Sharjah drives medical research
University turns its focus from teaching to health research
SHARJAH // Medical research at the University of Sharjah is benefiting from increased funding and more international grants.
Three years ago the university set up its medical institute with an aim of moving from teaching into more research.
Over the past two years more than Dh40 million has been allocated to the institute. This has been spent on buildings, increased staffing, research assistants, post-doctoral students and setting up labs with the latest equipment.
Dr Taleb Al Tel, the research institute’s director, said there were now 11 different research groups studying subjects including policymaking, public health, cancer, therapeutics and drug design.
“Since the university was established in 1997 it has been purely educational,” said Dr Al Tel. “There was some research but not like the new goals we have now as we realise we need this for international recognition.
“We just started so we aren’t going to compete with MIT or Harvard but the goal is two-fold.
“We are trying to cope with the vision of the university to build a knowledge-based economy but also to train the young generation to be the future leaders of research, both the locals and the expats living here.” Dr Mawieh Hamad, a professor of immunology, said the perception of universities was changing. “In this region, uni- versities have traditionally focused on teaching,” he said.
“Lately, people have started to realise that universities aren’t like schools after high school.
“They have to play a more significant role in the economy, culture and society. With this realisation people now see the need to focus on research.”
According to the United Nations, about 0.7 per cent of the UAE’s GDP is spent on research, mostly by businesses that spend more than Dh11.4 million a year. Universities, by comparison, spend about Dh2.6m a year.
Last year Austria, which has a smaller population than the UAE, spent 3 per cent of its GDP on research or US$10.9 billion (Dh40bn), the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development estimated. Dr Hany Omar, a pharmacologist with a special focus on cancer, and coordinator of the drug discovery and research group, said research must be applicable, useful to society and not done just for publishing reports.
Prof Qutayba Hamid, the medical school dean, said until the change of administration some research was not meeting these aims. “This has to change,” he said. “Research has to be multidisciplinary and done in collaboration with others.” He wanted the focus to be on research to benefit the community and not to rival the likes of Harvard. “We need to work out why there are chronic diseases here that weren’t here 30 years ago – why diabetes is 35 per cent, asthma 25 per cent and cancer is on the rise.”
Dr Al Tel said the funding for projects was well supported, more so than many other institutions in the country that were struggling to support research. “We’re starting to get good funding, locally and internationally.”
Grants have come from donors including Al Jalila Foundation in the UAE and the Terry Fox Foundation in Canada.
There are joint projects with institutions at home and abroad, including New York University Abu Dhabi, University College London and Harvard in the US.