Dr. Saba Al Heialy, Assistant Professor of Immunology at Mohammed bin Rashid University for Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), was granted the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Fellowship 2017 Program.

The award recognized, honors, and empowers Arab female scientists from the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Omar, Qatar, Yemen, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia whose findings have contributed to the advancement of scientific knowledge, and helped change the world for the better.

Dr. Al Heialy is an Assistant Professor of Immunology at Mohammed bin Rashid University for Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), and an adjunct professor at McGill University, Canada. She holds a PhD degree from McGill University, Canada, which is one of the top universities in the world.

During her PhD studies, she received a large number of awards and prizes for her work on the pathogenesis of asthma. Asthma is a disease that is increasing worldwide particularly in the Gulf region. There is no cure for asthma which can affect both children and adults. Another very common health concern in the Gulf is obesity, recent studies have shown strong links between obesity and asthma. These studies have suggested that obesity may be a factor to explain the difficulty of treating asthma with the common anti-inflammatory medication in this subgroup of patients.

Dr. Al Heialy’s research proposal, which will be conducted at MBRU, aims to explore the mechanism of the difficulty of treatment of this disease with steroids. She has already established a link between MBRU with national and international institutions to complete her research.

“It is a great honor to have been selected by L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science as one of the six Arab female scientists in the Middle East. This fellowship recognizes that Arab women play a significant role to the contribution of sciences and encourages women to be innovative, creative and continuously challenge themselves and society by being at the forefront of scientific research and development.” Dr. Saba Al Heialy commented on her latest accolade.

L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Fellowship supports women scientists in various fields in the region. L’Oreal-UNESCO believe in empowering women worldwide to reach their full potential. This fellowship is designed to assist women in their respective areas of research.  It is awarded yearly to six women in the Gulf region in various disciplines. This award will be critical to complete Dr. Al Heialy’s research in this area and results from this study will further our knowledge of the two common conditions (obesity and asthma) and might open a new avenue for designing new therapeutical approaches.

MBRU has adopted a policy from its initiation to support research in diseases that are common in this region particularly in women and children.