First Qatari woman to obtain a doctorate degree in medical sciences from Qatar University

Ms. Manal Musallam Othman

This is a historic milestone for the College of Medicine, with the first Ph.D oral defense taking place in the College for Ms. Manal Musallam Othman, Director of Diabetes Education in Hamad Medical Corporation.

As a doctorate candidate of Qatar University’s College of Medicine (QU-CMED), Othman successfully completed the oral defense of her Ph.D. thesis on April 11th, 2022.

Her thesis titled “Development of a Problem and AttRibutes bAsed DIabetes self-manaGeMent (PARADIGM) intervention” critically evaluated the structure of existing diabetes self-management interventions and their impact on different levels of outcomes such as knowledge, physical activity, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and quality of life.

The Ph.D. project of Ms. Othman was supervised by Prof. Suhail Doi and Co-supervised by Dr. Suhad Daher-Nashif & Dr. Tanya Kane ( Population Medicine Department, QU Health, College of Medicine, Qatar University. ), Prof. Abdel Badie Abu Samra (Hamad medical cooperation), and Dr. Luis Furuya Kanamori (Queensland university, Australia).

The Qatar University Health Ph.D. program provides students with a broad foundation of biomedical, clinical, and pharmacy-related interdisciplinary training, followed by intensive training in advanced aspects of medical sciences, research philosophy, and modern techniques. The duration of the curriculum is four years with a total of 60 credit hours (CH) in the program of study. This is in line with numerous Ph.D. programs of highly reputable regional and international institutions. The curriculum incorporates formal lectures, group projects, research presentations, journal clubs, and writing review articles, to develop the students’ ability for critical thinking, intensive scientific writing, and problem-solving skills through research.

Ms. Othman said, “I am very proud to have received a distinguished academic degree and for being the first Qatari to obtain this degree from a doctoral program in medical sciences from Qatar University and the first to graduate from a doctoral program for the College of Medicine. I dedicate my success and distinction to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the country, His Highness the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad, who were keen to provide the best and highest academic degrees at the National University. Otherwise, I would not have been able to complete my academic career while I am a mother of six children.

I would like to thank the teaching staff at the College of Medicine and the administrative staff, headed by Dr. Suhail Doi my supervisor, for his continuous guidance.

I would also like to dedicate this distinction to my parents, family, and husband for their constant support during my studies.

Through the Ph.D. research project, I was able to lay new scientific foundations for the development of a training program for self-care for people with diabetes to enable them to coexist with diabetes.

Here, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Health Care Administration and the Research Department for facilitating obtaining approval to conduct research in health centers”.

This project outlined the importance of developing a robust DSME intervention program. This could result in increased uptake by PWD of an effective intervention that can help maintain successful DSM with consequent improvements in their quality of life. We hope this is the beginning of more achievements and success in the field.