Biography:

Professor Najib Al Khaja, UAE National & born in Dubai. Professor Al Khaja passed the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1981. Professor Al Khaja specialized in Cardiothoracic Surgery from University of Gothenburg, Sweden in 1991, where he obtained the Swedish Board Degree, followed by Ph.D. in Cardiac Surgery from the same university. He was appointed by the University of Gothenburg as an Associate Professor in 1991. Prof. Al Khaja was the first UAE National Cardiothoracic Surgeon, following his return from studies in 1992. His first assignment was to establish the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in Dubai Hospital, which was accomplished successfully & the unit is a known Centre in the region. During his surgical career he performed thousands of cardiac surgery procedures of different types; Professor Al Khaja is a well-known surgeon in UAE & in the region. His tremendous input in the field has added great value to the cardiac services specifically & to the medical services in general. He had a significant role in developing new services, an example of which is the Intensive Care Units. His contribution continued when he became the Director of the Cardiac Centre, which led to significant changes & improvements in cardiac services, where new cardiology services were added to the existing ones. Prof Al Khaja is the Head of the Academic Department of Surgery and Vice Dean of the Dubai Medical College for Girls and a member of many International Societies. He is also a member of Board of Trustees of Arabian Gulf University ? Bahrain; and Board of Trustees Gulf Medical University - Ajman. He is also a member of many regional & international Medical Societies. Professor Al Khaja is the secretary General of Sheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences, a very prestigious medical award world-wide. The award plays a significant role in promoting medical activities and functions like research, conferences, courses and medical community activities. He is also the President of Centre of Arab Genomic Studies, which was established in 2005. The Centre holds the achievement of collecting & having the biggest Database of genetic Diseases in the Arab World & the 2nd biggest Data base of genetic Disorders in the world. In addition to supporting Genetic Research in the region, Prof. Al Khaja?s research interest lies in the field of cardiac diseases and genetic disorders. Prof. Al Khaja has published numerous papers related to thoracic, coronary and valve surgery and blood trauma in several international journals. Prof Al Khaja is the only National representing the TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences) from the United Arab Emirates. Professor Al Khaja is also well known for his interest in Research, having published more than 100 scientific papers & approximately 200 abstracts presented in different scientific meetings. He is the founding editor of Hamdan Medical Journal in UAE & editor in several other international journals In addition to several Awards, in 1999 Professor Al Khaja was awarded the Best Employee of the year from DOHMS and also awarded a Special Recognition Award by Dubai Excellency Award for establishment of the Cardiac Surgery Department as part of his distinguished role in the field in 2000. In 2007, he was also awarded, by H H Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nehyan, President of UAE; the UAE RECOGNITION AWARD in the field of Science & Medicine, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the Country.

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