Students at awards ceremony for the 11th batch of Empower Generations Consortium.
Doha: Qatar University (QU) celebrated the eleventh round of The Empower Generations Consortium, which aims to invest in Qatari competencies in life sciences, health sciences and scientific research. It was established in support of Qatar National Vision 2030.
QU is the headquarters of the Union, which brings together more than 13 partners in the health and education sector, including The Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the official sponsor of Qatar Genome, Hamad Medical Corporation, the Ministry of Public Health, the Primary Care Center, Sidra Medical and Research Center, the Qatar Al-Qannas Association, the Qatar Falcon Genome Project, the Veterinary Medicine Center, Qatar Biobank and two international partners, namely: Research Center Fractal AI and Africa Key Research Project.
The ceremony was held in the presence of Prof. Dr. Asma Al Thani, Vice-President of Qatar University for Health and Medical Sciences, and Director of the Biomedical Research Center; a number of Vice-Presidents of Qatar University; deans of faculties of health and medical sciences; representatives from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education; Dr. Said Ismail, Director of Qatar Genome Program; and Ali bin Khatam Al Mahshadi, President of the Qatari Al-Qannas Association, in addition to representatives from the partners in Hamad Hospital, Sidra, the Primary Health Care Corporation, male and female students, professors and Qatari parents.
The eleventh round of the union started on October 16, 2022 and lasted over two weeks of training courses for boys and girls, separately, through which 35 secondary schools and 170 Qatari male and female students participated out of a total of 2,039 since the establishment of this project in 2013. In the three projects: Genomic Health, Precision Medicine and Qatar Scientists in Biodiversity, this tour concluded with an award ceremony on October 27, 2022.
In her statement, Prof. Asma Al Thani said: “I am very happy to celebrate today and to host such a large number of Qatari students interested in health and scientific disciplines. The union runs in full accordance with the sustainable development agenda. Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar University’s strategy, which seeks to invest in the new Qatari generation, increase the number of Qatari competencies and present them as a model that we are proud of on the international, regional and global scale.”
In turn, Dr. Omar Al Ansari, Vice-President of Qatar University for Academic Affairs, said: “We realise the potential of the next generation, and we are trying to fulfil our duties in training them to achieve the best for them, and to serve their country. Today, we are very happy that we have students who are interested in various health and medical sciences tracks and are able to keep up with modern health education.”
Dr. Said Ismail, Director of the Qatar Genome Program, said, “This year holds our sponsorship and our fourth consecutive participation. The course of genomics and precision medicine has attracted more than 40 students, and from here we are trying to fulfil our duties in preparing the next generation. We are pleased to guide students to the various scientific disciplines that qualify them to engage in the broad and intertwined system of precision medicine for different sciences, as it combines preventive and therapeutic genetic counselling with computer science and genomics, every student is able to find What suits his inclinations and stimulates his thinking.”
