Qatar

My relationship with Qatar began in a rather serendipitous way. I was preparing to attend the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh while participating in a Saudi biotechnology accelerator. I published a LinkedIn post about the trip, praising the Kingdom’s ambition. Someone I had never met saw it and contacted me. He was Professor Said Dermime, a medical researcher at Hamad Medical Corporation and a Clinical Professor at Qatar University. His message was simple: “You should come to Doha instead. This is much better for you.” That was all.

I was buying my flights at the time and thought: why not? I booked the journey through Doha. Qatar was, and remains, a major aviation hub, so the detour was remarkably simple. I met Professor Dermime at Hamad Medical Corporation for what was meant to be a short meeting. It lasted for hours. I have kept returning ever since.

What I found was a small country with an understated but formidable ambition: an exceptionally modern and integrated health system; one of the region’s pioneering population-based genome programmes; universities and research institutions of genuine regional importance, including one of the Arab world’s leading universities; and national strategies that are unusually clear about both ambition and execution. Qatar’s scale is not merely a limitation. It can make coordination between research, clinical care, government and industry more achievable.