UAEU to Provide Research and Expertise Related to Addiction Treatments and Prevention Methods
Professor Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) met with representatives from King's Health Partners (Academic Health Sciences Center) and the National Rehabilitation Center in Abu Dhabi to discuss best practices concerning addiction and psychiatric treatments and the possibility of a mutual collaboration between the UAEU, the National Rehabilitation Center and King's College London.
Professor Sir Robert Lechler, Executive Director of King's Health Partners suggested that there should be an integration between the medical and clinical services offered to addiction patients with educational services, which could provide workshops to raise awareness and disseminate knowledge as well as a mutual cooperation among the three organizations in terms of training the cadre of the National Rehabilitation Center and providing modern educational programs to elevate the theoretical and practical levels in the center. Sir Lachler also discussed the Centers approach to providing adequate psychiatric treatment for each patient case, whilst ensuring patient's privacy.
Prof. Baniyas explained briefly about the UAEU colleges, departments and latest research initiatives and developments. He stated, "The University management are very interested in organizing beneficial partnerships with different International and National organizations in order to improve the treatment services offered within the UAE. As a research intensive University of International stature, we are fully committed to providing qualified national medical professionals and conducting medical experiments and research at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences. We are also interested in establishing students exchange programs with the King’s College London to share research expertise in the field of addiction and psychiatric treatments."
Stressing the importance of the partnership among the three organizations, Dr. Hamad Abdallah Al Ghaferi, Director General of the National Rehabilitation Center said, "We have a signed agreement between the Center and King’s College London and we want UAEU which is highly renowned for its academic and scientific success to be a part of it. We seek to achieve our goals by offering addiction treatment services according to the best International practices and standards. We plan to develop the research related to addiction treatment and prevention methods as well as training the national cadre in the fields of rehabilitation, treatment, psychiatric, social, prevention and educational consultancy. We are confident that we cannot achieve our goals without this mutual cooperation."
