1. ARAB HEALTH MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 2015
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S
ome people are born asking too many questions” says
Professor Sehamuddin Galadari as we sit in his office at Al Jalila
Foundation in the heart of Dubai Healthcare City, where he is
the Academic & Research Advisor to HE Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg,
the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. He is looking back on his
life from his position as the first Emirati professor of biochemistry and
molecular cell biology, with a large library of published works and his
own research laboratory.
It began, he explains, with an oil can collapsing on the television
screen.A simple experiment designed to teach young viewers about
the effect of air pressure has truly stuck with the professor.“I remember
distinctly, a vacuum pump connector was placed on a gallon fuel
container, and as the air was sucked out, the pressure outside caused
the metal can to collapse…”
“I have always wanted to know how things work and why things are
the way they are.”
The course of Professor Galadari’s life could perhaps be described
as a search for a kind of natural order.A clear set of rules that guide
the world around us and can explain the inner workings of the human
body. Drawn to the natural sciences as a young man, he explains how
he was attracted by the beautiful complexity of the universe:“I realized
the significance of how complicated this universe is and how intriguing
it is that everything works so beautifully, how the physical sciences have
natural laws regulating them from the subatomic world all the way to
this magnificent universe.And how we, on earth, are really nothing but
a small blip in the greater creation that we are a part of.”
This fascination with the order of the universe and it’s grand scale
led him to study mathematics, physics and chemistry at A level in
England and endures in him to this day.While he had an interest in
treating people, his yearning to see cause and effect led him to the
bigger question of how things function from a biological perspective.
It could be argued that Galadari’s attraction to biology goes against
his fascination with the beauty and order of the universe.The worlds
of mathematics and physics have clear rules that explain behavior and
interaction within them. Biology, however, is notoriously chaotic with
many mechanisms within it being poorly or simply not fully understood.
It is here, though, that his inquisitiveness shines through.
When the professor was setting his course after his A-levels, there
was much to be known about cause and effect in biology and the rules
that govern it.“Whilst mathematics reigns in the physical world, it is
chemistry that reigns in the biological.The language of life is chemistry
and so I decided to study biochemistry.” Given his inquisitive nature, it is
perhaps no surprise that he opted for the route with more discoveries
waiting to be made, where the rules that governed were as yet
unknown.At the time, he says, the field was at its infancy.
“There was so much unknown.Appreciating biology and
understanding the mechanisms of life, it was important to understand
biochemistry.” Professor Galadari has published over 50 articles in
peer reviewed journals with much of his work being on cell signaling.
Humans, he says, communicate through speech. Sound is made through
their vocal chords and travels through the air to the ear, where it is
How Professor Sehamuddin Galadari
Has Effected Change in the UAE
CAUSE AND EFFECT
‘‘
‘‘
I have always
wanted to
know how
things work
and why
things are the
way they are.
By Nicolas White, Informa Lifesciences, Dubai, UAE
3. ARAB HEALTH MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 2015
038
converted to electrical signals and sent to the brain. Cells, however,
cannot talk and the professor dedicated much of his work into
discovering how cells are able to communicate.This work is perhaps
fitting given his striving to find the rules which govern the way the
body works.The same principles of cause and effect that were
displayed on his television screen with the collapsing oil can are
once again seen in cell signaling.
Born into a family with a centuries-old tradition of commercial
entrepreneurship and development, the medical sciences were a
significant departure. However, he knew that his young nation was
tremendously underrepresented in the sciences and that it needed
people to be ready to establish all aspects that a new nation requires.
Professor Galadari’s love and sense of duty towards the United
Arab Emirates is apparent. It shines through in almost everything he has
done since obtaining his doctorate in Britain.While many people who
choose to study abroad opt to stay, Professor Galadari says there was
never any doubt that he would return to the UAE. He describes how
he wanted to serve the country as a pioneer. If it was his inquisitiveness
that drew him to the sciences, it was this desire to help build the UAE
that led him to teaching. He returned to the country to help establish
its first medical school, the College of Medicine and Health Sciences
(CMHS) at UAE University in Al Ain.
Since his return, Galadari has continued to contribute to the growth
of the UAE through his work at the university.“My hope and my
dream” he says,“is that the next generation will be enthusiastic about
whatever they are doing.”
He speaks with great pride about having graduated a cohort of
Emirati doctors through his time at the university and explains that
few things make him as proud as when he encounters them in the
world, whether they are treating patients or speaking at conferences to
audiences of delegates from all corners of the globe.
The professor strongly believes that people pursue what they truly
love doing and believe in.“Once a person knows what that is,” he says,
“they should ensure that they uphold its professionalism and ethics and
be the best that they can be”.
This positive outlook has not come easily to Galadari. He explains
that the greatest obstacle that he has overcome in his career is himself.
Admitting that he has an “insatiable appetite for science”, Galadari
states that whilst the UAE has taken great steps in the field of scientific
research “we are still far from achieving what our leaders expect of
us”. He is grateful to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum,Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of
Dubai, for championing innovation and research, and for establishing
the Al Jalila Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to
developing medical research in the UAE.
Al Jalila Foundation is currently developing the first independent
multi-disciplinary medical research centre in the UAE.The Al Jalila
Foundation Research Centre will conduct biomedical research
addressing the predominant health challenges faced in the UAE, with a
focus on education and prevention, bringing the UAE to the forefront
of scientific research.
He acknowledges that the rapid development of the UAE’s
economy has presented many opportunities to the younger generation
outside of the sciences. Indeed, he laments the fact that the immediate
return on investment of a science degree is lower than that of, for
example, a business degree.
However, he believes with the current focus on education, research
and innovation, the future generation will realize the value and
opportunity that science provides and science shall take its rightful
place in the UAE’s knowledge-based economy.
