WCMC-Q Researchers Answer Thousand-Year-Old Date Palm Question

The magazine of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar

Published by the Office of Public Affairs Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar

DeanJavaid Sheikh, MD

ViCe Dean for aDMinisTraTionHavva S. Idriss

DireCTor of PubliC affairsNesreen Al-Refai

Qatar Chronicle is produced by the Office of Public Affairs

eDiTorKristina Goodnough

ConTribuTing WriTersEmily AlpChris Gibbons

PhoTograPherJohn Samples

ProDuCTion ManagerMohanad Khouri

Design anD ProDuCTionThe Office of Public Affairs

HIGHLIGHTS

Uncovering the Gender of the Palm WCMC-Q Researchers Answer Thousand-Year-Old Date Palm Question

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News StoriesNews and events involving life at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

DALM Brings Scientists From All Over The WorldThe first ever international research conference hosted by WCMC-Qs biomedical research program in Doha.

Neurogentetics In ActionAdvances in medical imaging have created better understanding of the functional areas of the brain.

The Nose Knows The AnswerSecrets of biological diversity and disease revealed through the genes responsible for sense of smell.

Local Lore As Told By StudentsFolklore stories carried through the generations and voiced by our students at international folklore conference.

Graduation SuccessEpidemiology record numbers of physicians celebrate commencement- our success stories and pictures.

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F or the fourth year in a row WCMC-Q de-baters won the Qatar National Universities Debate Championship.

Four teams representing first and second year pre-medical students, and first-year medical stu-dents, competed for the title at the event, which took place at the College of the North Atlantic and was organized by QatarDebate.

In the final, opposing the motion This House Believes Islamophobia is Unjustified, medical students Emad Alam and Zahra Naqvi defeated the Carnegie Mellon team.

They recognized that they had to argue that Islamophobia is justified, and that this is a really sticky subject, said Rodney Sharkey Ph.D, assis-tant professor of writing and WCMC-Q debate club coach. But then it dawned on them that they were not obliged to argue it is morally ac-ceptable. They subtracted the morality out of it and made a very persuasive argument.

As required by national final rules the students assembled their main argument in 15 minutes. They suggested that justice and morality are mu-tually exclusive ideas. Stealing food is immoral, Naqvi argued, but in a situation where there is enough food in a society and a person is starving, it could theoretically be justified. Likewise, to be Islamophobic is immoral, but nonetheless justi-fied in a world of Western media bias and terrorist activity. In the end, the students experience as debaters came to bear, Dr. Sharkey said.

Twenty teams from eight universities par-ticipated in the competition, including Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar University, Stenden University Qatar and College of the North Atlantic-Qatar. Based on accumulated speaker points and four rounds of preliminary debates, top debaters participated in a grand final.

Im happy I was able to help win the tourna-ment for my university, said Emad Alam, who is entering his second year of medical school at

New WCMC-Q Program Gives High School Students an Edge on Science

Our Debaters Reign at Inter-University Competition...

A round 30 students from six local high schools completed a three-weekend course at WCMC-Q designed to help them de-velop their interest and skills in science. The Adopt a School program comprised of biology, physics and chemistry workshops as well as fo-cused English-writing modules.

The students were really engaged and the schools appreciated it very much, said Noha Saleh, Director of Student Recruitment at WCMC-Q.

The participant schools were chosen based on the number of students they have sent to WCMC-Q in the past. Around half of them were Qatari, Saleh said, and of those all were top per-formers in the fields of math and science.

Through discussions with the schools leader-ship and Adopt a School organizers found the three areas where local students were still in need of experience hands-on laboratory skills, English writing skills and understanding the link between basic science and medicine and based the weekend workshops on these needs.

As a result, students hailing from Qatar Academy, Al Bayan School, Gulf English School, Omar Bin Al Khattab, International School of Choueifat and Debakey School of Health Sciences attended lectures and hands-on labs in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology. They were also involved in English essay writing, research writing and laboratory writing skills workshops over the three weekends.

We need to have some kind of consistent connection with the top students who are aca-demically fit to go into our program, Saleh said. Additionally, I think one of the value adds from this program is the interaction with real students and facultyour students serve as teaching as-sistants during this program and members of our faculty and admissions department worked with

the students as well. They also got a sense of the facilities we have to offer.

On the programs last day, students gathered, along with university and area high school fac-ulty, in a filled lecture hall to receive their cer-tificates of program completion and learn more about the medical program at WCMC-Q.

When you do outreach the continuity and the long-term relationship with the student is impor-tant, Saleh said. Providing this opportunity to the students is important.

Faculty and staff involved in the Adopt a School weekend programs follow: Phyllis Griffard, Ph.D., senior lecturer of biology; Sheila Qureshi, Ph.D., senior lecturer of chemistry; James Roach, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry; Dr. Amal Khidir, associate professor of pediatrics; Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Ph.D., associate professor of physics; Autumn Watts, MFA, English lecturer; Ellen Sayed, director of the distributed e-library; Adrienne Gibbons, director of admissions; Sally Birch, information services librarian; Ross Bowron, manager of information services; Maha Mourtada, informa-tion and references technician; Amani Majid, re-search specialist; Syed Ahmed Hasnain, senior physics lab assistant, and Saad Laws, informa-tion and references service technician.Emily Alp

Noha Saleh, Director of Student Recruitment

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WCMC-Q, and who also won the best speaker award at the championship. We were up against some really strong teams, but we held our nerve and delivered our best when it mat-tered most.

Debate helps you think on your feet and iden-tify the most pertinent arguments relevant to the given scenario, he continued. Medicine at the end of the day is about patient satisfaction and patient satisfaction is achieved through thought-ful, effective, doctor-patient communication.

The rewards of participating in debate are many, Dr. Sharkey said, including overcoming shyness and gaining confidence through public speaking. Over the past four years, club par-ticipants have enjoyed both public and personal success.

Emad and Zahra have always been good speakers, Dr. Sharkey said. I can see that they now also know exactly what they need to do to get their point across.

...Then go on to Compete at World Debate Championship in Botswana

F our members of the WCMC-Q debate team traveled to the World University Debate Championship at Botswana University in Gaborone. Joined by their coach, Rodney Sharkey Ph.D., assistant professor of English at WCMC-Q, the students tested their skills against students from prominent universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.

The great benefit of attending the world championship is that our students get first-hand exposure to the quality, intellectual ca-pacity, and the drive and determination of the best students from the best universities around the world, Sharkey says.

The students debated on everything from quotas in national sports teams to accommo-date ethnic minorities to the recent banking crisis. While there were no first-place finishes, the WCMC-Q team was grateful to have a chance to rise to the high standards of inter-national competition, and enjoy the reward of new friendships.

The major benefit to us and to WCMC-Q, says Emad Mansoor Alam, first-year medi-cal student, is the sheer amount of new friends we made, and the degree to which we

promoted WCMC-Q to the world university community.

Other students were pleasantly surprised by the strong presence of education, science and research in Qatar, and showed great inter-est in visiting Education City. We exchanged e-mail addresses and Facebook contacts to stay connected with each other.

The four members of the WCMC-Q de-bate team: Emad Mansoor Alam, first-year

medical student, Zahra Naqvi, first-year medical student, Lina Abdul Karim, second-year premed student, and Mutie Ullah Ahmed, second-year premed student, were chosen to attend based on their performance over the course of the year in debates amongst members of the WCMC-Q debate team, and debaters from other uni-versities throughout Qatar.

Emily Alp

The WCMC-Q debate team showcasing their trophies

Zahra Naqvi and Emad Alam along with WCMC-Q english Dr.Rodney Sharkey claim the prize after winning the Qatar National Universities Debate Championships

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First Year Medical Students Present at Middle East Writing Conference

Lab Safety Program Sponsored by WCMC-Q W CMC-Q held a workshop in laboratory safety for educa-tors throughout Qatar.

James Kaufman, founder and president of the Laboratory Safety Institute and a former col-lege chemistry professor, shared

strategies and techniques for developing effective laboratory safety programs with more than 90 secondary school teachers and other educators in Qatar at the day-long workshop. The workshop provided specific training in lab

F our WCMC-Q students gave a talk at the Middle East-North Africa Writing Centers Alliance (MENAWCA) conference in Sharjah, UAE. Abdelaziz Farhat, Navid Iqbal, Afaf Osman and Prashanth Venkatesh, all first-year medical students, gave a presenta-tion entitled Developing a Peer Tutoring Program Within a Medical School: The Tutors Perspective. The students joined dozens of speakers and hundreds of attend-ees to explore the importance of and evaluate techniques related to peer-based writing programs.

In this region, the concept

of a peer consultation program and writing center is new, said Autumn Watts, coordinator of the WCMC-Q writing center and the executive secretary of MENAWCA. Our students demonstrated that a

writing center is just as necessary and critical in a medical school as it is in other universities.

The students presentation highlighted the key writing skills necessary to approach and mas-ter essays and assignments at every stage of their medical school careers at WCMC-Q. They also shared their personal experiences as peer consultants; what they thought it would be like and how it actually turned out to be.

I expected a teaching job, said Farhat, in his part of the presenta-tion. I thought I would be doing something like what an English TA would be doing, but we learned that a consultant is different from a tutor. We can show them what they did wrong and what they did right, we can help them talk through writers block, but we can-not take the paper from them.

Attendance by liberal arts col-leges was high compared to those dedicated to the sciences, but Watts said the writing center is imperative to the success of medi-cal students in completing essays and applications throughout their careers. She also said experience gained as a peer consultant en-hances the development of any

student, and medical students especially.

Students learn about social navigation; empathy while ex-ploring the challenges of differ-entiating between personal and professional lives -some of these people are the tutors friends, Watts said. In particular, doctors need to know how to listen; this is very important. They are not there to tell, they are there to guide, to listen, and to be a mirror to re-flect back.

In addition to giving their pres-entation, the students attended sessions, including the new Middle East North Africa Writing Center Tutors forum, which saw them building contacts and sharing infor-mation with tutors and consultants throughout the region.

We met about 30 other con-sultants and discussed how to set up appointments, the nuances of different languages, and dealing with training, said Osman. And we made sure wed stay con-nected through a MENA forum on Facebook.

Watts said that the 15 peer consultants at the WCMC-Q writ-ing center meet every two weeks to discuss their experiences with students and brush up on skills.

Peer consultation is all about writing, languages, thinking, revis-ing, improving, she said. People think that learning and writing are a linear process: a to b and turn it in. But writing is a non-linear process, actually, an open-ended process.Emily Alp

Afaf Osman presents at the conference

Prasjanth Venkatesh and Afaf Osman at the conference

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safety measures and resources for the participants to share with colleagues.

In the United States, the ac-cident frequency in schools and colleges is 10 to 50 times greater than in the chemical industry, said Kaufman who worked early in his career as a research chemist with the Dow Chemical Company, where he became increasingly in-volved in laboratory safety related activities.

A more comprehensive two-day version of the workshop was also provided to health safety security environment (HSSE) professionals, researchers, and administrators in Qatar.

Both workshops were organized by Thomas Doyle, WCMC-Q direc-tor of environmental health and safety.Kristina Goodnough

James Kaufman shared his strategies for having a safe work environment

Jim Overhiser, Ph.D., from Cornell Universitys Center for Nanoscale Systems Institute for Physics Teachers helped local high school teachers Bindu Abraham,

Mini Levi Kurian and Ann Abraham with an experiment involving solar cells

Local High School Physics teachers Solange Jarjour, Haba Amr and Ayoub Al Kerfan engage in an experiment involving solar cells

Making Physics More Fun for Local StudentsW CMC-Q is loaning science equipment to high school teachers to help them psych up their students about physics.

The equipment, which includes tiny cars, pendulums, springs and weights, among other items, is used in interactive lectures and experiments on the fundamental concepts of physics.

We used the equipment in workshops with the teachers, says Syed Hasnain, senior physics lab assistant at WCMC-Q. But we want to help them when they get back into their classrooms, and loaning these labs and the equip-ment is a way to do it.

Hasnain has been working with staff in Cornells physics depart-ment, including Dr. Phil Krasicky and Jenny Wurster, to maintain quality standards, Hasnain says.

The labs relate to different top-ics. To explain Newtons Third Law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, the experiment involves two carts to explore fric-tion and drag. The students will learn how these concepts play out in front vs. rear breaks and a pendulum will model conservation of energy. Some labs relate more directly to medicine. One example, bicep muscle tension, demon-strates the physics of arm move-ment using a mechanical model.

We not only lend materials to the teachers, but also visit the classrooms and help demonstrate the experiments, says Hasnain.Emily Alp

Local High School Physics teachers Bindu Abraham and

Mini Levi Kurian engage in an experiment involving solar cells

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W CMC-Qs biomedical re-search program achieved a significant milestone in March by hosting its first international research conference in Doha. The event highlighted scientific work underway at the medical college and in the country.

The XVII DALM Symposium brought together scientists, physi-cians and other health care prac-titioners to present and share the latest research on the causes and treatment of diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, which are major public health challenges in Qatar, the Gulf Region and the world.

More than 100 scientific ab-stracts were presented at the

symposium, which was hosted by WCMC-Q and Qatar Foundation. It was co-chaired by; Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCMC-Q; Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., dean of Weill Cornell Medical College; and Dr. Rodolfo Paoletti, president of the Giovanni Lorenzini Medical Foundation.

We are helping implement the vision of her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser to build a knowl-edge-based economy in Qatar, said Dr. Sheikh in his presentation. Qatar contributes 2.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to research and development, an amount comparable to that spent by the United States, but well in excess of the 0.2 percent of GDP

spent by other countries in the Middle East Region.

During the symposium, Dean Gotto and Dr. Sheikh moder-ated the discussion Challenges of Diabetes, Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome: Implementing Therapeutic Strategies in the Middle East.

Other Weill Cornell faculty mem-bers who spoke at the symposium included; Dr. Ronal Crystal, chair-man of the Department of Genetic Medicine; Dr. Alvin Muslin, chair-man of the Department of Public Health; Dr. Francesco Rubino, as-sociate professor of surgery; Dr. Louis Aronne, clinical professor of medicine; Dr William Borden and Nanette Laitman, Clinical Scholar in public health (prevention and womens health).Kristina Goodnough

WCMC-Q Brings DALM to the Middle East

Dean Javaid Sheikh presents at DALM

DALM gather scientist from all over the world in Doha

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Snapshots from DALM

Among the distinguished guests and participents: H.E. Abdullah

Al Qahtani, Misnister of Health, Dr. Mohamad Fathy

Saoud, President of Qatar Foundation, Dr. Hanan Al

Kuwari, Managing Director HMC, Dr. Antonio Gotto,

Dean of WCMC, and many others from Qatar and the

international medical community

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T o share and update per-spectives on diseases that greatly impact local and global health, researchers recently gath-ered at WCMC-Q to participate in a Cardiovascular Research Symposium. The symposium, which lasted one day and featured eight lectures and a discussion session, covered vascular disease as related to diabetic conditions, heart conditions and related mo-lecular factors, and hypertension at the molecular level.

Despite improvements in di-agnosis and treatment, cardiovas-cular disease will remain a major contributor to morbidity and mor-tality both globally and locally, said Chris Triggle, Ph.D., confer-ence organizer and professor of pharmacology at WCMC-Q. There are several reasons for this, not least of which is the global pan-demic of obesity and diabetes and the impact that these co-morbidi-ties have on cardiovascular health.

The prevalence of both obesity and diabetes is particularly high in

Qatar and all of the Gulf states, he continued. So we do need to educate the public as to the risks and also provide advice on pre-vention and treatment.

In addition to talks by ex-perts in molecular physiology, biochemistry, physiology and bio-physics from WCMC-Q and Qatar University, the symposium featured perspective from two visiting lecturers, Balwant Tuana, Ph.D., faculty of medicine at the Ottawa Heart Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada and Alexander S. Clanachan, Ph.D., professor, department of pharmacology at the University of Alberta, Canada.

There is a tsunami of obe-sity that will eventually affect

The link between the global obesity pandemic and cardiovascular disease is highlighted at the Research Symposium

Alexander S. Clanachan, Ph.D., professor, department of pharmacology at the University of Alberta, Canada

WCMC-Q Associate Professor of Biochemistry Nasrin Mesaeli

Balwant Tuana, Ph.D., faculty of medicine at the Ottawa Heart Institute

There is a tsunami of obesity that

will eventually affect all

regions of the world

Experts in Cardiovascular Health Present Cutting-Edge Research

all regions of the world with an increased prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Dr. Triggle said.

The symposium offered rich research perspectives from the forefront of cardiovascular disease research to those who attended. And everyone had a chance to pose questions and further clarify points during a closing discussion with the experts.

What became evident during the symposium is that we do have a strong and growing nucleus of cardiovascular research scientists here in Qatar, Dr. Triggle said, and the event also helped cement ideas for collaborative projects.Emily Alp

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S cientists in Qatar and the re-gion, the United States and Italy gathered in Doha recently to share the latest findings on brain development and malformation and strategies to improve diagnosis and treatment of affected individuals. Congenital brain malformations affect an estimated two percent of the population worldwide and pose a significant health care challenge for families and communities, said M. Elizabeth Ross, M.D., professor and vice chair of neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College in the US, who organized the Neurogenetics Workshop 2011 with colleagues at Shafallah Medical Genetics Center and Hamad Medical Corporation.

Among our major goals for this workshop are increased aware-ness of brain malformations and improving the precision of diag-nosis. These are necessary steps toward finding better ways to manage disabilities and seizures that can occur in these conditions, said Dr. Ross, who discussed cur-rent understanding of the major molecular and cellular events of early brain development at the workshop.

In recent years several genes related to epilepsy have been iden-tified, said Hatem El-Shanti, M.D., director of the Shafallah Medical Genetic Center and co-organizer of the conference, who discussed ge-netic causes of seizures in children at the workshop. The Middle East is an important area of research in this field because the popula-tion is unique. The frequency of consanguineous marriages in the

region increases the incidence of congenital or inherited disorders in the population which, in turn, in-creases the likelihood that causa-tive gene changes leading to the disorder can be identified.

Advances in medical imaging have helped to identify functional areas of the brain, said Dr. James Barkovich, professor of radiology at the University of California at San Francisco. We have a much bet-ter idea of what part of the brain is doing what, said Barkovich, who discussed the latest advances in imaging in relation to the diagnosis of brain malformations.

A variety of imaging tools and the growing knowledge of genet-ics is improving our understand-ing of the underlying causes of

brain malformations and helping find new genes related to the dis-orders, according to Dr. William Dobyns, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.

Better understanding of the functional areas of the brain has helped to improve treatment for disorders related to brain malfor-mations. For example, it is now possible to surgically remove cer-tain areas of the brain to treat cas-es of epilepsy that dont respond well to medication, said Dr. Renzo Guerrini, professor of child neurolo-gy and psychiatry at the University of Florence, who discussed genetic causes and presentations of sei-zures in children.

Other speakers at the work-shop included Dr. Hussein Kamel,

senior consultant in radiology, Dr. Mahmoud Fawzi Elsaid and Dr. Khalid Ibrahim, senior consultants in pediatric neurology at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr. Alice Abdel Aleem, director of the neu-rogenetics laboratory at WCMC-Q, and Dr. Tawfeg Ben Omran, head of clinical and metabolic genetics at Hamad Medical Corporation.

The conference allowed par-ticipants to discuss strategies for optimizing brain imaging and the management of seizures and of other medical issues commonly encountered in patients affected by these disorders. Conference participants were invited to bring their most challenging cases for discussion to advance diagnosis.Kristina Goodnough

M. Elizabeth Ross, M.D., professor and vice chair of neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College in the US, discusses the latest findings on brain malformations and and their implications

Advances in Medical Imaging have helped to improve treatment for disorders related to brain malformations

Brain Malformations in Focus at Neurogenetics Workshop

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A crucial piece of information which will greatly facilitate additional genetic studies as well as cultivation and propagation.

Our evidence shows that date palm employs an XY system of gender inheritance similar to that of humans, says Joel Malek, director of the genomics lab and senior author of the study, which was published online by the journal, Nature Biotechnology. How date palm gender is determined has been a question for thousands of years with numerous theories presented in

the past. We now have the first DNA sequence evidence that it is under genetic control though the gender control region appears quite small, making its discovery difficult, he adds.

Date palm is a dioecious species, that is, individual plants are either male or female. Consequently, half of the seedlings grown for cultivation will be males and half will be fe-males. Female trees bear the fruit, making them much more valuable than male trees, which serve only as pollinators. Early identification

WCMC-Q Researchers Answer Thousand-Year-Old Date Palm Question WCMC-Q researchers have identified a region of the date palm genome linked to gender, making it pos-sible for the first time to quickly and easily identify male and female trees.

Joel Malek, director of the genomics lab and senior author of the study, with his team, from

left to right: Eman Al-Azwani, Yasmeen Salameh, Binu George and Yasmin Mohamoud

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of the more valuable female trees is difficult because it takes about five to eight years for female seedlings to bear the distinguishing fruit.

A simple and reliable way to distinguish be-tween male and female seedlings has long been sought not only for agricultural purposes but also to promote basic date palm studies, which have been hindered by dioecy and long genera-tion times, says Malek. Two years ago, he and WCMC-Q colleagues sequenced a draft version of the date palm genome.

The WCMC-Q research team cooperated with the Biotechnology Center at the Ministry of Environment in Qatar which provided date palm samples to support their research. Identifying the genes related to specific date palm char-acteristics will certainly help us find solutions to problems faced by date palm plantations in Qatar, especially as far as diseases affecting date palm trees are concerned., said Masoud Al-Marri, Director, Biotechnology Center, Ministry of Environment.

This research will also explore the unique characteristics of the date palm tree such as its tolerance to salinity and high temperatures, and ways of making other plants tolerate such extreme conditions by genetic modification, i.e. transferring genes from date palm trees to other plants, he added.

The date palm represents a treasure of genes that can help other plants and trees survive harsh conditions. We would like to thank WCMC-Q

team for their valuable research, and we look forward to more cooperation between the medical college and the Biotechnology Center at the Ministry of Environment, he added.

This research will definitely benefit both ag-riculture and environment sectors. It will make it possible for the first time ever to quickly and easily identify male and female date palm trees, saving a lot of time and effort. This scientific breakthrough is an example of how we can har-ness modern technology for the advancement of science, he concluded.

This project will contribute to a more com-plete understanding of the date palm genome which, in turn, will provide tools for investigat-ing useful traits, such as disease resistance and salinity tolerance, says Robert Krueger, horti-culturist with the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates, who provided samples of backcrossed date palms for the research.

The WCMC-Q research used samples that were part of a date palm breeding program carried out in California from 1948 to 1974 and incorporated them into a national reposi-tory, which maintained the lines as part of a mission of conservation of genetic resources, says Krueger, who served as curator of the col-lection. The repository is operated by USDAs Agricultural Research Service.

Use of the back crossed males greatly sim-plified our research because it gave us access to pure lines of male date palms, says Malek. Varieties of dates are notoriously hard to iden-tify, even by experienced growers.

This project also validated the genetic iden-tity of the backcrossed males, as well as female varieties maintained in the US against same-named varieties from the Middle East. This reinforces the integrity of the collection after being maintained for many years in several dif-ferent locations, says Krueger.

The date palm plays a significant role in ag-riculture throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa and Pakistan. The fruit is a major source of nutrition in the areas and the tree itself plays an important role in the development of sustain-able agriculture in many drought and saline-affected regions of the world. References in the Quran have kept alive the use of dates for medicinal purposes over the centuries.

Joel Malek, director of the genomics lab at WCMC-Q and senior author of the research project

This research will also explore the unique

characteristics of the date palm tree such as its

tolerance to salinity and high temperatures, and

ways of making other plants tolerate such

extreme conditions by genetic modification

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T he nose isnt something we usually asso-ciate with cutting-edge genetic research. But to Dr. Ben Shykind, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, and researcher at WCMC-Q, the genes that give us our sense of smell, olfaction, are the basis of an entire field of research into biological diversity and disease.

Odorant receptor (OR) genes compose the largest gene family in the whole genome, Dr. Shykind said. Almost five percent of our genes are odorant receptors to the order of a thousand genes.

As smells waft into the nose they pass by mil-lions of specialized cells -olfactory sensory neu-rons- that work in concert to identify whats in the air. This process is critical to food foraging, mating, and survival across the animal kingdom; in humans it is more an aesthetic sense, giving us the pleasure of tasting a meal or smelling a flower.

The key to detecting a range of smells is that each sensory neuron cell differs from its neigh-bor, and only one OR gene, out of the thousands in the genome, will be chosen for expression by that cell. This makes for thousands of different types of nerve cells, and how this happens is a mystery thats creating a hot zone of genetic research.

Random Regulations

The entire genome is sequenced, and re-searchers now know the genetic locations re-lated to many diseases. So investigators like Dr. Shykind are onto the next big question: cell for cell, what drives genetic diversity?

You can think about it like a piano, he said. If I go to play a piano with its 88 keys, I can only play chopsticks. But somebody else can ap-proach those same keys and play a Beethoven piano sonata; something incredibly sophisticat-ed. I am interested in how those combinations occur. This process has an element of random-ness to it, and this is likely linked to a field called epi-genetics; whereas genetics is the identity of the notes on keyboard, epi-genetics is how the keys are played.

On a basic level it gets to questions of what makes us human, what gives a cell a particular identity, and what generates biological complex-ity. On a medical level, all of these processes have to work correctly to generate good health.

As important, or maybe more important, than the genes one inherits, Dr. Shykind said that the basic causes of complicated diseases such as cancer are really problems of how the gene expression is regulated: turned on or off. In many cancers, for instance, the genes responsi-ble for keeping cells in check are randomly shut off; leading to the appearance of cancerous cells that no longer obey signals to stop their divisions into a tumor.

How do you turn genes on when they should be on, turn them off when they should be off and keep genes that should never be on from turning on? Dr. Shykind pondered. Something thats benign can turn into a cancer if its aberrantly regulated, so really its about gene regulation.

With something so important as cell integ-rity on the line one would think gene regulation would be left to something more predictable than chance, but Dr. Shykind suggests wed lose

How Does the Nose Know?

Dr. Ben Shykinds research team is Reem Shawar, Bassel Saksouk, and Dr. Atef Sayed

Scientists are discovering that a seemingly random gene selection process de-termines a lot of what we smell, and understanding it could reveal secrets about biological diversity and disease.

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more than we gain as higher species if gene selection is fixed.

The same way that you can role a die, with its limited number of sides, to randomly gener-ate an outcome, he explains, the cell appears to be able to harness randomness and constrain it to generate diversity for the increased sophis-tication of life.

An amazing example of this is the immune system. You can take a comparatively small number of gene segments that make up the antibodies [key players in the immune response] that float around in our blood, shuffle those around and create antibodies for things weve

never, and maybe never will, come in contact with. In doing this, we make this enormous antibody army to fight against almost any pos-sible threat. That is a very good example of the body using randomness to outsmart the world of pathogens.

An Evolutionary Perspective

Dr. Shykind oversees three studies into ol-faction at WCMC-Q and is currently involved in several research projects to address two key questions: how is the randomization process initiated during the choice of an OR; and once chosen how is the expression of that unique selection maintained for the life of the nerve cell?

So to begin to understand cell diversity, we look into one of the most intriguing examples of gene choice in biology, Dr. Shykind said. Not only does each neuron pick one gene, but it picks it from only one of the two chro-mosome copies; we have chromosomes from mom and dad, but only one will get to be used in this case. Now were down to half the genes we had, and theres a random component to it.

One effective way to explore the mechanisms of random OR selection is to look at the evolu-tionary differences in gene selection across or-ganisms. Simple organisms like flies and worms display less randomized gene selection, and some organisms, like frogs, which have double the number of chromosomes as humans, may use more complicated modes of random gene choice.

Dr. Shykind is taking advantage of this double chromosome number in frogs as he oversees a project entitled Monoallelic Gene Choice in Xenopus laevis and tropicalis, run by second-year medical students Reem Shawar and Bassel Saksouk, and funded by the Qatar National Research Funds Undergraduate Research Experience Program.

The project explores OR gene selection dif-ferences between two species of frogs carrying two and four copies of each gene in their ge-nomes. In studying how the genes are selected in an extreme case -where the options are doubled- Dr. Shykind and his team hope to gain clarity about random selection as it relates to the human genome, and help shed more light on this intriguing area of genetic research.Emily Alp

Dr. Shykinds work focuses on olfaction in mammals and amphibians. This diagram

details the different odor-sensitive areas in the sinuses of a mouse that are responsible for sensing different kinds of smells. One can think that there

are actually several noses within the nose. An image of the olfactory epithelium of a genetically altered mouse, demonstrating

that sensory neurons in the noseseen here as green or pink specklesexpress a single

copy of the unique receptor they choose.Olfactory nerve cell fibers, or axons, with colors based on the different receptors they

express, converge behind the nose in a brain area known as the olfactory bulb.

How do you turn genes on when they

should be on, turn them off when they should be off and keep genes that should never be on from

turning on?

14 ouTreaCH

ouTreaCH 15

Sharing tricks like the voice changing properties of helium balloons, Foundation Program students shared fun facts with high school students to pique their interest in science and medicine and possible career in health care.

Most of the 22 visitors from Amna Bint Wahab School in Doha knew inhaling helium from a bal-loon raises the pitch of ones voice, as Fatima Al-bagali demonstrated to the group. Few, however, were aware that another gas, sulfur hexafluoride, has the opposite ef-fect until Fatima and Foundation Program colleague Wadha Almarri showed a video of a man inhaling some of the gas and speaking in a deep voice like Darth Vader.

The demonstration made the visitors much more receptive to learning the related scientific prin-ciple (the weight of each gas and resulting resistance on the vocal cords).

They also appreciated hearing from students only a year or two ahead of them, and jumped at the opportunity to ask questions about chemistry, the Foundation Program curriculum, and the aver-age day of a WCMC-Q student.

Students find talking to some-one their age easier and much more comfortable because we think in the same way, rather than someone older who wont always get what they mean, said Wadha, herself a recent graduate of Amna Bint Wahab High School.

The visitors were treated to a tour of the colleges cutting-edge facilities, demonstrations of the Clinical Skills Center, and a workshop on their applications to the medical college. But most agreed that the chemistry talk was their favorite part of their day at WCMC-Q.

We were delighted to have Fatima and Wadha speak to

potential future students, said Noha Saleh, director of student recruitment. It is great to see our students reach out to their younger peers and share their experience. Events such as this are among the many ways we extend a helping hand to students in Qatar to assist them with their decision to study medicine at WCMC-Q.

Wadha and Fatimas presenta-tion during the school visit was suggested by Sheila Qureshi, Ph.D., senior lecturer of chemistry in the Foundation Program.

The students created the pres-entation as a classroom assign-ment, Qureshi said. It was so well done that when a presenter was needed for upcoming school visits,

she recommended it as a fun dem-onstration where the visitors could interact with their peers.

Class schedules prevent the Foundation students from meet-ing high school visitors during the school year, but both Wadha and Fatima generously gave up part of their winter break (twice) for this presentation, and previously for students of the Al Bayan School for Girls.

I was glad to do it. I thought it would be helpful to give them an idea of what Cornell students are like. I wanted to show them how learning could be fun and that its not only about memorizing books, said Fatima.Chris Gibbons

Foundation Program Students Share Science Fun with High Schoolers

16 ouTreaCH

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar held Medicine Unlimited, its annual recruitment fair, on campus for the first time in March. The event gave high school students and their families a first hand view of the colleges state-of-the-art facilities as well as a glimpse of science and medi-cine and the possibility of a career in health care.

The interactive event intro-duced prospective students to WCMC-Q faculty, who shared sim-ulations and demonstrations that explained the workings of genes, molecules and the human body. Staff members from the Office of Admissions and Student Affairs were also available to discuss the requirements for entrance to, and success at, WCMC-Q.

Students were welcomed to the event by Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean

of WCMC-Q. We want to give you first-hand information about our pre-medical and medical pro-gram at WCMC-Q, and let you see for yourselves what the Education City campus and our school offer. WCMC-Qs six-year program of studies leads to the M.D. degree from Cornell University.

We want high school students to gain an awareness of the many potential careers the fields of medicine and science can open up for them. We also want them to see our facilities, which are truly world class, said Noha Saleh, director of student recruitment. Our goal is to highlight the ex-cellent program we offer here in Doha.

At tables lining the academic wing of the WCMC-Q building, faculty members, and WCMC-Q students shared some insights

into medical science with the high school students.

At one station, Phyllis Griffard, Ph.D, senior lecturer in biology, introduced students to genetic engineering by explaining how bacterial plasmid DNA is cut into fragments and separated using a technique called gel electropho-resis. Students were able to go into the biology laboratory with senior biology lecturer Christopher Ogden Ph.D. to see the technique in operation, and try their hand at using pipettes to load gels.

At another table senior chemis-try lecturer Sheila Qureshi, Ph.D., and James Roach, Ph.D, assistant professor of chemistry, used bal-loons to help students understand the shape of molecules; an im-portant first step in being able to discuss and predict their chemical properties. Students were given

balloon models of methane, a gas produced and exported in abun-dance by Qatar.

WCMC-Q medical students helped explain the functioning of the human body using medi-cal models and mannequins, and faculty physicians discussed their specialties; ranging from psychia-try and neurology to pediatrics and geriatrics. At the end of the day, a quiz show allowed students to test their knowledge and win prizes.

Our goal is to introduce pro-spective students to WCMC-Q in a fun and relaxed atmosphere, said Chris Triggle, Ph.D., profes-sor of pharmacology and assistant dean for admissions, who served as master of ceremonies for the event.Kristina Goodnough

Opening Our Doors To Showcase World Class FacilitiesMedicine Unlimiteds Recruitment Drive Held at WCMC-Q For the First Time

Medical student Salman Al Jerdi leads a group demonstrationDr. Basim Uthman discusses the intricacies of reading on x-ray

T wo lucky Qatari high school students will soon be jetting off to the USA after winning the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar annual Healing Hands Essay Competition.

Faten Faisal Aqeel, an 11th grade student at Al Bayan Independent School, and Fahad Hamad Al Marri, a 12th grader from Al Shahanya Independent School, were each awarded the top prize a Doctor of the Future Scholarship for present-ing very creative entries in the an-nual essay competition organized by WCMC-Q for the fourth year.

The prize includes an all-ex-penses-paid trip to Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City to spend time in WCMCs research facilities and learn from their world-class physicians and researchers. Students will be introduced to basic research lab techniques and work as members on the big research teams in one of the most prominent labs in Cornell New York.

Presenting the awards Dr. Javaid I. Sheikh, dean of WCMC-Q

said, This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these young stu-dents, where they get early expo-sure to the world of cutting-edge biomedical research. Our hope is that opportunities such as this will inspire more Qatari students to consider careers in the healthcare and research professions.

Many students wrote about their dreams of becoming doctors to serve the country and to provide all the support during the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Others wrote about how to provide the finest health care to Qatars guests and to be prepared for the huge number of people expected to visit Qatar in 2022.

My essay was inspired by Qatars rapid development in all areas that have paved the way to win the World Cup in 2022, said Aqueel whose essay focused on strategies and refinements to Qatars health care system to help prepare for potential outbreaks of disease stemming from the coun-trys high influx of expatriates and visitors.

Al-Marris essay discussed the ambitious plans Qatar has set for hosting the World Cup in 2022 and the emergency measures he would take as a future doctor to ensure a safe event. I am honoured to have won this competition and to have the opportunity to learn from the worlds most highly respected and qualified physicians.

In addition to the two top winners, honorable mentions went to Heitham Saad Al-Suwaidi (Cambridge School),

Achieving the Dream

CoMPeTITIon 17

Two Qatari students win scholarship to New York City

Dana Abdullah Al Jufairi (Global Academy),Maryam Mohammad Saeed Abdulla (Al Bayan School), Ahmad Majed Al Malki (DeBakey School), Sahrifa Mohammed Al Marri (Amna Bint Wahab School), Shaikha Omar Al Misned (Al Khor Independent School), Khalid Hamad Al-Marri (Al Shahaniya Independent School), Maryam Abdulrahman Al-Abdulla (Al Bayan School) and Radoa Abdulla Al-Ansari (Al Ieman School).

High school students from all across Qatar took part in the con-test, from Doha to outlying schools such as Ash Shamal municipality, and from government, independ-ent, and international schools alike. The youngest participant being just 14 years old, Shaikha Omar Al-Misned from Al Khor International (Community) School.

I would like to thank all the students participating in the com-petition who, in my view, represent some of the best future national capacity of Qatar. The selec-tion committee was particularly pleased with the ideas, motiva-tion and creativity of these young essayists and we hope to see most of them pursue a career in medicine in the near future, said Noha Saleh, WCMC-Q director of student recruitment.

Winners Faten Faisal Aqeel and Fahad Hamad Al Marri with Dr. Javaid Sheikh

A pril saw the release of the second volume of a col-lection of essays by WCMC-Q medical students, entitled Qiraat: Readings from the Students of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, 2001-2011. The publication is not only a chance for students to share their thoughts on literature, medicine, psychology and sociol-ogy, but is also a testament to the investment WCMC-Q makes into well-rounded, successful physicians.

On a very practical level, nu-merous studies have shown that doctors who understand and who can effectively communicate with their patients have higher success rates in persuading patients to take their medicine, to return for follow-up care, and to establish longer health partnerships with their health care provider, all resulting in improved health outcomes, wrote Alan Weber, assistant professor of English and Qiraats managing edi-tor, in the books opening remarks.

As with the first edition of Qiraat, pre-medical and medical students were invited to submit es-says to the book as part of the col-leges Best Essays Contest. Class of 2011 graduate Tasnim Khalife won this years contest for her es-say A Scrutiny: The Role of the Face on Identity. Under a different panel of judges from the Knight Institute, Khalife won the contest in 2008 as well.

To have impressed two differ-ent sets of judges with her writing abilities obviously speaks to the uniqueness and clarity of Khalifes voice, said Weber.

After reading an article by Lucy Grealy -a woman whos face and childhood were distorted by

Student Essays Highlight Importance of Communication in Medicine

18 CuLTure

Above first prize winner Tasnim Khalife

Below: Dr. Rodney Sharkey discusses this years winning submissions.

In addition to being a means of humanizing the profession, these essays

represent important documents that contribute to the evolution

of health care

CuLTure 19

disease and who dedicated her life to writing about it-Khalife said she wanted to explore the idea of how a face relates to ones iden-tity. I realized that Grealys plight revolved around her disfigurement, but ironically it was this same dis-figurement that defined who she was, she said.

Second-year pre-medical stu-dent Mutie Ullah Ahmeds essay won second prize as an analysis of a pressing Gulf social issue en-titled Aliens in the Desert: Social Isolation of Migrant Populations in the Middle-East. Hiba Sheikh, a third-year medical student, won third prize for her essay A Mothers Munchausen Mischief.

We need to recognize our pa-tients as people with life experi-ences, who may also have social and emotional problems that need to be addressed in a more holistic manner, Khalife said. I think that writing helps medical students early on to preserve the humanity in their job, and not just label a patient as case x or disease y.

In addition to being a means of humanizing the profession, Weber said that these essays represent important documents that contrib-ute to the evolution of health care.

Citing an article by Dr. Muhamed Baljevic (class of 2010 gradu-ate) entitled Body Packing and its Implication in Qatar, Weber said that some essays indicate a responsibility that students in the medical professions have to other members of the health care community. Dr. Baljevics article

explores the mode of drug traffick-ing in the Gulf that involves inges-tion of narcotics; a lethal activity on many levels.

If you come across a new case and it has relevance to your col-leagues, you really have a responsi-bility to write that up into an article and publish it in a journal, so that

other medical professionals are alerted, Weber said. With this publication, were excited to show examples of how writing is actually used in the medical profession.Emily Alp

Pre-med student Mutie Ullah Ahmed discusses his second prize winning submissions on labor issues in the gulf

WCMC-Q Dr. Pablo del Pozo has first prize winner Tasnim Khalife autograph his copy of Qiraat

The three prize winners Tasnim Khalife, Hiba Sheikh and Mutie Ullah Ahmed with faculty advisors

Ian Miller, Dr. Rodney Sharkey, Dr. Krystyna Golkowska, Dr. Alan Weber and Dr. Pablo del Pozo

20 CuLTure

Students Join Research Project to Preserve Local LoreF our WCMC-Q student inves-tigators recently traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, to present their research in progress at the Societ Internationale dEthnologie et de Folklore (SIEF) conference. The conference, held every four years, drew more than 900 anthropolo-gists, ethnologists, folklorists and others interested in storytelling and its social impact.

The student research team -comprising four WCMC-Q stu-dents and five Qatar University students- spoke about their

project, entitled Voices of Memory: Oral Stories and Folktales of Qatar, involving the discovery, transcription and trans-lation of local lore. This is one of the most comprehensive efforts of its kind to date in Qatar.

I was researching Qatari folk-tales and found that there were no English collections, said Autumn Watts MFA, writing lecturer at WCMC-Q and faculty lead on the study. We want to see what is out there and provide quality English translations.

The study, involving WCMC-Q students Hiba Al Ashtal, Yasser Al Samman, Mei Elghindi and Rana El Maghraby as well as Qatar University students Tariq Ahmed, Hind Al Sowaidi, Kholoud Saleh, Majdelden Mohamed and Mazin Mohamed, will include at least 27 stories when complete, compris-ing a bilingual English and Arabic anthology. Faculty from WCMC-Q Ian Miller, MFA, writing lecturer, and Watts, join Amy Hamar, an English instructor at QU to over-see the study.

While translating stories from one language to another might seem commonplace, this pro-ject presents an extra challenge in terms of interpreting Arabic across the many Qatari and re-gional dialects, and decoding ide-as from their Arabic context into meaningful English equivalents, Watts explained. Furthermore, students will be challenged to take a living, dynamic oral perfor-mance and translate it effectively into a written text.

These stories are organic and passed down through families so of course they change along with the storyteller and the way that its performed, thats as important a part of the folktale as the story itself, Watts said. Folktales are living documents, theyre organic and theyre shifting.

When you take something and you record it and translate it, she continued, you are detaching it from that context; its like some-one saying I want to preserve my hand so let me cut it off and stick it into formaldehyde that way

it will stay that way forever. The best way to preserve these sto-ries is to keep them alive, to keep retelling them.

A doctors ability to respond effectively to patients depends on interpreting their described conditions, lifestyles and family histories. Thus this folklore study requiring listening skills, social sensitivity, and learning how to build rapport offers many useful skills to medical students involved. The students addition-ally gained much insight from presenting at an international conference.

We presented our work to people who didnt even know what or where Qatar was, said Rana El-Maghraby, a pre-medical student at WCMC-Q and member of the research team. We met people from totally different back-grounds and got to know more about their unique research, and

this experience encouraged us to work more on the project so we can share it with other people.

As a social research project, the study contributes much to the understanding of life in Qatar and how many peoples and traditions have influenced its culture over time.

This project gives a lot of insight into Qatar, Watts said. These are stories that contain moral values. Theyre also teach-ing tools as they are intended for different ages; for instance, in some families, some stories are only told to women after they are married.

As an English speaker, I think theyre wonderful, she contin-ued. Ive found them fantastic, they illuminate the culture and give insight into the history. Some of these stories contain details that are not indigenous to Qatar, like grasslands, wolves and lakes, and this reflects a past for fami-lies who didnt originate here, they came from somewhere else.

feaTure 21

Secrets of the DhubT hanks to researchers, we now know a little more about an admired member of Qatars wildlife community.

Mostly unnoticed by city dwellers, spiny-tailed lizards, called dhubs or dabs in Arabic, are long-standing residents of Qatar. The large reptilesmales average about 1.5 kiloslive in burrows throughout the desert and are a popular sight for nature lovers venturing out into the desert.

Except for the knowledge that they survive extreme temperatures, scarcity of water and lack of vegetation, details of dhub behavior have largely been a mystery. Scientists are beginning to uncover the facts about how they cope with such pressures, and have adapted to human de-velopment of their natural habitat.

Until recently, the dhub was thought to be strictly herbivorous, says Renee Richer, Ph.D, assistant professor of biology at WCMC-Q, and co-author of a study entitled First evidence of scavenging behavior in the herbivorous lizard Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis (in press at the Journal of Arid Environments). The study showed that the animal is actually a scaven-ger, known to eat meat and insects in times of scarce vegetation.

Aurora Castilla, a biologist at the Forest Technology Center of Catalonia in Solsona, Spain, and the National Museum of Natural Science in Madrid, Spain, led the study in col-laboration with Richer. Other collaborators were; Anthony Herrel, of the Museum of Natural History in Paris; April Ann Torres Conkey, of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar; John Tribuna, of Qatar University; and Mohamed Al-Thani, a second-year medical student at WCMC-Q.

The study involved examining hundreds of samples of dhub feces, which not only told the story of what they ate, but also of how extreme-ly variable their food choices became.

There were times of year when we were finding nothing but small bits of grass and twigs; they were surviving on the most meager scraps that they could find, Richer says. But then we

found one sample that had a minimum of 19 spe-cies in it. So when times are good, the dhub is out there eating.

Richer said that these findings may also show the dhubs reliance on dead carcasses along the road, which weaves human development firmly into the web of study for biologists; along a man-made road one species tragedy becomes anothers banquet.

The relationship between the dhub and humans is complex and that is something wed

really like to understand better, Richer said. Is human development having a negative impact, or are we in fact somehow inadvertently aiding the population?

Richer is working now with collaborators to secure resources for population and continued behavioral studies of the dhub.Emily Alp

The relationship between the dhub and humans is

complex and that is some-thing wed really like to

understand better

A Spiney-Tailed Lizard or Dhub roams the desert of Qatar

22 feaTure

T hrough WCMC-Qs partnership with Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, medical students have a unique op-portunity to experience rounds at a world-class sports facility.

I think if your society is going to embrace a lifestyle where sports is a key, nutrition is a key and wellness is a key, then you need physi-cians to be well informed and educated in these respects, said Aspetars director general Dr. Mohammed G.A. Al-Maadheed. And I think

this partnership between our organization and WCMC-Q can really produce these kinds of physicians.

The first sports medicine facility in the region, Aspetar incorporates the latest technology, including rooms that can be set at pressures to simulate altitude changes, and treadmills that reduce the gravitational pull on an athlete as they run. In 2008, Aspetar was accred-ited as a Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) medical center of excellence.

From left to right: Mohammed Al-Hijji, Dr. Mathew Wilson, sports cardiology specialist at Aspetar, and Mohammed Ali Babi explore the results of an atheletes electrocardiograph

As they drive across Doha to the pristine, sunlit build-ing, they cross the divide between treating illness and exploring the potential of the human body.

Med Students Venture into the Upper Limits of HEALTH

feaTure 23

From left to right: Aspetars director general Dr. Mohammed G.A. Al Maadheed

Mohammed Ali Babi and Mohammed Al-Hijji prepare an athlete for an electrocardiograph

Dr. Bruce Hamilton, chief of sports Medicine at Aspetar consults with WCMC-Q medical students Mohammed Ali Babi and Mohammed Al-Hijji

The professionals at Aspetar take athletes and help them optimize their condition, said Amer Homsi, a fourth-year medical student. Seeing this happen made us appreciate all the tiny details that go into having what we would call a model of physical fitness.

Aspetars nearly 500 staff membersinclud-ing sports physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists, psychologists, podiatrists, dietitians, radiologists, dentists and internal medicine practitionershail from about 50 countries. They work with elite athletes as well as members of the community in the realms of sports medicine, rehabilitation, research, and community health screenings and programs.

Medical students spend five days out of their primary care clerkships at Aspetar, visiting vari-ous units each morning and attending lectures in the afternoons. They learn through this brief time there that the sports mentality is conta-gious; that doctors benefit from working closely together with each other, and the patient, as a team.

You have to understand that you need to approach anything in this world as a team, you

should know your limitation of knowledge, said Dr. Al-Maadheed. You could be a leader of a team but that does not mean that you know all the answers.

The physical therapist is probably the best opportunity for students to learn differ-ent skills they will need in this area, added Bruce Hamilton MD, chief of sports medicine at Aspetar. Because they deal directly with the patients for long periods of time they think a dif-ferent way, they talk a different way, and this opens students to a different approach.

Many students say that the experience at Aspetar shed new light onto what sports medi-cine isbeyond running onto a playing field and applying ice to a players injuryand how it could contribute to their practice of medicine, regardless of their specialty.

As he sets his sights on internal medicine and a cardiology fellowship, WCMC-Q class of 2011 graduate Mohammed Al-Hijji said his experi-ence at Aspetar provided new insights into heart health that will contribute to his perspective. I learned how cardiology applies to sports medi-cine, including hands-on practice with valuable

screening techniques, he said. Working at Aspetar has been a great opportunity at a state-of-the-art hospital.

We try to engage the students as much as possible in showing them the broadest spec-trum, said Dr. Hamilton. From trying to manage the athlete with the common cold and minimize their time to play, right through to diagnosing a complex knee injury. In terms of managing an injury, we want the physicians to realize that its not about putting the situation to rest. Its about having options for best outcomes, and picking and choosing ways to approach the condition.

Homsi said he was glad to have visited Aspetar, after all of his other rotations, so that he could see the specialties in a more integrated way. He also said the experience made him want to live a healthier life, a decision that will doubt-less affect his approach to patients.

Experiencing the world of sports medicine gives students the idea that not only are you re-moving a disease, but you are also promoting a much higher level of physical, mental and social living, Dr. Al-Maadheed said.Emily Alp

24 newS

Curriculum Under Spotlight As Doha And New York Discuss ReformW CMC-Q faculty, staff and students stepped away from the campus on February 5 to take an objective look at the cur-riculum and to see if there was any room for improvements. This scru-tiny coincided with similar work underway at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

This is a day for us to think about where we have been, what we are doing right now, and what we could be doing in the future, said Dr. Lyuba Konopasek, as-sociate dean for medical educa-tion, who organized the day-long Medical Education Curriculum Retreat at the Ritz Carlton, Doha. Our curriculum is not merely a set of learning objectives for our students, it is the golden thread

that helps to define us as a com-munity of teachers and learners. It is something we experience and share as well as the tool we use to create outstanding physicians of the future, she continued. If two heads are better than one, then we have just added 65 heads to the conversation taking place in New York.

Why curricular reform now? Because the time is right, said Dr. Carol Storey-Johnson, senior associate dean for education at Weill Cornell Medical College, who attended the day-long retreat and described the reform effort under-way in New York.

The conversation began last year, after WCMC-NY received accreditation for eight years, and

the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching released its call for reform of medical edu-cation. Another impetus for the discussion is the challenge posed by the creation of new medical schools.

Ten years ago, there were about 125 medical schools. Now they number about 133, said Dr. Storey-Johnson. They have the advantage of creating their cur-riculum instead of inheriting it. We need to stay competitive and figure out how we can we can transform our traditional structure to meet new challenges.

The last major transformation of medical schools followed the re-lease in 1910 of another report by the Carnegie Foundation. Based on

Dr. Carol Storey-Johnson, senior associate dean for education at Weill Cornell Medical College

makes her case for reform

Dr. Lyuba Konopasek, associate dean for medical education at WCMC-Q

newS 25

From top to bottom, left to right: Dr. Mary Anne Baker, director

of assessment and academic achievement, Dr. Ziyad Mahfoud, assistant professor of public health,

Dr. Nady Mohamed, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology,

Dr. Dietrich Busselberg, director of the human structure and function,

Dr. Marcellina Mian, professor of pediatrics, Deema Al-Sheikhly,

manager of graduate medical education, Dr. Mohamed-Ali Babi,

WCMC-Q 2011 graduate, Dr. Ravinder Mamtani, associate dean

for global and public health and associate dean of admissions and

student affairs at WCMC-Q

the recommendations by Abraham Flexner in that report, medical schools transformed from largely unregulated, for-profit schools, into the university-based system that exists today. It was the Flexner Report that established two years of basic sciences, followed by two years of clinical skills, as the model for most medical schools.

The 2010 report by the Carnegie Foundation includes the following key strategies:Standardizelearningoutcomes

and individualize the learning process

Integrateformallearningwithclinical experience

Develophabitsofinquiryandimprovement into medical education at all levels

Focusontheprogressiveformation of professional identity

There is very little room in our current curriculum for individual-ized learning, and there is not much time for mentoring, said Dr. Storey-Johnson. The point is to create a curriculum that would welcome students interests, so they can get their core competen-cies while exploring areas that interest them.

To consider reforms in line with the findings, Weill Cornell Medical College established a new educa-tion committee to work with the dean and faculty. The committee will make recommendations about possible changes to the curriculum and their implementation.

At the retreat, WCMC-Q faculty, staff, and students broke into small groups to discuss different ele-ments of the curriculum, and made recommendations about areas that work well, and those that could be improved.

The most important message I bring is about our interest in engaging you to help us with our curriculum reform. I cannot tell you how much we have learned from

you about how we need to be flex-ible about curriculum and context, said Dr. Storey-Johnson, address-ing the faculty and students of WCMC-Q.

Collaborations between faculty in Doha and New York will con-tinue to address common curricular themes while focusing on curricu-lar topics specific to the needs of the region, said Dr. Konopasek. Kristina Goodnough

26 GraduaTIon

T he air was filled with ex-citement and pride as 31 WCMC-Q graduates crossed the stage to receive their U.S. medi-cal degrees. Family members and WCMC-Q faculty reflected with Cornells leadership and students on the many achievements over the past six years and the prom-ise of this class future impact on health care.

Congratulations to the class of 2011 of WCMC-Q, said Dr. Mohammad Fathy Saoud, President of Qatar Foundation. We applaud their determination and hard work. Their accomplish-ments and the increasing size of the graduating class are evidence that we are making real progress toward our goal of building a knowledge-based society in Qatar.

As they move ahead in the medical profession, they take our commit-ment to excellence in education and research with them beyond our borders, out into the world.

Our graduates achievements over the past six years inspire awe and foreshadow the deep impres-sion they will make on humanity into the future, said Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCMC-Q. In ad-dition to personal achievements, as a class they were able to ac-complish so much more, traveling to developing nations to serve communities in need, and col-laborating with Hamad Medical Corporation, the Supreme Council of Health and Reach Out to Asia, locally, to institute local programs that have and will positively impact countless lives.

The spirit of collaboration is alive in our students and has been exemplified by our dedicated fac-ulty and staff as well as the Qatar Foundation and all of our partners,

to whom we express our deepest gratitude, Dean Sheikh continued.

I would like to once again acknowledge the leadership and support of His Highness Sheikh

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar Celebrates CommencementA Record Number of Physicians Celebrate Success

Dean Javaid Shiekh, M.D. Carl Migally, students speaker

Mahrukh Rizvi, Vijaytha Rathnam and Grigori Ostrovsky prepare for the processional

Jawad Al Khafaji, Aba Al Kaabi and Hasan Aldailami: the Hippocratic Oath

graduation 27

The class of 2011 poses with from left, Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCMC-Q, Dr. David Skorton, President of Cornell University and Dr. Antonio Gotto, Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College

Dr. David Skorton,President of Cornell University gives his remarks to the class

Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, chair of the Qatar Foundation, said Cornell President David Skorton, M.D. They have been visionary in their aspirations for the people of Qatar, and most generous in their com-mitment to Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar and our partners in Education City.

Highlighting not only the unprec-edented size of the class, but also the strength of its members and the curriculum, President Skorton said: These graduates have been extraordinarily successful in find-ing their next opportunities as residents and research fellows. Some of them have elected to stay in Qatar for residency programs with Hamad Medical Corporation or to pursue research fellowships. The 23 WCMC-Q students who sought residencies in the U.S. were matched to some of Americas best teaching hospitals.

To achieve so many excel-lent placements in the U.S. is a

testament to the high quality of the WCMC-Q program and to the ex-ceptional talent and commitment that the graduates have brought to their medical education.

Dr. Antonio Gotto, Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, expressed gratitude to the students and supportive members of the community. We are grate-ful to you and your families for entrusting your education to us. We would also like to thank the faculty and staff of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, as well as the Qatar Foundation and Dr. Fathy Saoud, for making this day possible.

The new physicians number 18 women and 13 men. Qataris are the largest national group within the graduating class, and 16 other nationalities are represented in the classAlgeria, Bahrain, Bosnia, Canada, Egypt, France, India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mauritius, Qatar, Russia, Syria, and the U.S. Among them, they speak 11 languagesArabic,

English, French, Bosnian, German, Spanish, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil and Creole.

While they have excelled as individuals in many areas, they have benefitted from the varied

backgrounds and perspectives, as well as the diversity of skills and experiences found in the class as a whole, President Skorton said.Emily Alp

28 STudenT newS

Match Day Brings Great News to WCMC-Q Medical Students

T here was great news for members of the Class of 2011 of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar when many of the students applying to residency programs in the U.S. learned where they will go for specialty training after graduation.

WCMC-Q students were ac-cepted into residency training programs at some of the best teaching hospitals in the United States, competing success-fully with graduates of American medical schools, said Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCMC-Q. This is the largest graduating class and the best match in the history of our school.

Twenty-three WCMC-Q stu-dents were matched to U.S. teach-ing hospitals to begin the next phase of their medical careers. They have selected a broad range of specialty programs, ranging from surgery, radiology, neurol-ogy, and obstetrics/gynecology

to internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, and family medicine. The students matched to residency programs at Johns Hopkins, NewYorkPresbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Case-Western, Vanderbilt University Medical

Center, Rochester General Hospital, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, Rochester General Hospital, and the University of Connecticut Health Center, among others.

This is an extraordinary achievement for this group of young people, said Lyuba Konopasek, M.D., associate dean for medical education. Its also a great accomplishment by the entire WCMC-Q community which helped the students get to this point.

There are 32 graduating stu-dents in the Class of 2011, the largest graduating class in the his-tory of the medical college. The graduates who do not go onto to residency programs in the United States may stay in Qatar for residency programs with Hamad Medical Corporation or pursue re-search fellowships.

Match Day takes place annually in the United States on the third Thursday of March. It is the day when students in medical schools across the country who are apply-ing for residency training programs learn the name of the hospital where they will receive advance training in their medical specialty.

The assignments are made by a non-profit organization, the National Resident Matching Program, using a computer algo-rithm to align the preferences of students with those of the resi-dency programs. Students submit their residency choices, and the participating hospitals rank their preferred resident candidates. Sophisticated software does the matching, and the results are delivered to medical students simultaneously.

The class of 2011 medical students celebrate the announcement of the medical and research facilities where they will continue their education as residents

Dean Javaid Sheikh applauds the work of this years graduates

newS 29

WCMC-Q Project Wins UREP Competition

A ccording to World Health Organization statistics, tu-berculosis (TB) incidence in Qatar is among the lowest worldwide. Yet, this figure does not reflect the status of migrant workers in the country. With the support of a Qatar National Research Fund Undergraduate Research Experience Program grant, stu-dents at WCMC-Q are working with Hamad Medical Corporation to explore the perceptions and ex-periences of infected workers and promote health care and preven-tion along these lines.

Because TB is usually a disease of the poor and unfortunate, its important for students to be in-volved not only as a health care ex-ercise, but as a chance to reflect on economic factors and the stress of the situation, said Dr. Abdul Latif Al Khal, head of the communicable disease unit at HMC and National TB Program manager. We need to consider the living conditions beyond the disease itself, and this is one of these situations where reaching out to the community will address the whole issue.

The two main aims of the stu-dent study, overseen by Autumn Watts, MFA, a writing lecturer at WCMC-Q, involve spending time

with the workers who are patients at HMCs TB clinic in order to write narratives about their experience, and surveying the wider commu-nity of migrant workers about their perceptions of TB in order to tar-get factors that might delay their treatment.

We are trying to gauge how long workers go undetected, said second-year medical student Marwa Saleh, who is one of four student researchers involved in the study. This can be for cultural rea-sons or for not understanding the disease.

Saleh said that the experience in the clinic can vary greatly for each worker. Some can suffer great stress due to a guilt they feel at not sending money to their families in their country of origin, and this can impact whether or not they would encourage others to report the dis-ease at all.

The sensitive economic com-plexities of their employment here means that the repercussions of TB extend beyond physical health, and can impact the migrant workers entire life and their familys lives, Watts said. In this case, narra-tives can be critically important for understanding the patients perspective and experiences of

their own disease, and we aim to provide a safe space for workers to tell their stories. We believe these stories will help health and outreach staff better understand the populations they are trying to help.

In addition to the students involved in the research project second-year medical students Maryam Ayaz, Abhyudaya Joshi, Rahima Sanya and Saleh mem-bers of the WCMC-Q student Global Health Club are working in an outreach capacity to help edu-cate and uplift those in the clinic. They have so far supplied the clinic with games and activities and are working to teach the patients to be leaders in their communities, to educate other workers about TB and the risks.

We played charades and games with them, Saleh, a founding member of the Global Health Club, said. We were all laughing and the response by those on the out-skirts was what is that laughter where is that coming from? the sound of that much laughter was new to them.

The students are working with faculty at WCMC-Q and the staff at the Communicable Disease Clinic to start English-teaching

modules at the clinic as well as other educational programs for the workers while they are inpatients.

Its not the easiest disease to deal with, Al Khal Said. The stu-dents have shown a lot of interest and its really great of them, its encouraging to see this.

This project exemplifies the heart of UREP in that its en-tirely student driven, Watts said. Marwa approached me about her ideas for this project two years ago, and then independently con-ducted her own pilot study in the TB isolation clinic.

This is an essentially humani-tarian and holistic project, and I think further social outreach is a natural extension of that, Watts concluded.

Students Work to Tackle TB Incidence Among Workers in Doha

M edical Students won first place in an an-nual competition sponsored by the Qatar National Research Fund for the projects it funds through the Undergraduate Research Experience Program.

Sanah Sadiq, Abdulhadi Al Saei and Arnab Chowdhure won first prize for their research pro-ject Down Syndrome in Qatar: A

Survey of Public Perceptions and Educational Resources. Their pro-ject, which was supervised by Dr. Pablo Rodriguez del Pozo, associate professor of public health, surveyed families and individuals in Qatar about the genetic disorder and people who suffer from it. The stu-dents learned that people are gen-erally aware of the cause of Down Syndrome, and often believe those

with the condition will misbehave and are unable to lead independent lives.

The students, accompanied by Dr. Rodriguez del Pozo, also pre-sented their research in September at the V Summer Course on bioeth-ics Teaching and Research meth-ods at the University of Zargoza in Spain.

Marwas Saleh plays cricket with one of the TB patients

during a recent visit

30 HaPPenInGS

Strong presence for WCMC-Q at Qatar Foundations

1st Research Forum

WCMC-Q promoting health care at Qatar Health conference and exhibition

Omar Baki, associate director for employment, meets guests during WCMC-Qs participation

at the Annual Qatar Career Fair

Students taking time off enjoying the International Night and Coffee House events

Gathering around forFoundation Poster Day

HaPPEningS 31

DeLib Information and Reference Services Technician Maha Al Mourtada shows Andrew Torres and Teresita Aquino of facilities how the

DeLIb system works during the Distributed Library (DeLib) of WCMC-Qs Open House

WCMC-Q employees enjoying the Ice

Cream Social event

Human Resourse Associate Director for Employment Omar Baki helps Dr. of biochemistry Moncef Ladjimi draw for prizes at the Think Green event to

raise awareness of the enviornment

Anelle Bezuidenhout enjoys ice cream. (above)

32 new faCuLTy

Dr. Johannes Graumann joined WCMC-Q in January 2011 as assistant professor of biochemistry and director of the proteomics core laboratory.

Dr. Graumann joins WCMC-Q from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, where he received post-doctoral training and served as bio-logical safety officer in the labora-tory of Professor Matthias Mann in the Department of Proteomics and Signal Transduction.

He received his Ph.D. in 2006 from the California Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on proteomics and embryonic stem cells. His work centers on enhancing current proteomic strategies by intelligent mass spectrometric data acquisition based on real-time data analysis and its application to the field of murine embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Nayef A. Mazloum joined WCMC-Q in January 2011 as assistant research professor of microbiology and immunology.

Prior to coming to WCMC-Q, Dr. Mazloum was an instructor in microbiology and immunology at WCMC in New York. He received his Ph.D. in 2003 from New York Medical College.His research interests focus on molecular mechanisms of cancer etiology, genome integrity, and DNA repair. Specifically he is interested in the

interplay between recombinases, DNA polymerases, and DNA helicases in the maintenance of genome integrity; the role of BRCA2, Rad51, Blooms syndrome DNA helicase, Rec Q DNA helicases, and DNA polymerases in homologous recombination repair; the functional analysis of BRCA2 point mutations for cancer susceptibility risk assessment; and the development of functional assays to employ in screens for small molecules as a poten-tial contribution to the development of cancer therapeutics.

Dr. Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos joined WCMC-Q in October as visiting associate professor of physics in the premedical program.

Since 2003, he has served as as-sistant professor of physics at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, where he was tenured from September 2008. He received his

Ph.D. in physics in 1996 from Syracuse University. His research interests include geometric and topological methods in field theory and statistical mechanics. He has received four funded grants since 2004, published 11 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and participated in several inter-national presentations. At CUNY, he served as a member of the CUNY-wide physics panel, the Library and Information Technology Committee of the University Faculty Senate, the Academic Senate of BMCC, the College Council of BMCC, the Student Affairs Committee of BMCC, the Instruction Committee of BMCC, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subject research of BMCC, and the Assessment and Scientific Reasoning Committee. He also served as advisor to science, engineering, pre-medical, pre-veterinary, and liberal arts majors; BMCC delegate to the University Faculty Senate; and in various committees and sub-committees that helped improve the college environment and the experience of the colleges students.

Dr. Karsten Suhre joined WCMC-Q in March 2011 as professor of physiology and biophysics and director of the Bioinformatics Core.

From 2006 until joining WCMC-Q, Dr. Suhre served as professor in the Department of Biology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. During that time, he also served as

group leader for metabolomics research at the Institute for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, German Research Centre for Environmental Health.

Before 2006, Dr. Suhre worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) as a director of research. His research inter-ests focus on metabolomics and genetic epidemiology; bioinformatics, and functional and structural biology. On these subjects, Dr. Suhre has taught multiple courses, published over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals, and delivered numerous international presentations. He is an expert evaluator for ERASMUS-MUNDUS Masters courses and a reviewer for numerous journals.