Dubai: Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, will honour 20 luminaries in the field of medicine and health care from across the UAE and the world at the 8th Hamdan Medical Awards taking place on December 15.

Four eminent Emiratis have been included on the list, which has other distinguished medical researchers from the Arab world and of international repute, according to Professor Najeeb Al Khaja, Secretary-General of the Awards. The four Emiratis to be honoured include the late Abdul Salam Rafie, Dr Ahmad Abdul Aziz Al Jaziri, Dr Jamila Al Suwaidi and Dr Elham Mohammad Al Amiri.

The late Abdul Salam Rafie was a prominent social figure who played a significant role in the charitable and humanitarian domains in the UAE and abroad. A businessman by profession, he started a diabetes treatment centre in 1998 at Al Baraha hospital and continued to provide health care for thousands of patients annually, donating Dh38 million towards establishing an outpatient clinic at Rashid Hospital among many other charitable activities.

Dr Ahmad Abdul Aziz Al Jaziri, a leading Emirati physician who heads both the Physician Promotion Committee and Organ Transplantation Committee at Dubai Health Authority (DHA), occupies a number of key medical positions at Rashid Hospital in Dubai and is also a member of Emirates Medical Association (EMA) and Dubai Club for laparoscopic surgery.

Dr Jamila Al Suwaidi is a consultant in ‘Radiation in Medicine Developments’ at the Department of Medical Education at Dubai Health Authority. She is the first Emirati woman to obtain post-graduate qualification in the field of medical physics with a special focus on nuclear energy.

Dr Elham Mohammad Al Amiri is an adjunct assistant professor at the college of medicine, University of Sharjah, and a consultant paediatrician at Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah, where she is also the head of the Diabetes and Endocrine Unit.

International awardees fall into various categories. Professor Magid Abou Gharbia, from the US, who discovered eight drugs for the treatment of cancer is being hounoured for drug discovery. Professor Stanley Tolkin from USA gets the award for medical research excellence. He is credited with the development of the rubella vaccine and associated with the development of many other vaccines, including anthrax innoculations and oral polio vaccines among many others.

The medical research excellence award in cell therapy has been shared by Professor Carl June of the US and Professor Olle Ringden of Sweden.

Other than individuals, the award categories include academic institutions, hospitals and social centres such as the Tawam Hospital, UAE, the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, Noor Foundation, UAE and many more that have made overwhelming contributions to the field of medicine that have had a direct impact in saving millions of lives.

In conjunction with the award ceremony, the 8th Dubai International Conference for Medical Sciences that commences on December 15 will witness 12 workshops on diverse topics such as drug discovery, targeted therapy, cell therapy and vaccines. The conference will continue until December 17 with the participation of a galaxy of international medical experts.