Event Info Abstract Achieving “personalized medicine” will require high quality genome interpretation, tailored to individuals in the context of their native populations. Over the past 5 years in Qatar there have been significant advances in this domain, driven by initial explorations of population genetic structure to identification of disease-causing genes and loci underlying both rare (Mendelian) and complex disorders. Through sequencing thousands of Qataris to date, we have demonstrated a significantly under-appreciated diversity of modern day Arabs, as well as identified founder alleles for a numerous diseases relevant to the regional population. This talk will cover the ambitious trajectory that the genomic enterprise has taken in Qatar in recent years – e.g. establishing the Qatar Genome Programme, and building capacity and a knowledge based economy – and identify areas of opportunity for collaborators and industry partners looking to shape the evolving field of precision medicine in the Arab world. Biography Dr Khalid A. Fakhro graduated with Honors from the University of Chicago (USA) majoring in Biological Sciences with specialization in Cellular Biology and Molecular Genetics, and later completed his PhD in Human Genetics at Yale University (USA), where he was part of a highly selective HHMI Translational Medicine Scholars program, designed to train basic scientists to take discoveries from the bench to bedside. After two post-doctoral training fellowships abroad, he relocated to Qatar as part of the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. He subsequently joined Sidra as Principal Investigator in July 2014, and became Director of the Human Genetics department, where he built a robust genomic medicine research pipeline for the hospital. In 2018, he became the inaugural Director of Precision Medicine at Sidra, heading an ambitious program where research in genomics and personalized medicine are embedded in the heart of Sidra’s academic medical enterprise. He holds adjunct faculty appointments at both Weill Cornell Medicine and at Hamad bin Khalifa University, where he teaches classes and mentors the next generation of Masters and PhD students in human genetics and genomic medicine. Registration for this event has closed. |