Sorted by First Name A-Z
Andrea Fagiolini, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Chairman, Chief of Medical Services, and Residency Training Director of the Department (DAI) of Mental Health and Sensory Organs of the University of Siena School of Medicine, Italy. He received his medical training at the University of Pisa School of Medicine, Italy. After completing his psychiatric residency at the University of Modena, Italy, Professor Fagiolini spent more than 10 years at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pennsylvania, USA, where he served as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Bipolar Disorder Center and the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program. His research interests focus on the pharmacological treatment of mood and psychotic disorders. Professor Fagiolini also serves on the editorial board or as a reviewer for several psychiatry journals. He is the author or co-author of over 400 books and peer-reviewed articles.
Professor of Psychiatry and Chairman
Chief of Medical Services,
and Residency Training Director of
the Department (DAI) of Mental Health and
Sensory Organs of the University of
Siena School of Medicine, Italy
Dr. Ayaz Virji, MD is the Executive Medical Director of the Health Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. He oversees all aspects of the Health Center operations including student health, employee and family services, counseling services, and health-related outreach programs. Dr. Virji received his MD from Georgetown University and completed residency training at Duke University Medical Center. He is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. He has over 17 years of practice experience in the United States including leadership roles in several large healthcare systems. He has multiple scientific and layman publications on primary care, nutrition, and disease prevention.
Executive Director, The Health Center
NYU Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Campus, UAE
Dr. Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DFASAM is an addiction physician and the Medical Director of the Division of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. He is the President-Elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and gives presentations around the world regarding addiction medicine. He co-chairs the SafeMedLA Medications for Addiction Treatment Action Team and is the Clinical Director of the Addiction Treatment Starts Here program through the Center for Clinical Innovation, focused on increasing the delivery of medications for addiction treatment in California’s community health centers. He is a senior researcher at the Friends Research Institute and is a primary investigator on a Tobacco Related Disease Prevention Program-funded project integrating smoking cessation services into community mental health centers and patient-centered medical homes and is the grant lead for three Medications for Addiction Treatment Access Points projects funded by the Sierra Health Foundation supporting access to medications for addiction treatment across Los Angeles County. He is also a co-investigator for several Rand Corporation projects evaluating the integration of substance use disorder and mental health treatment within community health settings.
Medical Director
Substance Abuse Prevention and Control
Los Angeles County Dept of Public Health, USA
Prof. Christoph U. Correll is Professor of Psychiatry at The Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, USA, and also Professor and Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany. He completed his medical studies at the Free University of Berlin in Germany, and Dundee University Medical School in Scotland. He is board certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, having completed both residencies at The Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York City. Since 1997, he has been working and conducting research in New York, USA, and since 2017 he is also working in Germany again.
Professor Correll’s research and clinical work focus on the identification, characterization and treatment of youth and adults with severe mental illness, including psychotic and mood disorders, spanning all disease stages from the prodrome to first and multi-episode illness and up to refractory illness. He further focuses on psychopharmacology, epidemiology, clinical trials, comparative effectiveness, meta-analyses, the risk–benefit evaluation of psychotropic medications, and the interface between physical health and mental health. He has authored or co-authored over 650 journal articles, served on several expert consensus panels on the use of antipsychotics across a range of psychiatric disorders, and received over 40 research awards for his work. In April 2021, his Web of Science H-index was 86 (Google Scholar: 107).
Dr. Kashiwagi is currently the Chair of Internal Medicine and Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City in Abu Dhabi, a joint venture with Mayo Clinic. She is originally from California, United States. She attended medical school at Loyola University-Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago and completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Indiana University. She also holds a Master's of Science degree in clinical outcomes research from Indiana University. She joined Mayo Clinic in 2009 and SSMC in 2021. Her professional interests include quality improvement and medical education.
Chair-Division of Internal Medicine
Program Director-Internal Medicine Residency Program
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE
Dr. Fadi Maalouf is the Chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry, and an Associate Professor at the American University of Beirut.
Dr. Maalouf also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with more than 15 years of clinical experience working with children and families.
Dr. Maalouf’s research interest is in the areas of epidemiology of childhood psychiatric disorders and specifically emotional disorders and in school-based youth mental health interventions that aim at bridging the treatment gap in this population. Dr. Maalouf has received several grants and awards from prestigious organizations such as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery. He is also an elected member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
Dr. Gail Erlick Robinson is a Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics/Gynaecology, University of Toronto. She was cofounder of the University of Toronto’s Women’s Mental Health Program. She has won the YWCA Women of Distinction Award and the Alexandra Symond’s Award from the American Psychiatric Association for outstanding and sustained contributions to women’s mental health and the advancement of women. She has twice won an award in the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada championship category for her work with women. In 2013, she was appointed to the Order of Ontario and in 2017 she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her advocacy work for women. She is an Honorary member of the WPA.
With over 13 years of clinical experience in all ages across (behavioural health, healthcare-medical, education and community, Haneen has proven expertise in providing psychosocial services for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, behavioural and emotional disorders in individuals, families and Children. Ms Haneen widely uses trauma informed assessments when assessing patients as oftentimes she sees that most of the co-occurring disorders manifested as other disorders such as anxiety and depression (i.e.) and are caused from adverse life experiences.
Dr. Hesham Hamoda is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School and a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Boston Children’s Hospital. He completed residency training in Psychiatry and a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. He also holds a master-degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in Global Health.
He currently serves as a Vice President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions. As a consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO), he lead the development of a school mental health program for the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
His academic accomplishments have been recognized through awards from Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, and several national and international organizations including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions. He is also the 2019 recipient of 40 under 40 leaders in health award.
Dr. Meisinger is an international expert on Patient Centered Medical Homes and healthcare system transformation. She was National Faculty Co-Chair for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative “Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative” (TCPi), an initiative which transformed over 140,000 US practices to value-based, patient centered medical care. She was co-chair of the National Health Equity Collaborative (sponsored by NCQA) and a member of the Expert Panel for the Health Care Homes initiative in Australia. Currently she is helping design and implement a national pilot for Primary Care in the Private Sector in Brazil.
Dr. Rosenfeld is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. She trained at the MGH McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program in Boston. Before pursuing a career in medicine, Dr. Rosenfeld conducted global health research at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and obtained her MPH at the University of Washington. She now serves as Medical Director of the Health Integration Program (HIP) at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School affiliate organization. HIP is a behavioral health home offering team-based care to individuals with psychotic-spectrum illness. She also has academic interests in measurement-informed care, integrated care, and innovative ways of meeting unmet need for mental health care. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, exploring the great outdoors, and spending time with her family and friends.
Dr. Alsuwaidan is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he is appointed to both the division of Neurosciences & Clinical Translation and the division of Psychotherapy, Humanities & Psychosocial Interventions. He is the Founder and Clinical Director of MindWell, a leading private mental health care center based in Kuwait. Following the completion of his medical training, Dr. Alsuwaidan completed his psychiatry residency training with advanced training in mood & anxiety disorders and medical education at the University of Toronto, Canada. He also trained in mood disorders at Stanford University in California and Tufts Medical Center in Boston. He completed a Masters of Public Health (MPH) at Johns Hopkins University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is certified in public health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners in the United States.
Dr. Malcolm Borg completed his undergraduate training at the University of Malta before moving to London, UK in 2007 where he undertook his Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine and sub-specialty training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. He worked as a Consultant and then as Lead Consultant for Pediatric Emergency Medicine in St George’s Hospital, one of London’s four Major Trauma Centres between 2011 and 2014. In 2014 he joined the ED at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City as a Consultant before becoming Division Chief for Pediatric ED and then Chair of the Emergency Department in 2019. He is a Member of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (MRCSEd), a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of the UK (MRCP(UK)), a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (FRCEM) and has a Diploma in Child Health from the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (DCH).
Chair Emergency Department
Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, UAE
Moza Al Raqbani holds a Master Degree Graduate from Higher Colleges of Technology majoring in Strategic Management. She has more than 10 years of experience between real estate, leisure and entertainment, healthcare, arts and culture and social work> Currently she is working at the Social Protection department in the Ministry of Community Development as a Senior Project Manager. Moza handles projects that are related to development of strategies which includes Child Rights, Family Rights and Awareness Campaigns that has to do with Domestic Violence. She has lead and managed a major event at the Expo2020 to commemorate World Children’s Day last November partnering with UNICEF.
Professor N. Sartorius, MD, PhD, FRCPsych previously the Director of the Mental Health Program of the World Health Organization and President of the Wordl Psychiatric Association and of the European Psychiatric Association now serves as President of the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programs, a non-governmental organization located in Geneva. Professor Sartorius holds several professorial positions in Europe, the USA and elsewhere. He has published more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals and authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 120 books.
Professor Sartorius’ main areas of interest at present are the comorbidity of mental and physical disorders, the reduction of the stigma of mental disorders and education of psychiatrists and other stakeholders in the field of mental health. In his previous positions he was the principal investigator of a number of international collaborative studies and projects dealing with schizophrenia and other major mental diseases, comorbidity of mental and physical illnesses, health service development, and education of different categories of staff.
Dr. Zarsky is a graduate of Yale University, where he studied history, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His post-graduate medical training includes residency in Adult Psychiatry and a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.
Throughout his clinical career, he has been involved in teaching and supervision with Residents in Psychiatry, Medicine, and Family Practice, as well as with medical students, Physicians’ Assistant students, and early career Nurse Practitioners.
H.E. Dr. Omniyat Mohammed Al Hajeri is an Executive Director of Community health sector in AD Public Health Centre, Specialized in the field of public health and leadership, consultant diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic diseases, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine 2011-2014.
Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Member of the Board of Directors from 2021 till now and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company, Member of the Board of Directors from 2016 till 2019.
Board Member of the Academy of Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Women's Sport, 2012 till now and Abu Dhabi Media Company, Board Member 2014-2016.
Director of Public Health and Research in (HAAD)
Board Member at Abu Dhabi Media (ADM)
John Hopkins University
Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, UAE
Dr. Patrick R. Aquino, MD, is the Chair of the Division of Psychiatry for Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and Medical Director for Behavioral Health Integration for Beth Israel Lahey Health. Dr. Aquino is board certified in psychiatry and consultation-liaison psychiatry. He completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Maryland and Sheppard Pratt, a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a fellowship in Medical Education at Harvard Medical School. He is an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. His research interests include evaluating care delivery models and integrating technology in health care.
Dr. Shahrukh Hashmi has been at Mayo Clinic for approximately 10 years. He started Mayo Clinic’s first BMT survivorship program. He has served as PI or Co-PI on many industry-sponsored and NIH sponsored trials. His research interests include premature aging and GVHD. He is also involved in stem cell therapeutics particularly in regenerative hematology. He has authored >200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including in JAMA, Lancet, and in NEJM. He chairs many national or international professional committees/groups including being the chair of the Worldwide Network for Blood and Marrow Transplant’s Nuclear Accident committee (Geneva, Switzerland), founding chair of American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplant Society’s Survivorship SIG (Chicago, Illinois), and co-chair of the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Registry’s (CIBMTR) Health Services Committee (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). He is currently the chair of the Dept. of Hematology/Oncology at the SSMC, Abu Dhabi, UAE; and the chair of SEHA Oncology Council.
Chairman, SEHA Oncology Council
Chairman, Dept. Oncology/Hematology
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE
Dr. Siddiq Anwar is from India and did his post graduate professional training in the West. He trained in some of the
leading academic centers in the world, including in Manchester Royal Infirmary, Guys Hospital and St Georges
hospital in London, Washington University at St Louis and Hospital do Rim Sao Paolo. He was a Consultant
Nephrologist in Freeman Hospital Newcastle and King Faisal Hospital Riyadh before was brought to modernize
the Renal Services and grow the kidney transplant program in SEHA, Abu Dhabi. He has leadership positions in
International Society of Nephrology (ISN) including in the ISN Middle East Regional Board and working on
capacity building in the global south to improve access to high quality renal care.
He is keen on using data driven decision making in healthcare and process optimization to improve overall health
care outcomes. One of his research interests is to reduce the cost of En
Consultant Physician and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE
Ms. Susan Partridge is a UK trained clinical psychologist, with a license to practice both in the UK and in Abu Dhabi. She was the first British Clinical Psychologist to be licensed to practice in Abu Dhabi. She has expertise in the fields of adult mental health, forensic clinical work and addiction, and has worked in a range of diverse environments from primary care to medium secure settings and has over 40 years’ experience working as a clinical psychologist.
Between 1997-2010 before she moved to the UAE, she was responsible for the training of clinical psychology doctoral students as a Senior Lecturer in the Post Graduate Medical Institute at the University of Hull, UK and over that period was a member of the national Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology.
From August 2011-March 2017 she was based at the American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology in Abu Dhabi providing psychological therapy to adults with a range of mental health problems. She was Head of Psychology at ACPN from 2013 and Group Head of Psychology from February 2016 to March 2017, providing supervision and support to 3 clinics containing 20 psychologists. Since March 2017 she has worked as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Maudsley Health in Abu Dhabi developing and providing services for adults with a range of mental health issues, providing clinical supervision of other staff, participating in clinical governance activities, and giving lecturing and webinars. She was accepted as Subject Matter Expert for clinical psychology by Abu Dhabi Health Authority in June 2021. She has a number of published papers and book chapters, with her two most recent papers, in collaboration with UAE colleagues focusing on clinical supervision and ethical standards in mental health care, which is currently in press.
Dr. Tareq Qassem is Lead for the Mental Health of Older Age Clinical Academic Group at the Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital in Dubai. Dr Tareq graduated in Ain Shams University in Egypt where he worked as a Lecturer in Psychiatry after earning his Medical Doctorate. He then pursued further training in Old Age Psychiatry in the UK before attaining a Consultant role. His responsibilities as a Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry have included leading the neurocognitive clinic which assessed and managed patients experiencing cognitive symptoms. Dr Tareq was the chairperson for the Research and Innovation Committee in one of West Midlands National Health Service Trusts (serving a population of 1.1 million) and held Honorary Fellow and Senior Lecturer positions in the University of Warwick as well as Aston University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University in Cairo and adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Dubai Medical College.
Dr. Vedrana Mladina, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Associate Director of Counseling at NYUAD Health Center.
Prior to joining NYU Abu Dhabi, Dr. Mladina worked as Associate Victims Expert in the Gender and Children Unit at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, providing psycho-social care for adult victims of war crimes and children affected by conflicts worldwide. She also worked as a faculty member at Webster University in Leiden, teaching various subjects in Psychology both on graduate and postgraduate level, as well as a clinical psychologist in her own private practice. She is trained in CBT,ACT and Schema Therapy and specializes in treatment of PTSD, anxiety, depression, adjustment difficulties, conflict management, secondary traumatization, stress management and burnout prevention, as well as in psycho-social aspects of investigative interviewing.
Dr. Mladina is also certified in Nutritional Psychology.
Originally from Bosnia, Dr. Mladina completed both her undergraduate and graduate studies at Karl Franzens University of Graz, Austria.
Associate Director of Counseling Clinical Psychologist and Wellness Counselor II
The Health Center, NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE
