NOVEMBER 20-21, 2020 ONLINE


Healthcare Communications in the Middle East

Stella C. Major

Stella C. Major

Associate Professor of Family Medicine in Clinical Medicine
Director – Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar

Dr. Stella C. Major, MBBS, is a qualified Family Physician and Director of the Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab (CSSL) at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). Between 1995-2006, she served as a faculty member in the ranks of instructor to associate professor, at the department of family medicine at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in Lebanon. From 2006-2008, she served as a senior teaching fellow in the department of primary care and social medicine, at Imperial College (IC) and from 2009-2013, was associate professor in the department of family medicine and the clinical skills center at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in the UAE. In 2013, she joined WCM-Q. She serves as an external examiner for the MRCGP International CSA (clinical skills assessment) licensing examination in various GCC countries. She has served as the course director for the Medicine Patient and Society II. She has taught and assessed medical students in clinical and communication skills, and has designed assessment objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), and video self-review activities with annotations. She has carried out numerous research studies in communication with her colleagues including: “Medical students learning communication skills in a second language: empathy and expectations” (Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 2013); “Impact of a communication skills audiovisual package on medical students' knowledge” (Le Journal medical libanais, 2009); and “Communication skills in a Lebanese medical school: from movie theaters to medical classrooms,” Family Medicine, 2005). Her latest area of interest has been in developing educational courses for postgraduate physicians and surgeons, working in Doha, Qatar.Themes such as delivery of bad news, error disclosure, and shared decision making, have been identified as areas of need, and she has worked with colleagues to design initiatives and support for senior clinicians and surgeons, to become more comfortable in communicating across more complex themes.