Pediatric Neuroscience Conference 2024

Dr. Husam Kayyali

MD, FAES
Chief of Pediatric Neurology Division at Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Dr. Husam Kayyali is the Chief of the Pediatric Neurology Division at Sidra Medicine. He is also serving as the Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Sidra Medicine.

Dr. Kayyali is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Pediatric Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Epilepsy. Before joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. Kayyali was an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and he co-established the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Missouri. Then he moved to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia where he served as the Head of the Pediatric Neurology Section, and the Director of the Pediatric Neurology Fellowship Program.

Dr. Ruba Benini

Attending Physician, Division of Pediatric Neurology, Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Dr. Ruba Benini is a Pediatric Neurologist/ Epileptologist. Dr. Benini is currently the Medical Director of the Neurodiagnostic Laboratory at Sidra Medicine. She is the Program Director of the Pediatric Neurology Fellowship Program at Sidra Medicine and serves as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Weill-Cornell Medicine, Qatar. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC). Dr. Benini did her PhD in Neuroscience in 2006 at the Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada. She obtained her medical degree in 2008 from McGill University, Montreal Canada, and later completed her pediatric neurology residency training in 2014 at McGill University Health Center in Montreal and a fellowship in Pediatric Epilepsy at Ste. Justine Hospital, University of Montreal in 2016. Since then she has worked as a pediatric neurologist and epilepsy expert at the Montreal Children's Hospital in Montreal and later at King Fahad's Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh, KSA, prior to joining Sidra Medicine in 2017. Dr. Benini has a strong interest in pediatric epilepsy research and continues to work on a number of research projects aimed at elucidating the genetics of pediatric epilepsy with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of children with epilepsy.

Dr. Ian Pople

MB, ChB, MD, FRCS(SN), IFAANS
Chief of Neurosurgery Division at Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Associate Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery, Weil Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Since starting his position as the Chief of Neurosurgery at Sidra Medicine in September 2018, Dr. Pople has led the development of a safe and sustainable emergency neurosurgery service for the children of Qatar, which also now offers world-class surgical programs in pediatric epilepsy and surgery for lower limb spasticity.

Prior to joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. Pople was Senior Pediatric Neurosurgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, UK, where he led the development of the Epilepsy Surgery and SDR services for Children.

Dr. Pople is a graduate of Sheffield University, UK, and did his neurosurgical training in Leeds, London (Great Ormond Street Hospital) and Bristol prior to a fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis USA.

He has a specialist interest in complex hydrocephalus, neuro-endoscopy, brain tumors, and tethered spinal cord. Throughout his career as a neurosurgeon, Dr. Pople has performed over 180 selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) procedures on children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and over 2000 other pediatric neurosurgical procedures. He has carried out ground-breaking research into new treatments for hydrocephalus in premature infants and intends to continue this research in Qatar.

Dr. Khalid Al-Kharazi

MD, MBA, MBBS
Senior Attending Physician, Division of Neurosurgery
Sidra Medicine, Qatar

Dr. Khalid Al-Kharazi is a senior pediatric neurosurgeon at Sidra Medicine. Dr. Al-Kharazi has experience in neurosurgery for almost 20 years. He worked in Canada, Germany, Jordan, and Yemen before joining the medical team in Qatar in 2014. Dr. Al-Kharazi holds certifications in neurosurgery from Canada, Germany, the UK, and Jordan. He was awarded a clinical fellowship in Pediatric neurosurgery from the University of British Columbia, BCCH Vancouver/ Canada). He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (UK). Dr. Al-Kharazi obtained the German board certificate after successfully completing his training in Vivantes Klinikum Neukölln/ Berlin. Dr. Al-Kharazi and his colleagues started some neurosurgical interventions that had never been performed in Qatar such as the minimally invasive approach in craniosynostosis surgery and epilepsy surgery. Dr. Al-Kharazi is a core faculty and site Director (Sidra) of the HMC Neurosurgery Residency Program. He is a member of the neurosurgery committee and an examiner in Qatar Board of Medical Specialties (QBMS). He is a holder of a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Manchester (UK).

Dr. Mahmoud Fawzi

MBBCH, MD
Senior Attending Physician, Division of Pediatric Neurology
Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Dr. Fawzi is a senior attending physician in pediatric neurology at Sidra Medicine and Hamad Hospital. He also serves as an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar. Previously, Dr. Mahmoud worked as a consultant in pediatric neurology at Hamad Hospital from 2006 until 2017. He then joined Sidra Medicine as a senior attending physician in pediatric neurology. He specializes in treating patients with muscle disease, multiple sclerosis, and tuberous sclerosis. He got research grants in congenital brain anomalies and muscle diseases, hereditary spastic paraplegia and microcephaly, and spinal muscular atrophy. He is widely published and has lectured at local and international conferences. Dr. Fawzi has extensive experience in pediatric neurology since 1995. He has more than 50 publications in international journals.

Dr. Husam Kayyali

MD, FAES
Chief of Pediatric Neurology Division at Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar

Dr. Husam Kayyali is the Chief of the Pediatric Neurology Division at Sidra Medicine. He is also serving as the Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Sidra Medicine.

Dr. Kayyali is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Pediatric Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Epilepsy. Before joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. Kayyali was an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and he co-established the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Missouri. Then he moved to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia where he served as the Head of the Pediatric Neurology Section, and the Director of the Pediatric Neurology Fellowship Program.

Dr. Youssef Kousa

MS, DO, PhD
Prenatal & Neonatal Neurologist,
Zickler Family Prenatal Pediatrics Institute & Division of Neurology,
Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, USA
Assistant Professor, Neurology, Pediatrics, and Genomics & Precision Medicine,
George Washington University, USA

Jenny Sacree

Clinical Nurse Leader
Sidra Medicine, Qatar

With more than 40 years of neuroscience experience, Jenny is presently the CNL for Movement disorders, rehabilitation medicine, and spines. She has been in Sidra Medicine for 5 years, completing the rest of her neuroscience experience in Bristol, UK. She is passionate about education and teaches neurosciences with the ISPN around the world.