WCMC-Q Graduates Set to Make Medical History

WCMC-Q graduates set to make medical history

Published: Monday, 5 May, 2008, 02:54 AM Doha Time

Thirteen members of WCMC-Q’s first batch of medical graduates

By Bonnie James
QATAR is all set for a landmark achievement in its development saga when the first batch of 15 home-trained doctors graduate from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar at a grand ceremony on Thursday. “This is a moment of history,” WCMC-Q dean Dr Daniel R Alonso told Gulf Times. This is also a first for an American university to graduate medical students outside the US, he explained.
The Class of 2008 represents seven nationalities, with the Qatari flag being held high by three young women and a man, and others from countries as diverse as the US, Nigeria, India, Syria, Bosnia, and Palestine.
WCMC-Q offers a six-year integrated programme, comprising a two-year pre-medical course followed by the four-year medical programme leading to the Cornell University Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree.
The first pre-medical batch opened in fall 2002 with 27 students. Of these, 14 secured admission to the first batch of the medical programme and two came from outside.
Of the 16, only one is not graduating this week and that student, pursuing some research for now, would graduate next year, public affairs director Mike Vertigans clarified.
The graduates are preparing to specialise in select areas, ranging from radiology to surgery to teaching and research, once they complete the residency training in hospitals in the US and in Qatar.
Qatari Khaled al-Khelaifi, who decided to become a doctor after having an appendectomy as a child, plans to do a residency in surgery in Doha and the US.
“The feeling of satisfaction, that you have made a patient better through surgery, is so amazing,” said the 25-year old, who is also involved in clinical and statistical research with surgery department vice-chair Bakr Nour.
Al-Khelaifi is determined to settle and work in Qatar. “I have a goal to come back and serve my country,” he declared.
Bosnian Amila Husic, 24, who attended Qatar Academy along with fellow Bosnians Dino Terzic and Vildana Omerovic before coming to WCMC-Q, has found that as a plastic surgeon, she can influence lives of people in a unique way, both physically and psychologically.
Terzic, 25, is set to do a residency programme in neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. He hopes to combine a surgical practice with research and teaching.
Omerovic, 24, hopes her upcoming residency in general surgery in the US will set her on a career path of an academic surgeon and researcher.
Born and raised mainly in India, Ibrahim Sultan, 22, hopes to specialise in either cardiac or bariatric surgery, apart from being an active teacher and researcher. Ultimately, Sultan hopes to return to WCMC-Q to help create and build on post-graduate education and residency programmes for medical graduates in Qatar.
Palestinian Subhi J al-Aref, who will graduate with honours in research, had received a Tamayoz Award, from Harvard Medical School’s Dubai Center, in 2007 for research that has implications for organ transplants and cystic fibrosis treatment.
Al-Aref, 22, plans to do a residency in internal medicine, with an eye towards possibly specialising in cardiology.
Nigerian Ayobami Omosola, 24, who was always interested in becoming a doctor, in part because she admired her mother’s work as a nurse, prefers internal medicine.
Her next stop will be New York for residency and fellowship training. Eventually, Omosola hopes to establish a practice in an academic hospital back home.
Jehan al-Rayahi, who will represent her class as WCMC-Q’s first commencement speaker, wants to specialise in radiology, a field that combines everything she enjoys most, especially physics.
After her residency, she will return home to Doha to contribute to the progress of health care. Al-Rayahi, 22, also has found a passion for teaching, whether it is in the lecture halls or in the hospital.
Osama Alsaied, 23, plans to complete his postgraduate training in Doha and the US and return to Qatar to practice as an academic surgeon.
“What attracted me was the level of responsibility and the decision making on quick grounds, you have think on your feet,” he said.
American Sharon King, 25, had always wanted to be a family physician in a rural community. She had planned on medical school in the US until a chemistry professor suggested she consider Qatar.
“The chance for an American medical education in a foreign setting intrigued me,” she said while recalling that she has learnt so much by studying in a new culture and a new place.
King, who did her undergraduate studies at Eastern University in Pennsylvania, also saw her stint in Qatar as a chance to dispel “false impressions in the US, where so many think the outside world is scary”.
She is all set to head back to the US for residency training and eventually small-town practice.
Kunali K Dalal, an Indian who grew up in Doha, plans to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology, and hopes to return to Qatar after post-graduate training abroad. “I have a vested interest in this country,” the 23-year old said.
Pakistani American Ali Farooki, 24, hopes to teach and practise anaesthesiology, critical care medicine and pain medicine. He plans to return to Qatar after completing post-graduate training in the US.
Qatari Aisha Yousuf, 24, hopes to return and practice obstetrics/gynaecology, after residency and fellowship training in the US. “I like helping women, understanding their health and concerns,” she said.
Fellow Qatari Mashal al-Khulaifi, wishes to specialise in anaesthesiology and plans to work as a clinician, researcher and teacher, after post-graduate training in the US.
Rana Biary, 23, is attracted to emergency medicine because of the diversity in both patients and diseases. She plans to be involved in clinical teaching and would eventually like to practice at an academic hospital in the US, her birthplace.