A health campaigner, Maryam Matar has dedicated her career
to fighting genetic diseases and sits on the boards of numerous organisations
that work to protect public health. She is founder of the UAE’s Down’s Syndrome
Association and the Genetic Disease Association, the latter of which she
chairs.
A certified family physician, Matar graduated from the Dubai
Medical College in 1999 and later specialised in Community Medicine, which is
based on in-depth involvement of the practitioner with the patient’s social,
financial and psychological issues as well as health-related diagnosis and
treatment. She initiated many national community outreach programmes such as
the ‘UAE Free of Thalassemia by 2012’ campaign, and the Wellness Centre
institution.
She is deputy chairperson of Dubai Cares, a board member of
the Marriage Fund, Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation, Dubai Women
Establishment and the Canadian University of Dubai. She has also served as
director-general of the Community Development Authority, and was the first
woman to become under-secretary for the Ministry of Health.
Matar has been honoured with numerous awards for her work
over the years, including Best Healthcare Project across all Higher Colleges of
Technology campuses in the UAE in 2002, Best Community Project of the Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development (2004) and the
Emirates Business Women Award for Professional Excellence (2004), among others.
She has claimed she wears 11 different hats in one week
because of her involvement in such a wide variety of organisations.
Follow us on
