Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences


The Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences was established on 10 April 1999, when Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, issued the Supreme Decree No. to establish the award, with the objective of honouring scientists from every part of the world who pursue medical research that serves the larger interests of humanity.
The award recognizes the importance of scientific research in the UAE, and funds domestic health research.

Profile

All contributors to the alleviation of sufferings of patients and care for community health are eligible for the award.

The first awards

The topics of the first term, 1999-2000 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Recombinant Vaccines in Infectious Diseases, Genetics in Diabetes, Therapy in Leukemia.
The topics of the second term, 2001-2002 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Obstetrics & Gynecology, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Gene Therapy of Inherited Disorders, Pathogenesis and Therapy of Autoimmune Disorders, Apoptosis in Disease & Health. Infertility is probably the single most common ailment to afflict men and women of reproductive age. It has been estimated that the level of infertility in the community is probably one out of every seven couples of reproductive age.
The topics of the third term, 2003-2004 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Renal Diseases: Pathogenesis & Management, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Emerging Viral & Prion Diseases, Minimally Invasive Surgical Technology, Prevention & Non-invasive Therapy of Gastrointestinal Disorders. Renal disease affects people of all ages and lead to considerable distress and early death for a significant number of persons. Kidney disease appears at all ages with newborn babies being affected with congenital and genetic problems, young children developing kidney problems as a primary condition or as a complication of other disease. The elderly, especially, are prone to develop kidney problems and renal failure as their health deteriorates.
The topics of the fourth term, 2005-2006 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Molecular and Cellular Pathology of Neurological Disorders, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Biology of Aging, Cytokines in Pathogenesis & Therapy of Diseases, Pathogenesis of Hypertension. Neurological disorders are more prominent today than at perhaps any other time in history. Neurological disorders affect the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, and the autonomic nervous system. Scientists use the tools of molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology to probe into and advance in understanding the processes, which underlie neurological disorders.
The topics of the fifth term, 2007-2008 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Stem Cells Research, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Therapy in Malignancy, Molecular Therapy in Drug Targeting, Organ & Tissue Transplantation. Stem cells are one of the most fascinating areas of biology today. Knowledge in this field has advanced in the area of healthy cell replacement of damaged cells and in the area of the development of an organism from a single cell, a promising area of science leading scientists to investigate the possibility of cell-based therapies to treat disease. Scientists have hypothesized that stem cells may be the basis of treating diseases like Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and heart disease.
The topics of the sixth term, 2009-2010 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Diabetes Mellitus, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Obesity, Osteoporosis, Thyroid Disease. Many questions about development of diabetes and its complications remain unanswered. For example, not all individuals are equally susceptible to diabetes or its complications. Differences in the genetic make-up of people, and perhaps differences in early-life conditions, must account for this. Finding genes or other markers associated with the development of diabetes and its complications potentially offers avenues for improved screening, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
The topics of the seventh term, 2011-2012 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award -Neonatal Medicine, and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Fetal Medicine, Nutrition in Infants, Inborn Errors of Metabolism. Benefits of antenatal care have been recognized by most mothers, and has resulted in the decrease in incidence of neural tube defects and the fetal alcohol syndrome. Complex new technologies like extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and simple ones like the administration of surfactant resulted in increased survival of very small babies who would have succumbed to their illnesses a few years ago.
The topics of the 8th term, 2013-2014 were selected to be for Grand Hamdan International Award - Drug Discovery and for Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence - Vaccines, Targeted Therapy and Cell Therapy.
The center is working on setting up the organizing procedures for supporting and managing conferences, scientific courses and medical symposiums to highlight the award leading role in the program fields, continuous medical education programs and community services through moral and financial support to medical events held in UAE, aiming to elevate the level of medical services, developing skills of medical staff and increasing health and cultural awareness level of community members.

''Hamdan Medical Journal''

The Hamdan Medical Journal is an online-only biomedical journal that presents original research, opinions and perspectives on aspects of international medicine. The journal publishes themed issues which provide summaries and reviews to help busy clinicians keep up to date with recent research and practice. The journal also publishes original research and other articles within each issue. The journal welcomes submissions, proposals and comments from medical practitioners around the world.

Research Centre

The award is offering all financial and logistics facilities to support the scientific research process in the UAE through establishing the Research Support Center, including a selection of the best specialists, who are studying all the requests, arranging the awarding process, following up procedure of scientific research directions and recognizing scientific results for all the researches issued by educational institutions and research centers which will enrich scientific research and fill the gaps of the medical science studies and researches in UAE.