Dr. Nahla Afifi, Director of Qatar Biobank, Part of QF-RDI, was elected as ESBB Councilor, at the European and Middle Eastern Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking (ESBB) General Assembly, effective November 10th, 2021. This is due to her continuous and remarkable contributions and efforts among the organization, as well as in the fields of scientific research, biobanking, and precision medicine.
This election is an achievement for all Qatar Foundation, specially the Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI), which Qatar biobank is part of, for the efforts exerted to place Qatar at the forefront of scientific research, in order to overcome local and global challenges through developing the healthcare and precision medicine fields.
Dr. Nahla is currently participating, on behalf of Qatar Biobank, in many important international conferences and events in the field of biobanking, as part of the global awareness plan about the role of Qatar Biobank, part of Qf-RDI, in biobanking, scientific research and precision medicine.
One of these latest and most important participations was Dr. Nahla’s session at the “Leaders in Biobanking Congress” on October 12th, 2021, being the first representative from the region & the Middle East, where she spoke about Qatar Biobank’s Operational Resilience Plan with the provoking period of COVID-19, including a suite of tools such as: the organizational plans (i.e., Business Plan, Business Continuity Plan, etc.), the Best Practices and Guidelines, the quality assurance Standards (CAP accreditation & ISO certification for Quality Management(9001:2105) and Information Security Management Systems(27001: 2013)) and etc.
Dr. Nahla also participated in Europe Biobank Week 2021 on November 8th, 2021 as a speaker in a session entitled "Population-based cohorts - Addressing global challenges for future generations", where she presented "The impact of Qatar Biobank on Precision Medicine Initiative “Opportunities and Challenges”.
Dr. Nahla Maher Afifi has been appointed director of Qatar Biobank since 2017 as her expertise and research lie in biobanking, biomedicine and health sciences. She also has published numerous research studies in her field of expertise. Moreover, she is a member of several prestigious international societies, including the AAA, ASIP, ISBER, and ESBB and also a member of the Organizing Committee of the International Biobanking Conference (IBCQ), which is held annually in the State of Qatar.
