Doha, Qatar, 26 June 2016 -- Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra) today announced the appointment of Dr. Abdulla Al Kaabi, the Executive Vice Chief Medical Officer of Sidra and Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, the President and Vice-Chancellor to the University of Calgary in Canada as members of its Board of Governors.

Dr. Abdulla Al Kaabi is the Executive Vice Chief Medical Officer at Sidra. Since joining Sidra in 2013, Dr. Al Kaabi has held several key positions such as Member of the Office of the CEO and Acting CMO. Under Dr. Al Kaabi's leadership as Acting CMO, Sidra has witnessed the opening of the Outpatient Clinic and the opening plan for the phasing-in of the Inpatient Services. He has also led the Pediatric Clinical Planning Group and the formation of the National Plan for Pediatric Services. Dr. Al Kaabi is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornel Medical College in Qatar.  

Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is the eighth president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary in Canada. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering and the U.S. Institute of Navigation, as well as an elected foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering. An expert in geomatics engineering and a professional engineer, Dr. Cannon's research has been on the forefront of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) since 1984 in both industrial and academic environments, and she has commercialized technology to over 200 agencies worldwide.

Speaking about the appointments, Lord Darzi of Denham, the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors and the Chair of the Executive Committee at Sidra said, "We are very pleased to have innovative leaders from the healthcare and academic sector like Dr. Abdulla Al Kaabi and Dr. Elizabeth Cannon join the Sidra board. Their appointments come at an exciting time of growth and development at Sidra. Dr. Al-Kaabi's contribution towards building the healthcare sector in Qatar will play an important role in shaping Sidra's services to the community and beyond. Dr. Cannon's guidance will be valuable to Sidra's strategy in developing our own innovation programs as well as academic pursuits and partnerships."

Nationally, Dr. Al Kaabi is recognized for his sizeable contributions to healthcare and has held several key administrative and clinical leadership roles in the State of Qatar. He established Qatar's pediatric renal transplant program and set up the country's first pediatric hemodialysis unit at HMC.  He sits on the board of Qatar Biobank and the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners, the sole authority responsible for the regulating of all healthcare practitioners working in both governmental and private healthcare sectors in the state of Qatar. In April 2016, Dr. Al Kaabi became a board member of the Joint Oversight Board of the University of Calgary in Qatar.

Dr. Cannon's work has been recognized with many national and international honors including the Johannes Kepler Award from the U.S. Institute of Navigation, APEGA's Centennial Leadership Award and the Gold Medal Award from Engineers Canada in 2013. Prior to her appointment as president, Dr. Cannon was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary.

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About Sidra Medical and Research Center
Sidra Medical and Research Center will be a groundbreaking hospital, research and education institution, focusing on the health and wellbeing of children and women regionally and globally.

Sidra represents the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser who serves as its Chairperson. The high-tech facility will not only provide world-class patient care but will also help build Qatar's scientific expertise and resources.

Sidra will be a fully digital facility, incorporating the most advanced information technology applications in all its functions. Designed by renowned architect Cesar Pelli, Sidra features a main hospital building and a separate outpatient clinic. The main hospital will initially have 400 beds with infrastructure to enable expansion to 550 beds in a subsequent phase.

Sidra opened its Outpatient Clinic on 1 May 2016 which offers outpatient services for women and children through a referral based system in partnership with other healthcare providers in Qatar. More clinics and services will be rolled out over the course of 2016.

Sidra is also part of a dynamic research and education environment in Qatar and through strong partnerships with leading institutions around the world, Sidra is creating an intellectual ecosystem to help advance scientific discovery through investment in medical research.

For more information please visit www.sidra.org.

For any media inquiries, please contact:
Farhana Coelho
T: (974) 44042176
M: (974) 74784648
E: fcoelho@sidra.org
The Communications Department
Sidra Medical and Research Center

© Press Release 2016