Strong Presence of WCMC-Q at World Diabetes Day Events
Karsten Suhre, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology at WCMC-Q
explaining the role of metabolomics in diabetes research
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar participated in World Diabetes Day on 14 November as part of an international awareness campaign. Through its partnership with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) staff and faculty took part in various events including the Family Day at Katara in cooperation with Qatar Supreme Council of Health and Qatar Diabetes Association. Diabetes research is a priority at WCMC-Q as the number of people with the disease in Qatar is steadily increasing.
Dean Javaid Sheikh, M.D. said, “Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is delighted to be a partner in the Diabetes Prevention Campaign. This campaign is a strong step forward in addressing the prevalence of diabetes in Qatar, one of the most pressing health care challenges facing the country today. WCMC-Q is prioritizing this challenge by establishing world-class research laboratories. These laboratories will support cutting-edge research in the field of diabetes by our outstanding scientists. Working with our partners; Hamad Medical Corporation, Sidra Medical and Research Center, and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, we believe our focus on genomic analysis and environmental factors can help us understand the high risk for diabetes in the Qatari population and begin to tailor preventive and therapeutic strategies.”
Karsten Suhre, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology at WCMC-Q made a presentation on Metabolomics at HMC where he explained the role of metabolomics in diabetes research. Metabolomics is the field of measuring as many small metabolites in the human blood as possible, which can then help identify genetic and lifestyle related factors in the etiology of diabetes.
Professor Suhre said, “Clearly it is important to have close interaction between basic research and its translation to diabetes prevention and treatment. Metabolomics is an ideal tool to achieve this, since it is measuring what one may call the ‘true endpoints of biological processes’. Particularly promising is the identification of new metabolic biomarkers for diabetes outcomes, such as the risk of complications associated with diabetes or the probability of a particular therapy to be successful on a specific patient. At present, one is mainly limited to measuring sugars, but the picture is changing and new diagnostics based on metabolomics are coming to the market and may hopefully be implemented in Qatar through a joint effort between HMC and WCMC-Q.”
Dr. Laith Abu Raddad, Assistant Professor of Public Health,
discusses diabetes burden in Qatar at the Decision Maker
Symposium
Dr. Laith Abu Raddad, Assistant Professor of Public Health made a presentation on diabetes disease burden in Qatar at the Decision Maker Symposium. During his presentation, Diabetes Disease Burden in Qatar: Facts and Research Priorities, Dr. Laith pointed out that diabetes is a growing problem and that as many as one third of people with diabetes may be undiagnosed in Qatar. Highlighting the need for a large-scale nationally representative epidemiologic study on the levels of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the population he said, “Diabetes is a very expensive disease that carries multiple risk factors for other serious health problems. Therefore preventative measures are an important factor in combating the disease but first we need to understand the precise scale and nature of the problem in the country. However, up to 40 percent of the Qatari population could be diabetic or pre- diabetic and one in three will probably develop diabetes in their lifetime.”
Dr. Mahmoud Zirie, Consultant and Head of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Department at HMC said, “Our awareness campaign is particularly important as Qatar has one of the highest diabetes rates in the world. As doctors and public health organizations, we are obliged to provide advice and guidance on simple preventive measures to fight against the disease, such as daily exercise and healthy diet.”
