Gulf Pediatric
Critical Care
Conference

Prof. Akash Deep

UK

Akash Deep is the Director of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit(PICU) at King's College Hospital, London and Professor of Paediatric critical care at King’s College London. Prof. Deep is the Staff Governor at King’s College Hospital, London.

Prof Deep is the Chair of Scientific Affairs for the European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Society (ESPNIC). He chairs the Liver Failure Working Group for ESPNIC. He is the Chair for the Liver Failure Working group for PALISI (Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators) network. He has been the Founding Chair for the Critical Care Nephrology Section of ESPNIC.

Prof Deep is the Chair for the Science and Education Committee of Paediatric Critical Care Society (PCCS) of UK. He is the advisor to the UK sepsis Trust for paediatric sepsis and is the author of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines for septic shock in children. Prof Deep is the Chief author of the Sepsis Toolkit for management of sepsis in children released by the UK Sepsis Trust at the House of Commons.

Prof Deep has organised many national and international congresses on extracorporeal support CRRT and hosted the First International Conference of Critical Care Nephrology in London in 2023. He also was the co-Chairman for the 8th International Conference on CRRT in London and the 9th International Conference on CRRT in Orlando, USA. He was the Organising Chairman for 2019 U.K’s National Paediatric Intensive Care congress in collaboration with US’s Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (PCICS)

Prof is the Chief Editor for the official ESPNIC textbook published by Springer on ‘’Critical Care Nephrology and Renal Replacement therapy in Children’’. He is an invited national and international speaker in major Paediatric and Paediatric Intensive Care conferences.

Special interests include various aspects of management of acute liver failure especially extracorporeal support in acute liver failure in children, acute kidney injury in neonates and children, Continuous renal replacement therapy, sepsis education/awareness and haemodynamics in septic shock.

Dr. Barney Scholefield

Canada

Dr Barney Scholefield is a Staff Physician in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sickkids), Toronto, Canada and Director of Paediatric Neuro-critical care. He was previously a Paediatric Intensive Care Consultant in Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and an Associate Professor & National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinician Scientist at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Barney’s clinical and academic interests are in resuscitation science, early rehabilitation and mobilisation, prognostic uncertainty and the role of civility in healthcare delivery.
He previously led a neuro-critical care academic programme (NEUROPACK) focused on the neuro-monitoring, neuro-protection and neuro-prognostication after cardiac arrest and acquired brain injury. He is the current chair of the Pediatric Life Support Task force within the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation.

He moved to Canada supported by his wife, Louise, and his three teenage children – Beatrice, Chester and Agnes. All excited to explore Ontario and beyond by running, cycling and learning to skate to balance out the fantastic food on offer they love to taste!

Dr. Christopher Newth

USA

I was born and attended Medical School in New Zealand. I have practiced Pediatric Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine for over 40 years, some of which was spent at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California at San Francisco and some at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto where I did my residency and was on the Faculty of the University of Toronto. I am currently an Attending Physician and Director of Research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

I am actively involved in National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical research studies and in postgraduate teaching and clinical care. My research interests include pulmonary physiology and particularly respiratory function testing while on ventilatory support, development of computer-based decision support tools for pediatric mechanical ventilation for application in Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (PARDS) and diagnosis and management of both upper and lower airways obstruction.

Dr. Ecryd Abdala Elias

Brazil

Ecryd Abdala Elias, MD, MBA, is a renowned pediatric cardiologist specializing in pediatric intensive care with a focus on cardiac ICUs and ECMO. She is currently the coordinator of the Cardiac ICU at Hospital São Luiz, where she leads the team with expertise and dedication. In addition to her medical training, Ecryd holds an MBA in Health Management, enabling her to integrate clinical advancements with administrative excellence.

Dr. Joseph Carcillo

USA

Dr. Carcillo has studied Pediatric Sepsis, Septic Shock and Multiple Organ Failure since 1987 with over 400 PubMed manuscripts. He chaired national and international taskforces on the management of sepsis and septic shock up to 2018. He is presently a staff intensivist at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh and Professor of Pediatrics and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is presently Pittsburgh site PI (RL1 NICHD) for the multi-center PRECISE study of PRECision Immunomodulation of pediatric SEpsis induced multiple organ failure. He is also the PI of a grant (3R01 NIGMS) studying Immunometabolomics in Pediatric Sepsis induced Multiple Organ Failure. Dr Carcillo attained his BA at Wesleyan University in 1976, and MD at George Washington University in 1982. He completed his Pediatric Residency in 1985 and his Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship in 1987 at Childrens National Medical Center.

Dr. Marti Pons

Spain

Dr. Pons’s clinical interests include respiratory care in critical care. Active areas of re- search include mechanical ventilation, mainly focused on noninvasive ventilation (NIV). He has published more than 70 studies in indexed journals (H-index 17). In 2015 launched the third edition of the book “NIV in Pediatrics”

Dr. Pons is a member of the Respiratory working group of Spanish PICU society and ESPNIC since their very beginning. He has been actively involved in both groups partici- pating in research and leading educational projects like the Non-invasive ventilation ES- PNIC courses. Nowadays, as the former Chair of the Respiratory Section of ESPNIC is promoting the development of an international research network called RespNIC.

Detailed information in Linkedin http://lnkd.in/hP2ZFb

Dr. Ricardo Muñoz

USA

Ricardo Muñoz, M.D., serves as division chief of cardiac critical care medicine, executive director of telemedicine for Children’s National Hospital, and co-director of the Children’s National Heart Center. He oversees a multidisciplinary team consisting of critical care nurse practitioners and nurses, respiratory and physical therapist, nutritionists, social workers and pharmacists. In addition, he is an expert clinician, bedside physician and teacher.

Prior to joining Children’s National, Dr. Muñoz was at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he founded the first pediatric critical care unit. During his 15-year tenure at UPMC, Dr. Muñoz served as the head of the division of pediatric cardiac intensive care, director of international affairs for the Heart Institute, and became medical director for Global Business and Telemedicine. Previously, Dr. Muñoz successfully established the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit at the University of Miami (Jackson Memorial Hospital) where he served as its first director.

Dr. Muñoz is a leading authority internationally known for his contributions to pediatric cardiac intensive care and telemedicine, having provided nearly 4,000 consultations globally. He has written three major textbooks in the field of cardiac critical care medicine and has been the visiting professor or plenary speaker at nearly 200 venues around the world. Dr. Muñoz has published extensively on the care and outcomes of critically ill patients and is the senior author of several important articles and publications. He is also the senior editor of “Handbook of Pediatric Cardiovascular Drugs,” and “Critical Care of Children with Heart Disease, Basic Medical and Surgical Concepts,” also translated into Spanish with wide distribution in Latin America. He currently serves as a professor of pediatrics at The George Washington University School of Medicine and is the MacCutcheon Family professor of cardiac critical care medicine.
Dr. Muñoz graduated from University del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia with a medical degree, and completed his training in pediatrics at Hospital Militar in Bogotá, Colombia. Later he joined Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School to pursue fellowships in anesthesia and pediatric critical care. He continued his cardiology fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Muñoz is board-certified in pediatrics, pediatric cardiology and pediatric cardiac critical care medicine.

Dr. Ririe Malisie

Indonesia

Bio-sketch

• Senior Lecturer, Teaching Staff of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Division, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan Indonesia.
• Secretary Program of Master Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan Indonesia.
• Senior Consultant of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care, Indonesian Pediatric Collegium.

Organization

• Chairperson of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Working Group of Indonesian Pediatric Society (2017-2024)
• Member of Pediatric Acute and Critical Care Medicine Asian Network / PACCMAN (2019 – now)
• Member of Research Committee of World Federation of Pediatric Intensive & Critical Care Society (2019 – 2022)
• Member of Education Committee of World Federation of Pediatric Intensive & Critical Care Society (2022 – 2024)

Book
I have written and edited more than 10 books since 2010, mostly were teaching materials including lectures.

Research in the last 5 years
My major Yield of research were emergency and critical care in intensive care settings in low middle income country, including sepsis, PARDS dan mechanical ventilation in critically ill infant and children, also biomedical science in the Yield.

Dr. Vinay Nadkarni

USA

Vinay Nadkarni MD, MS is a Professor, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Departments of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He served as President of the Society of Critical Care Medicine 2023 and founding director for the CHOP Academy for Resuscitation of Children, and the CHOP Center for Simulation, Advanced Education, and Innovation. He has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 35 book chapters and mentored more than 150 postdoctoral fellows and physician-scientists. He has helped to lead evidence-based creation, deployment, implementation and assessment of contextualized life support training programs such as PALS, FCCS, and Stop-the-Bleed in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceana. He is currently working on new initiatives with the World Health Organizaton Acute Care Action Network (ACAN) to improve the chain of survival for the 5 most life-threatening emergencies (sepsis, stroke, road traffic injuries, cardiac arrest, and childbirth complications) that are responsible for more than 80% of deaths globally each year.

Gisela Ponce

Argentina

ECMO Specialist, ELSO Certified Instructor

⁠Member of the Steering Committee LATAM ELSO

⁠Chair of the Latin American ELSO Congress 2024/2025

ECMO LINK and ECMO Cordinator at Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (UCI35), “Prof. Juan P. Garrahan” Children's Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Jana Assy

Belgium

Dr. Jana Assy is a Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist currently working at the University Hospital of Liege in Belgium. She is the founder and former director of the adult and pediatric ECMO program at the American University of Beirut. She is a member of the SWAAC ELSO and Euro ELSO steering committees.

Prof. Arun Bansal

India

Dr. Arun Bansal is a Professor of Pediatric Critical Care at PGIMER, and the Additional Medical Superintendent of Advanced Pediatric Center, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. He did his MD in 2001 from PGIMER, India and MRCPCH in 2006 from UK. He was trained in Pediatric Critical Care from St. Mary’s Hospital, London, UK in 2006. He was a part of the team to start the first Post Doctorate program (DM) in Pediatric Critical Care in India. He has been a main guide to more than 40 MD (Pediatrics) students and 15 (DM-Pediatric Critical Care) students. His areas of interest are Neuro-critical care, ARDS, Nutrition, Simulation and Sepsis. He has published more than 150 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals. He has written more than 50 chapters in books and is a section editor in 3 books. He has completed more than 25 intra-mural projects and 8 extra-mural funded projects. Currently, he is the PI of 2 ongoing funded projects and one multi-centric project. His research papers have won many awards, both nationally and internationally. American Society of Critical Care Medicine honored him with Fellowship of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM) in February 2018 and Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health with FRCPCH in March 2019. He successfully organized the 2nd Asian Congress of Pediatric Intensive Care in Chandigarh, India in Nov 2017. Dr. Bansal has been invited as a guest faculty at many National and International Conferences. Dr. Bansal was invited as a Visiting Professor at USA and Malaysia. He was the General Secretary from 2020-22 and the Chairperson-Elect 2024 of the Pediatric Intensive Care Chapter of India. He is also the Dean of Indian College of Pediatrics 2024-25. He is the editorial board member of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Journal, and Associate Editor of Journal of Pediatric Critical Care. He was the member of International Scientific Committee of 11th Congress of the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies (WFPICCS) 2022 and the 30th International Pediatric Association Congress 2023. He is currently the International Scientific Committee member of the 12th Congress of the WFPICCS 2024.

Dr. Antonio Iranzo

Spain

International paediatric and neonatal Consultant intensivist working in several reference Hospitals in both UK and Spain, with main interest in Airway and interventional bronchoscopy in sick children and neonates. Over the last 6 years he has been the head of Complex Airway Service in General Hospital in Castellón and helped to develop several similar services in other international centers. He has directed multiple airway and bronchoscopy courses worldwide, specifically focused in neonatal and paediatric ICU environment. He is also chairs the hospital patient Safety comity in same centre. Over the last 2 years is increasing his activity as cardiac and airway intensivist in developing countries with several NGO Other interest include ECLS, difficult iv access in extreme preterms, safety and surveillance of nosocomial infections in PICU and NICU with multiple international publications on the field.

Dr. Patricia Bastero

USA

Medical Director of the Neonatal Cardiac Intensive Care, Medical Director of the Heart Center's International and Global Programs and the ECMO lead for the Cardiac ICU at Texas Children's Hosptial, academic center affiliated to Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, TX (US).
Medical degree at University of Navarra, Spain (1999) and trained in Pediatrics, Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care at University Hospital of Navarra (Spain). Doctorate in Medicine and Cardiology at University of Navarra (2000-2007). Pediatric Intensive Care medicine and Cardiac Intensive Care medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto , Canada (2007-2009, chief fellow 2008-2009). Senior registrar in Pediatric ad Cardiac ICU at Royal Children's Hsopital in Melbourne, Australia (2009-2011).
Joined Texas Children's Hospital in 2011 as CICU attending.
Professional Interests: global health and international collaboration, ECMO and simulation-based team training and system testing.

Dr. Sidra Ishaque

Pakistan

Assistant Professor, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi Pakistan, special interests and research work includes ARDS and biomarkers. Currently working on biomarkers on Sepsis induced ARDS. Am also Simulation ambassador for Pediatrics and first IPSS-INSPIRE Simulation fellow from Pakistan.She is also an Associate Program Director Pediatric Residency program and Director for Dean's Clinical Research Program. at The Aga Khan University Hospital

Dr. Ahmad Kaddourah

Qatar

Associate Professor, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar
Consultant Senior Attending Physician, Pediatric Nephrology
Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship- Program Director.
Lead Physician for Acute Nephrologic and Extracorporeal Therapies
Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
Department of Pediatrics
Sidra Medicine

Dr. Ahmad Kaddourah completed his general pediatrics residency at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, USA, in 2013. He then pursued a Pediatric Nephrology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Ohio, completing it in 2016. During his fellowship, Dr. Kaddourah earned a Master’s degree in Clinical and Translational Research from the University of Cincinnati in 2012. He further specialized by completing a subspecialty fellowship in Pediatric Acute Care Nephrology and Dialysis at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Dr. Kaddourah joined Sidra Medicine, where he leads the Acute Nephrology and Extracorporeal Therapies program. He also serves as the Program Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship. His research focuses on childhood acute kidney injury (AKI) and cardiorenal syndrome. He has published extensively in high-impact journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, and has presented his work at international conferences. He is actively involved in international AKI research consortia, including AWARE, WE-ROCK, and AWAKEN.

Dr. Abdulla Alfraij

Kuwait

Abdulla Kh. Alfraij, MD
Consultant Pediatric Intensivist
Director of Pediatric Critical Care Unit
Pediatric Department - General Ahmadi Hospital
Kuwait Oil Company (KOC)
Kuwait
Dr. Alfraij is a pediatric intensivist consultant & the director of the pediatric critical care unit
working at General Ahmadi Hospital under the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in Kuwait. He got his board certification in pediatrics from KIMS in 2015,
followed by his Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship qualification from McMaster
University, Canada, in 2019. He is one of the Founding Committee Members of Kuwait’s
Pediatric Critical Care Taskforce Group and is currently the chief of this group.
Dr. Alfraij has played a pivotal role in developing and implementing advanced treatment
protocols and guidelines, contributing significantly to the evolution of critical care practices in
Kuwait. He is involved heavily in Pediatric ICU research and is a leader of some Regional GCC studies currently in process. His publications and researches in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine focused on critical infections leading to ICU and sedation liberation in the pediatric critical care units.

Elisabetta Giacomini, CCP

Qatar

Elisabetta Giacomini is Director of Perfusion in Sidra Medicine Qatar.
She has been working in Qatar since 2018 when Sidra Medicine opened as a new pediatric and women hospital, she has been actively involved in activation and growth of the department of Clinical Perfusion working for pediatric and adult congenital cardiac surgery and ECMO services.
Elisabetta started her career as clinical perfusionist in Italy where she graduated with top marks at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2009.
She did internships in Switzerland (Lugano) and then in Ireland (Dublin).
In Dublin she was able to fulfill the required examinations and joined the College of Clinical Perfusion Scientists of Great Britain and Ireland.
In 2011 she worked in Birmingham UK at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, hub center for adult and adult congenital cardiothoracic surgery in the Midlands region.
Finally in 2012 she moved back to Dublin to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital where she was able to develop her interest and passion for paediatric perfusion.
She has participated in many international conferences both focused on ECMO and perfusion as attendee and speaker.

Dr. Abdullah Alwadai

Saudi Arabia

Consultant pediatric cardiologist and pediatric cardiac intensivist
Heart failure and transplantation and echocardiography
Director of PICU department
Director of heart transplant program, at prince Sultan cardiac center, riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Graduate medical school from King saud university in 1999, pediatric board in 2003, Ped cardiology fellowship from king faisal specialist hospital, riyadh in 2006, PICU fellowship from McGill university on 2008, Ped heart failure and transplant fellowship in 2009 and echocardiography fellowship from university of toronto, canada 2010
finished SQIL (Safety, Quality, infomatic and Leadership) program from Harvard university in 2024.

Dr. Ammar AlZadjali

Oman

Dr Ammar AlZadjali is graduated from Sultan Qaboos University (Oman) and then joined Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) and specialized in pediatric. After that joined university of Toronto in Canada and completed pediatric critical care medicine fellowship. In addition to that, he completed advanced pediatric Neuro-Critical fellowship in the hospital of sick children (sickkids).
Currently, he is the head of pediatric department in Suhar hospital (The largest hospital in the Northern part of Oman) and responsible for pediatric intensive care unit…
Specialty Interests: Pediatric refractory status epilepticus and TBIs.
Affiliations: Oman Medical Specialty Board (PICU fellowship Program), National University of Science and Technology (College of Medicine and Health Sciences), Volunteer Physician for the outreach team to other Governates.
Personal: Dr Al Zadjali is married with three children, He enjoys swimming and playing football.

Dr. Amrita Sarpal

Qatar

MD, FRCPC

Dr. Sarpal joined Sidra Medicine in February 2019 as a senior pediatric critical care attending with dual training in pediatric critical care medicine and pediatric palliative care medicine. She came from the University of Western Ontario where she had been a practicing pediatric intensivist for approximately six years.

She is the subspecialty fellowship program director for the ACGMEI-I accredited Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Sarpal is the chair of Palliative Care Network - Qatar (PCN-Q), a volunteer driven network of likeminded individuals whose passion includes palliative care and supporting patients and their caregivers at end of life. In addition, Dr. Sarpal is the deputy chair of the Clinical Ethics Committee.

Her clinical and academic interests include the overlap between critical care, palliative care, and medical education with a focus on postgraduate medical education, communication, end of life and palliative care, health care provider distress and resilience.

Dr. Ayman Ali

Bahrain

Ayman Khalil Ebrahim Ali, MBBS, CABP
Pediatric neurologist practicing in Salmaniya Medical Complex, Kingdom of Bahrain
Associated professor medical colleague, Arabian Gulf University
Member of Bahrain neuroscience association
Field of interest: epilepsy, neurogenetic and neurometabolic diseases in children

Dr. Duncan Macrae

Qatar

Prof. Duncan Macrae trained in intensive care medicine and anesthesia in Scotland, London, and Australia. He joined Sidra Medicine in 2019 from London, UK, where he was a Consultant and Clinical Director at the Royal Brompton Hospital and previously Consultant in Intensive Care and ECMO at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

He is an acknowledged international expert in his field with over 200 publications and research contributions which include several large multicenter clinical trials.

Dr. Grace Leeuwen

Qatar

Dr. Grace van Leeuwen is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar. She has more than 15 years of experience in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care, currently serving as a Senior Attending at Sidra Medicine’s Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit in Qatar, where she joined in May 2019. At Sidra Medicine, she is a member of the ethics committee and responsible for the Neonatal and Pediatric ECMO transport program.

Dr. Grace van Leeuwen is a Co- Chair of the Congenital Heart Academy. She also served as Co-Chair of Marketing and Communication Committee of the 8^th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery 2023 She is part of the editorial board of the Congenital Heart Disease Journal, and ELSO education, and was part of the ECMO working group for COVID19 at ELSO.

She has published several papers and book chapters on her field, including the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO): 2020 Pediatric Respiratory ECMO Guideline. Dr. van Leeuwen was previously employed at Sabará Children’s Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, where she held multiple positions, including Head of the Heart Center. Her notable contributions to the center include leading the development of the Neonatal and Pediatrics Cardiac and ECMO programs, making it the first ECMO center in Brazil to receive the ELSO Award of Excellence. She used her experience and expertise at Sidra, helping Sidra’s ECMO program to achieve the same Award of Excellence. She is board-certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology and Critical Care.

Dr. Gehan Mostafa Abdalla Aly

Qatar

MD

Dr. Gehan Mostafa joined Sidra Medicine in March 2018 as a senior attending physician in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). She also serves as the Physician Lead for Quality and Safety and is an active member of the Resuscitation Committee at Sidra Medicine.
Dr. Mostafa specializes in managing critically ill children, with a particular focus on life-threatening cardiac conditions and advanced extracorporeal treatment modalities, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
Before joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. Mostafa spent 16 years as a consultant in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Medical University of Vienna (MUV) in Austria. During her tenure at MUV, she developed a comprehensive follow-up program for ECMO patients after ICU discharge. In addition, as university faculty, she contributed to academic teaching through lecture series and bedside modules in the PICU.

Marina Demosthenous, CFN

Qatar

I am of Greek Cypriot origin and was born and educated in the UK.
I have been a nurse for over 30 years and have worked in ICU setting for 27 of those years, 3 years in Adult ICU, and 24 years in PICU. This has been the Birmingham Children’s in the UK, Queensland Children’s Hospital in Australia and Cyprus and now Sidra from 2018. In addition to this I volunteered for a Cardiac Surgery mission in Eritrea which was a life changing experience for me.
I was a CNL on arrival here at Sidra, seconded to the education role in PICU and eventually was appointed to the CNF PICU role in 2020. Currently I am in the process of completing my MBA at Coventry university.
I feel very proud of being a nurse and having the privilege of supporting, opportunities to help families and their children to navigate through traumatic times. Nursing has allowed me the privilege of appreciating my own life, my family’s life and the amazing instances of being around human kindness.
Nursing has allowed me to feel that we make a difference and that we also make a meaningful significant contribution to society and have always felt personally valued.

Dr. Prabhakar Nayak

Qatar

Dr Prabh Nayak is a Senior Attending Physician in PCICU at Sidra Medicine in Qatar and Director of Simulation, Sidra Heart Centre. He has been a Consultant in Pediatric & Cardiac Intensive Care for 16 years and his training and practice has spanned across 3 continents and 4 countries.

He worked in the UK for nearly two decades and also completed an additional senior fellowship at SickKids, Toronto. Prior to joining Sidra in 2018, he was a PICU Consultant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for 10 years, which is the single largest PICU in the UK where he was the Director of Education, PIC Lead for Solid Organ Transplantation Program, Hospital Lead for CRRT/Plasmapheresis and Hospital Lead & Regional Chair for Simulation.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health (FRCPCH) and served on the UK Intercollegiate (RCPCH/RCOA/RCS) selection panel for PICM National Grid trainees and as Expert Panellist of UK Govt ‘Confidential Enquiries into Patient Outcome & Death’ (NCEPOD). His interests include improving patient safety through human factors and simulation training and is a founding member of UK PICSELS (Paediatric Intensive Care Safety through Education, Learning & Safety) and been an advisor on the International Pediatric Simulation Society (IPSS) scientific group. He is the director of Sidra Human Factors and Training the Trainers Simulation course. He has been an invited speaker at international conferences and served as invited reviewer/editor of the journal ‘Archives of Diseases of Childhood’. He is a MRCPCH International Examiner, been the Vice-Chair of RCPCH Exams Board - Video Group and Editor-in-Chief of ‘RCPCH Paediatric Examiner’ publications. He feels humbled and honoured to be invited to be the Clinical Lead of the inaugural MRCPCH Exams to be conducted for the first time in Qatar in April 2025 and hosted at Sidra.

Dr. Ricardo Branco

Qatar

MD, PhD, FRCPCH

Dr. Branco joined Sidra Medicine in November of 2018 as an Attending Physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). He Co-chairs the Clinical Effectiveness and Clinical Audit groups at Sidra.
Dr Branco trained in Brazil and in the UK, where he obtained a PhD in Pediatric at the University of Cambridge. He worked as a Consultant in Pediatric Intensive Care at Cambridge University Hospitals from 2011 to 2018.

He has an expertise Pediatric Critical Care and NeuroCritical care, with research interest in the stress response to acute and critical illness. Dr Branco has lectured in multiple international meetings and conferences. and Critical Care.

Dr. Manu Sundaram

Qatar

Dr. Sundaram joined Sidra Medicine in January of 2018 as a Physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care. He is the Medical Director for Quality at Sidra Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. Dr Sundaram worked as an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics after qualifying from the Saurashtra University, India in 2001. He moved to UK in 2004 and has been trained in pediatric intensive care medicine with an interest in respiratory medicine. He completed his PICU training from Birmingham Children’s Hospital and has worked as a Consultant in Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital of North Midlands, UK.

Dr. Nesreen Faqih

Qatar

Dr. Faqih is a Pediatric Critical Care Specialist with several years of experience in Oncology Critical Care. She joined Sidra Medicine in 2018 and has been actively involved with Pediatric Resident Education in the intensive care unit.

Dr. Faqih spearheads efforts as the lead for ICU resident education. In addition to being actively involved in the pediatric critical care fellowship program and education, she serves as Chair of CCC committee for the fellowship.

Dr. Taseer Din

Qatar

Dr. Taseer Feroze Din has been a Consultant Pediatric Otolaryngologist and head-neck surgeon at Sidra Medicine since 2023, joining after completing a Fellowship and working at Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, USA.

He treats all medical and surgical diseases of the ear, nose, and throat and particularly specializes in complex airway and ear pathologies. He has a keen interest in clinical and global health research and has published multiple original research articles within the highest-impact journals in his field.

Having had the privilege to train and practice medicine in both low and high-resource settings, he has gained holistic perspectives in the arena of global health, education, and clinical care. As such, he enjoys teaching medical students and trainees within otolaryngology and seeks to collaborate globally continually. His ultimate vision is to continually perform clinical medicine at the highest level and promote global otolaryngology that facilitates an equitable and world-class clinical practice.

Dr. Eman Al Maslamani

Qatar

Dr. Eman A.Rahman Senan Al Maslamani is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Senior Attending Physician at Sidra Medicine, Doha, State of Qatar. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatric at College of Medicine, Qatar University
Dr. Eman the Program Director Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship. She is also an Assistant Program Director of Pediatric Residency Program and Chairs its Assessment Committee.

Administratively, she is the Medical Director of the Infection Prevention & Control Sub-Committee and a member of several committees at Sidra Medicine.
She represents Qatar and is an examiner of the Arab Board of Health Specializations (Pediatric).

As a practitioner, Dr. Eman enhances health of infants, children, and adolescents by promoting excellence in the diagnosis, management, and prevention of infectious diseases through clinical care, education, research, and advocacy. She cares and follows-up Infectious Disease patients in General Pediatrics, Oncology, Orthopedics and other Hospital referred patients (i.e. ENT, Ophthalmology, Plastic, Burn unit patients). Supervising fellows, residents and medical students from WCMC-Q and Qatar University in the ID Clinic as well in daily rounds.
Participating in Residency program teaching (Morning Report, Academic half day/ Ground Round, Clinical teaching Rounds and other didactics). Preparing and reviewing Guideline and policy (pediatric ID Guideline representative)

She has been also a recipient of various awards and citations, published and presented several researches and other scholarly activities both locally and internationally.

Dr. Nada Aljassim

Dr. Nada Aljassim serves as a Consultant in Pediatric Intensive Care, specializing in both general and cardiac ICU at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As the Section Head of the Pediatric Cardiovascular ICU and the Pediatric ECMO Service Line Leader within the Second Healthcare Cluster in Riyadh, Dr. Aljassim has been instrumental in advancing critical care services in the region. Holding Saudi and Arab board certifications in pediatrics, with subspecialty training in pediatric intensive care, she completed a two-year fellowship at McGill University in Canada and has participated in numerous ECMO training programs and a diploma course.

With extensive experience in pediatric critical care, particularly in ECMO, Dr. Aljassim established the Pediatric ECMO Respiratory Retrieval Team at KFMC and is highly skilled in ECMO cannulation and retrieval procedures. As the Course Director of the ECMO Simulation Course at the CRESENT Center, she is deeply committed to education, simulation, and training. An active member of professional organizations such as ELSO and WINFOCUS, Dr. Aljassim is also a sought-after speaker and moderator at national and international scientific forums. Additionally, she has made significant contributions to the field through publications in PICU and ECMO research.

Dr. Diego Arango Uribe

Dr. Diego Arango is a Colombian physician and a US Board-Certified Pediatrician, Pediatric Intensivist, and Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist, with training from Children’s Hospital of Michigan, UT Southwestern, and Northwestern University in the United States. For the past six years, Dr. Arango has been serving as a Pediatric Critical Care Consultant in the 20-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, the only stand-alone tertiary pediatric hospital in the United Arab Emirates, located in Dubai.

In addition to his clinical responsibilities, Dr. Arango is a core faculty member of the Pediatric Residency program, a faculty member of the Pediatric Fellowship program, and serves as Chairman of the hospital’s CPR committee. He is deeply passionate about teaching and has a particular interest in cardiopulmonary physiology, which he integrates into his educational and clinical endeavors.

Dr. Mohammed Ghaly

Mohammed Ghaly is professor of Islam and Biomedical Ethics, and Head of the Research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics (CILE), College of Islamic Studies,  Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. He has a B.A. in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University (Egypt) and an M.A. and PhD in the same specialization from Leiden University (the Netherlands). Between 2007 and 2013, Ghaly was a faculty member at Leiden University. 

Ghaly is the founding editor-in-chief of the Scopus-indexed Journal of Islamic Ethics (published by Brill). In September 2019, he assumed the role of founding Program Coordinator of the newly established M.A. in Applied Islamic Ethics at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He also served as the Conference Chair of the 17th World Congress of Bioethics (WCB), the first WCB edition to be held in the Arab world and the entire Middle East.

Islamic Ethics and its intersection with biomedical sciences and artificial intelligence (AI) represent Ghaly’s main research interests. He is the author of Islam and Disability: Perspectives in Theology and Jurisprudence (Routledge, 2010), and Islamic Ethics and Incidental Findings: Genomic Morality Beyond the Secular Paradigm (Springer-Nature, 2024). He is the editor of the volumes Islamic Perspectives on the Principles of Biomedical Ethics (Imperial College & World Scientific, 2016), Islamic Ethics and the Genome Question (Brill, 2019), and End-of-Life Care, Dying and Death in the Islamic Moral Tradition (Brill, 2022). Ghaly is also the editor of various thematic issues, the single author of more than forty peer-reviewed publications, and an editorial board member of several academic journals. Additionally, Ghaly is also the Lead Principal Investigator (LPI) and research consultant on a number of funded research projects, the most recent of which is on “Transforming Islamic Studies in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)”. His publications can be accessed via https://cilecenter.academia.edu/MohammedGhaly 

Dr. Saif Awlad Thani

Dr. Saif Awlad Thani, a Pediatric Intensivist at The Royal Hospital in Oman. He completed medical school at Sultan Qaboos University and pediatric residency training at Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB). In 2017, he completed a PICU fellowship at McMaster University, Canada. He holds a graduate diploma in clinical epidemiology from McMaster University, Canada, and a stepping stones certificate in medical education and leadership from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is a member of the scientific research committee at the Royal hospital. He is also a faculty member of the Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) and a member of the pediatric education committee, pediatric clinical competency committee, pediatric research committee, and pediatric simulation committee. As a speaker, he attended many national and international conferences. He has a strong interest in teaching and research. He participated in many research projects related to early mobilization and rehabilitation in the PICU and conducted a multicentre survey in Oman regarding knowledge and perception about early mobilization.

Dr. Tripiti Sinha

Dr. Sinha joined Sidra Medicine in April 2018 as an Attending Physician in the Pediatric Division of the Anesthesia Department. She is the Program Director for Pediatric Anesthesia Fellowship at Sidra Medicine and Assistant Professor in Clinical Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.

Dr. Sinha completed her clinical fellowships in Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care at Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, in 2012. Under the New Children Hospital Project of Sickkids International, she joined as a consultant in Pediatric Anesthesia at Hamad Medical Corporation, where she led many projects establishing key policies and procedures for the safe delivery of pediatric anesthesia, pediatric sedation, and pain management.

Dr. Sinha has special interests in teaching and training. She is an instructor in many Life support courses at HITC (APLS, ATLS, PFCCS) and Course Director for Communication Skills in Healthcare at Medical Education, HMC.

Maike Schumacher, MD, PhD

Maike Schumacher is a Consultant Paediatric Critical Care at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi. She is a German board certified Anaesthesiologist with fellowship in Critical Care and subspecialty training in Emergency Medicine. She is holding the European Diploma in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Her special interests include management of coagulopathy, trauma and ECMO.

Hamza Elkhidir, MD

Hamza Elkhidir, MD, completed his pediatric residency training at New York Medical College; he then joined the University of Texas School of Medicine, where he completed his critical care medicine fellowship in 2013.

Dr. Elkhidir spent an additional year at the University of Nebraska in a pediatric cardiology training program. Dr. Elkhidir joined Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute after completing his training as an attending physician before joining Sidra Medicine.

Arul Kumar Natarajan, B.Sc., PG (Dialysis Technology), CHT

Arul Kumar Natarajan is a certified Dialysis Technologist (BONENT, USA) with 14 years of experience in dialysis and extracorporeal therapies. He holds a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from Presidency College, Chennai, and postgraduate qualifications in Dialysis Technology from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. Currently, he works as a Dialysis Technologist at Sidra Medicine, Qatar, specializing in Continuous Kidney Replacement Therapy (CKRT) and other extracorporeal treatments.

Arul has extensive expertise in clinical applications, training, and conducting workshops. He plays a key role in CKRT (CKRT Extracorporeal Therapy) workshops, sharing his knowledge with healthcare professionals. Additionally, he has provided technical consultations for establishing dialysis centers and has a strong background in water treatment systems.

In recognition of his contributions, Arul received the Best Dialysis Technician Award from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), USA, in 2020. He also won the CEO Recognition Award at Sidra Medicine and serves as an active member of the AAMI Renal Detoxification Committee. His recent abstract on online clearance monitoring was awarded the Best Pediatric Abstract at the 39th Annual Dialysis Conference hosted by the University of Missouri, USA.

Dr. Benedict Griffiths

Benedict Griffiths, is Division Chief of the Cardiac Intensive Care unit at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, focusing on pediatric intensive care medicine, congenital heart disease, airway management, ECMO, and advanced hemodynamic monitoring. He has an interest in education and ran the 'difficulty airways in pediatrics’ course in Abu Dhabi, which is now in its fourth year.

Dr. Dua Qutob

Dr. Dua Qutob is a third-year Pediatric Nephrology Fellow and the Chief Fellow at Sidra Medicine. She completed pediatric residency at Hamad Medical Corporation/Sidra Medicine, inspiring her to pursue a career in pediatric nephrology. Her interests include critical care nephrology and apheresis medicine, with a research focus on hemolysis markers in continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) and optimizing treatment protocols for critically ill children.
Dr. Dua leads quality improvement initiatives to enhance anticoagulation practices during CKRT.
Beyond her clinical and institutional contributions, she is actively engaged in international research on acute kidney injury. She is a key contributor to globally recognized collaboratives such as WE-ROCK and AWAKEN-2 studies.

Dr. Satheesh Ponnarmeni

Dr. Satheesh Ponnarmeni is a pediatric intensivist at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Abu Dhabi, UAE. He completed his pediatric residency and DM pediatric critical care training from renowned institutions of India, PGIMER Chandigarh and JIPMER. Subsequently he was trained as a fellow at Birmingham Children’s Hospital UK. He has participated in multiple research projects with multiple publications in renowned pediatric critical care journals. He has contributed to book chapters in pediatric critical care and has participated as faculty in CRRT and POCUS workshops in India. His areas of interest are CRRT, POCUS, simulation and detailed echocardiography. He is also the lead for simulation in PICU at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi.

Abirami Balasubramaniyan, BsRT

Abirami Balasubramaniyan has been with Sidra Medicine and Research Center since 2018, starting as an Educator/Resource and currently serving as the Acting Supervisor and Educator. She earned her degree in Respiratory Therapy from Sri Ramachandra University. Before her current role, she spent 15 years in Saudi Arabia, working as a bedside therapist and educator.

Abirami is a trained ECMO specialist and teaches courses in Basic Life Support (BLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), and the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). She is also pursuing a master’s degree in respiratory medicine at the University of South Wales in the UK.

Dr. Khaloud Al Mukhaini

Dr. Khaloud Al Mukhaini is a pediatric intensivist with extensive experience in the management of critically ill children. She has a special interest in the area of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) for acute respiratory distress and has developed the services for use of NIV and high flow nasal cannula in the critically ill pediatric patients in her institution in Oman. In addition, Dr. Khaloud is conducting many educational activities on use of NIV in acute respiratory distress including workshops on use of high flow nasal cannula and NIV locally.

Moreover, Dr. Khaloud is involved with many educational and academic activities for the post graduate trainees in pediatric and pediatric critical care training programs. The former include training on the different aspects of pediatric critical care medicine, resuscitation courses and simulation activities.

Nithin George- RRT-NPS

Nithin George is currently the Acting Supervisor of Respiratory Care Services at Sidra Medicine, where he has been a valued team member for the past seven years. He holds a degree from Midwestern State University in Texas and has previous experience at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Nithin brings a comprehensive blend of clinical expertise and leadership to his role, with a focus on advancing patient care and fostering the growth and development of the respiratory services team at Sidra Medicine.