Dr. Habiba Al Safar is an Emirati research scholar who has a wealth of professional and educational experience that includes a Ph.D. in Philosophy in Forensics and Medical Sciences from Western Australia, a M.Sc. in Medical Engineering from the United Kingdom, and a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the United states of America. Her research interest is constructing the genomic structures of individuals of Arab descent to identify genomic segments that carry gene(s) that predispose to disease. Specifically, addressing diseases that are increasing in prevalence amongst the local communities of the UAE.
Dr. Al Safar is one of the outstanding Arab women scientists to win the International L'Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science. She was also awarded the UAE first honor model from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for being one of the pioneers in her field. Dr. Al Safar is a member of UAE Science Council since 2016.
Her primary research interest lies in investigating diseases that are increasing in prevalence amongst the local communities of the UAE. She has successfully identified a gene strongly associated with the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among the Emirati population and recently furthered this research to look into the links between Vitamin D deficiency and Type 2 diabetes.
She says ‘I have always been fascinated by science. The human body is a remarkable machine. Yet, while I always knew it would be a tough career I wanted to contribute to the UAE and realised that there were very few geneticists – so this is where I specialised.’
Dr Habiba has won several awards for her research into Type 2 diabetes of UAE citizens.
References
https://www.ku.ac.ae/academics/college-of-medicine-and-health-sciences/people/dr-habiba-alsafar
https://www.britishcouncil.sa/en/programmes/championsofscience/drhabiba-alsafar
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