Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser

Chairperson of the Board of Governors

Sidra Medicine is an ambitious medical research initiative that is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and represents her vision. For more than 15 years, Sheikha Moza has, through her various initiatives, played a key role in supporting Qatar’s National Vision. The National Vision is a far-reaching agenda to transform Qatar into a thriving, knowledge-based society by 2030.

Sheikha Moza is a major contributor to education, health and social reforms in her country and is also active on the international stage, spearheading projects to promote peace and human development throughout the world.

Domestically, she serves as Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), a private non-profit organisation founded in 1995. Its flagship project is Education City, which houses branch campuses of renowned international universities and institutions and is engaged in numerous scientific research and economic and social development projects.

QF has initiated a number of ambitious pursuits that aim to make Qatar a regional centre for excellence in healthcare. For example, in partnership with Imperial College London, it has set up Qatar Biobank, which collects biological samples and health and lifestyle information from the Qatari population to drive national research. Additionally the partnership has established Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre, a training and technology-development facility for state-of-the-art surgical technologies.

It was also through the vision of Her Highness that the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) was created. She aspired to create a forum that dealt with communicating innovative solutions to solve international health challenges. Due to her ongoing commitment and passion for healthcare and innovation, QF is positioned as a leading proponent of WISH.

A healthy population is essential to a strong, prosperous society, and Sheikha Moza has helped to drive comprehensive reforms to provide all Qataris with access to world-class healthcare. As Vice Chair of the Supreme Council of Health, Sheikha Moza has supported a restructuring of Qatar’s healthcare system. In 2010, the Council released the National Healthcare Strategy that laid out long-term goals for healthcare in Qatar. As part of this new vision, Sheikha Moza later launched the National Cancer Strategy, which is supporting a new cancer hospital and programmes for prevention and early detection.

Through her work at QF and with the Ministry of Public Health, Sheikha Moza is contributing to establish Qatar as a center for innovative healthcare systems, biomedical research and medical breakthroughs.

Sheikha Moza graduated from Qatar University with a degree in sociology and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon University, Imperial College London and Georgetown University.