speakers on the importance of early diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy (DPN), the latest developments in screening and diagnostic tools, risk factors for developing DPN, treatment options, and the latest guidelines for the management of DPN.The first day also emphasised multidisciplinary medical team work to optimally diagnose DPN, taking into account differential diagnosis, especially ‘red flags’ for other causes of peripheral neuropathy, and expert input from pain specialists for severe, painful neuropathy as well as podiatry, vascular and orthopedic surgery for managing more advanced complications like foot ulceration and Charcot joint abnormalities.The second day was held at the state-of-the-art Clinical Trials Unit of Hamad Medical Corporation to showcase cutting-edge DPN diagnostic tools like corneal confocal microscopy, neurophysiology and advanced techniques for pain management in DPN. WCM-Q’s Dr Rayaz Malik, professor of medicine and assistant dean for clinical research partnerships, led a workshop on implementing best practice into everyday clinical management of DPN to achieve the very best patient outcomes possible.Dr Malik said: “WCM-Q has become the first medical institution in Qatar to receive official designation as an International Diabetes Federation Center of Excellence for diabetes care. This means we have a responsibility to educate healthcare professionals to provide the very best care possible for our patients with diabetes, key to which is detecting and treating diabetic neuropathy as early as possible.”

Four students from Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar (WCM-Q) are named as joint first co-authors on a perspective paper proposing microbiome-based solutions to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).They were guided by their supervisor, Dr Ghizlane Bendriss, assistant professor of biology at WCM-Q, who is the lead author of the paper. The paper has been published in Frontiers in Microbiomes, a leading scientific journal.Students Ali al-Kuwari, Hamad al-Karbi, Abdulla al-Khuzaei and Dounia Baroudi conducted the study in response to an announcement at the 7th edition of the World Innovation Summit for Health, held in November 2024, which emphasised that tackling AMR was a national priority.The perspective paper discusses several strategies to address the loss of diversity caused by antibiotics, including diet, probiotics, fecal transplants (FMT), and the fermentation of animal and plant products.Preliminary findings from an experiment with camel milk fermentation suggest that fermentation increases microbial diversity, enhances microbiome resilience, and potentially reduces resistance to common antibiotics like tetracycline, streptomycin, penicillin, and chloramphenicol.The increase of diversity allows the microbiome to naturally resist pathogens without additional antibiotic use.Dr Bendriss said: “Over the past four decades, antibiotic innovation and approvals have sharply declined, with annual FDA approvals dropping from about three in the 1980s to barely one today, the share of new antibiotics falling from 20% to 6% of drug approvals, and almost no truly new classes emerging since the mid-20th century.To effectively address AMR, we really need to completely shift our strategy. Microbes already possess a natural ability to fight one another by competing for nutrients and by producing antimicrobial metabolites.Therefore, I believe that microbiome-based solutions such as probiotics or FMT can offer the most sustainable alternative to traditional pharmaceutical interventions.”Additionally, the paper discusses a mechanistic model to underscore the importance of maintaining microbial balance as an effective strategy for mitigating AMR and promoting long-term health.Further research is, however, still needed to better understand the mechanisms behind these changes and their implications for public health.Student al-Kuwari said: “This project deepened my understanding of the microbial world and introduced me to the boundless potential of microbiome-based approaches in tackling real-world health challenges.With antimicrobial resistance becoming an increasingly urgent global concern, contributing to research that explores innovative, targeted solutions has been both timely and meaningful.”Fellow student Baroudi said: “Through this research, I realised that fighting harmful bacteria isn’t just about using more antibiotics; sometimes, it’s about finding better ways to restore and encourage a healthy balance of microbes.This research focuses on identifying sustainable approaches, like fermentation and restoring microbial balance, as innovative ways to nurture microbial ecosystems and offer new hope against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.”

The start of the new academic year is always a moment I look forward to. It is a time of new beginnings, of reconnections, of energy and hopefulness. Our orientation programs fill the halls of the WCM-Q campus with new students full of excitement for the challenges ahead. Those students just starting out on their journey at WCM-Q are busily getting to know the college and making new friends, full of plans for the future, while those who are returning do so with a sense of purpose and determination.Our faculty and staff are likewise full of energy and plans for the year ahead, and the college brims with positivity - it is a truly inspirational time of year.Looking ahead, we are anticipating a number of events with special enthusiasm – stand-out happenings include our annual Student Research Forum, the third edition of our alumni-led Updates in Primary Care Conference, the second edition of our Precision Health Innovation and Education global summit, which this year is taking place in Doha, and the second edition of our Medical Education Technology Conference, which proved such a success when launched last year.We will also be welcoming experts from around the world to Doha for the third edition of our Qatar Proteomics Conference, helping to consolidate Qatar’s leading international position in this important and dynamic research field.There is also great activity in our research labs to look forward to, as our expert investigators continue their work to advance the science and practice of medicine with renewed vigour.Similarly, we look forward to a new season of community engagement through our public health initiatives, including Sahtak Awalan – Your Health First, and our recently launched public health movement, Sehatuha, which promotes and supports female health and wellness. It will be a busy year, and one filled with many opportunities to achieve great things alongside our friends and colleagues in Qatar Foundation partner institutions – we are very excited to be getting started.