First Qatari woman to Hold a PhD in Medical Sciences

Manal Muslim Othman, PhD candidate at the College of Medicine at Qatar University, completed her dissertation discussion on April 11, 2022; To be the first Qatari student to obtain a doctorate degree from the College of Medicine.

According to the university’s website, Othman’s message came under the title (Developing a self-management program for people with type 2 diabetes based on the scenarios of problems they face using the simulation method (PARADIGM)), and the message sheds light on patients with type 2 diabetes, which is considered a pandemic spread in all parts of the worldwide, and requires high skills for diabetes self-management, in addition to the use of medications. So far, it is not clear what methods encourage people with diabetes to self-manage the disease; Here comes the light of this message, which focused on developing a self-management program for patients to facilitate dealing with their cases.

It is worth noting that the Doctor of Medical Sciences program at the College of Medicine at Qatar University provides a foundation of multidisciplinary training related to biomedical, clinical, and pharmaceutical sciences. This is followed by extensive training in advanced aspects of the medical sciences, as well as research philosophy and control of techniques.

The study program takes four years, with a total of 60 credit hours: In line with many successful PhD programs at other regional and international institutions. The curricula include lectures, group projects, presentations, a journal club, and writing high-quality, peer-reviewed, internationally rated scientific papers; The aim is to develop students' ability to think critically, write extensively, and solve problems through research.

The graduation from the College of Medicine and the Health and Medical Sciences Sector is the first doctoral student from the Medical Sciences program; An important achievement for Qatar University, as Dr. Manal Muslim Othman is the first Qatari student to obtain a doctorate in medical sciences from the College of Medicine, and she is the first Qatari graduate to hold a doctorate from the health and medical sciences sector at Qatar University.

In a statement on this occasion, Dr. Manal said: "I am very proud to have obtained a distinguished academic degree and to be the first Qatari to obtain this degree from a doctorate program in medical sciences from Qatar University and the first to graduate from the doctoral program of the College of Medicine. I dedicate my success and distinction to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the country, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad who were keen to provide the best and highest academic degrees at the National University.

It is noteworthy that this doctoral thesis was supervised by: Prof. Suhail Doi, Dr. Suhad Daher Nashef, and Dr. Tania Kain from the Department of Public Health in the Medical and Health Sciences Sector at the College of Medicine at Qatar University, in addition to Prof. Dr. Abdel Badie Abu Samar from Hamad Foundation Medical, Dr. Louis Foria Kanamuria from the University of Queensland Australia.