Cancer Care in the United Arab Emirates

This open access book is a one-stop shop for all stakeholders interested in a deep understanding of the status quo of the healthcare sector in the UAE across all of its seven emirates and various private and public health systems.The book goes through the evolving journey of healthcare policy, delivery, and innovation celebrating success stories over the years while also highlighting persisting unmet needs.
The book is authored by experts from various sectors in the UAE with representation from primary and specialist care and prevention, public health policy, regulatory affairs and reimbursement structures, clinical research, health informatics, health economics, medical education, training, and licensing. Particular topics of interest and unique to the UAE are also discussed, such as medical tourism.
The chapters address specific disciplines' challenges and provide insights into future directions and roadmaps for desired change-an overall outlook for the UAE healthcare sector for the next 50 years.
This is the first comprehensive book that addresses healthcare broadly in the UAE and is endorsed by the prestigious Emirates Oncology Society and the Emirates Medical Association.

Prof. Humaid Obaid Al-Shamsi is the Chief Executive Officer of Burjeel Cancer Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE, President of the Emirates Oncology Society, Lead of the Gulf Cancer Society, Full Professor of Oncology at the Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and an Adjunct Professor of Oncology at the College of Medicine, University of Sharjah. He is the first Emirati to be promoted as a professor in oncology in the UAE. He is also the Chairman for Colorectal Cancer in the MENA region, appointed by the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network®. He is also the only member of Lung Cancer Policy Network in the MENA region that aims to advance lung cancer research and screening globally. He is the Chairman of the Oncology and Hematology Fellowship Training Program for the National Institute for Health Specialties in the United Arab Emirates. He is the only member in GCC in the WIN Consortium which is comprised of organizations representing all stakeholders in personalized cancer medicine globally.
He is board-certified in both internal medicine and oncology from the UK, USA (ABIM), and Canada (FRCPC). He has also been awarded the FRCP (London) in 2023 and FRCP (Glasgow) in 2024. He is the only physician in the UAE with a subspecialty fellowship certification and training in gastrointestinal oncology and the first Emirati to train and complete a clinical post-doctoral fellowship in pallia­tive care. He was an assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2014 and 2017. He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles in JAMA Oncology, Lancet Oncology, The Oncologist, BMC Cancer, and many others. His area of expertise includes precision oncology and cancer care in the UAE. In 2016, he published with his group from MD Anderson the JCO paper describing a new distinct subgroup of CRC, NON V600 BRAF-mutated CRC. In 2022, he published the first book about cancer research in the UAE and also the first book about cancer in the Arab world, both of which were launched at Dubai Expo 2020. Cancer in the Arab World has been downloaded more than 450,000 times in its first 18 months of publication and is the ultimate source of cancer data in the Arab region. He also published the first comprehensive book about cancer care in the UAE which is the first book in UAE history to document the cancer care in the UAE with many topics addressed for the first time, e.g., neu­roendocrine tumors in the UAE. He is passionate about advancing cancer care in the UAE and the GCC and has made significant contributions to cancer awareness and early detection for the public using social media platforms. He is considered as the most followed oncologist in the world with over 300,000 subscribers across his social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok). In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious Feigenbaum Leadership Excellence Award from Sheikh Hamdan Smart University for his exceptional leadership and research and the Sharjah Award for Volunteering. He was also named the Researcher of the Year in the UAE in 2020 and 2021 by the Emirates Oncology Society.
In May 2024, HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, awarded him the first place in the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (NAFIS) program for outstanding leadership in the pri­vate sector across all business and medical disciplines. Beside his clinical and administrative duties, he is engaged in education and various levels of research training for medical trainees to enhance their clinical and research skills. His mis­sion is to advance cancer care in the UAE and the MENA region and make cancer care accessible to everyone in need around the globe.