Doha, Sidra Medicine (a Qatar Foundation entity) welcomed over 650 attendees, partners and exhibitors and 50 local and international speakers, to the first day of its annual Precision Medicine and Functional Genomics (PMFG 2023) Conference.
Sessions on Day 1 of PMFG 2023 focused on large scale population genomic programs from Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Assistant Minister of Health Affairs in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Dr. Salih Ali Al Marri said that the path to precision medicine and the programs and knowledge-sharing that will be taking place in conferences like this, is evidence to the efforts being made to not only improve healthcare but to personalize it for the benefit of all.
Sir Mark Caufield, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology from Queen Mary University of London, presented the lessons learned from the 100,000 genomes project while Dr. Said Ismail, Director of the Qatar Genome Program discussed Qatar Genome becoming a national enabler of precision medicine.
The second session on Day 1 focused on the clinical research programs at Sidra Medicine highlighting the achievements and real-world impact of clinical research on genetic and metabolic disorders, cancer, fertility complications, immune dysregulation and neurological disorders.
PMFG 2023 Conference Chairs, Dr. Bernice Lo and Dr. Matteo Avella said: "Sidra Medicine has enrolled nearly 10,000 families in several of our clinical and genetic research programs. They have become integral partners in helping us understand rare diseases but also to find better treatment protocols and cures for diseases and health challenges ranging from diabetes, autism, cancer, infertility and more. The impact of this will not only help their children and aid in the management of healthcare programs across various domains, it could also be a stepping stone to a cure for future generations." For his part, Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medicine Dr. Khalid Fakhro said: "It gives me great pride to see how far Sidra Medicines precision medicine journey has come. Thanks to our key partners from the health, education and research sector and most importantly our patients and their families we have made a significant contribution to the genomic research landscape in the Arab world through several ground-breaking programs and publications of hundreds of studies in high-impact journals.
PMFG 2023 has become one of the leading precision medicine conferences in the region to share knowledge, strategies and the latest research approaches and results. Such platforms can enable concerted and stronger precision health and genomic programs. added Dr. Fakhro.
Source: Qatar News Agency