Khalid Fakhro

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About Khalid

Prof. Khalid A. Fakhro is the Chief Research Officer at Sidra Medicine and the Director of the healthcare facility’s Precision Medicine program.

As the CRO for Sidra Medicine, Prof. Khalid Fakhro is responsible for designing and implementing the healthcare organization’s ambitious research strategy to advance precision medicine in Qatar. The strategy aims to place Sidra Medicine among the top destinations for personalized care in the world; leveraging next-generation technologies to enhance disease diagnosis and implement advanced therapies for patients. 

Under Prof. Fakhro’s leadership, scientists in the Research Branch at Sidra Medicine, have made important strides to improve diagnosis of rare genetic conditions. They have also contributed towards Qatar’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, through the development of new testing methods and the publication of studies in conjunction with international collaborators. 

Prior to being appointed as the CRO, he led the Human Genetics Department at Sidra Medicine and was the inaugural director of precision medicine, heading an ambitious program where research in genomics and personalized medicine become embedded in the heart of Sidra Medicine’s academic medical enterprise; with a focus on national priority conditions, such as genetic diseases, autism spectrum disorder, and diabetes. 
Prof. Fakhro joined Sidra Medicine as a Principal Investigator in July 2014, and became Director of the Human Genetics department, where he built a robust genomic medicine research pipeline for the hospital. 

Prior to joining Sidra Medicine, Prof. Fakhro was part of the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medicine in Qatar. 
Prof. Fakhro graduated with Honors from the University of Chicago (USA) majoring in Biological Sciences with specialization in Cellular Biology and Molecular Genetics, and later completed his PhD in Human Genetics at Yale University (USA), where he was part of a highly selective HHMI Translational Medicine Scholars program, designed to train basic scientists to take discoveries from the bench to bedside.

Prof. Fakhro is also involved in capacity building and education via adjunct faculty appointments at Weill-Cornell Medicine - Qatar and at Hamad bin Khalifa University, where he teaches classes and mentors the next generation of Masters and PhD students in human genetics and genomic medicine.