Prof. Rafia Obaid Ghubash holds a doctorate from the University of London (1992), specializing in the epidemiology of mental illness, and she is the first qualified Emirati psychiatrist. She was the first woman to serve as president of a regional university; she assumed the presidency of the Arabian Gulf University in the Kingdom of Bahrain between 2001 and 2009.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Khalifa Award for Education in the UAE, and the founding body of the World Future Council in Germany. She is a Professor and Consultant Psychiatrist at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at UAE University. She has written several research papers and reviews published in numerous specialized scientific journals, and a number of books in Arabic and English.
She has a distinct role within many regional and international university committees, professional associations, and civil action organizations, in addition to her extensive participation in many specialized international scientific conferences. She is also a member and chair of several specialized professional scientific committees at the World Health Organization, and in regional and international research and study centers. This is in addition to her membership in the High-level Advisory Panel for Human Development Reports at the United Nations Development Programme, chairing the British General Medical Council, and the Clinicians Committee of the Overseas Doctors Association in the United Kingdom.
Prof. Rafia Ghubash has received many awards, including: the Rashid Award for Scientific Excellence in 1988 and 1992, the Al Owais Research Award in 1992, 1994 and 1995, the Umm Al-Mu’minin Women’s Association Award, the Datamax Award in 2002, and the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences 2003–2004, as well as other awards in honor of a journey full of efforts that succeeded in achieving tangible change in various fields and in the status of women in particular.
She is considered one of the most prominent cultural and human rights activists interested in enhancing the status of Arab women and empowering them to obtain their rights. It is worth noting that Prof. Rafia Ghobash is also the founder of the Women’s Museum, the House of Creativity, and other cultural and heritage initiatives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.