Media Release

Ajman, Sep 12: Addressing the new students, Prof Hossam Hamdy, chancellor of Gulf Medical University (GMU), emphasized the importance of communication and teamwork as two key skills for future healthcare professionals.

The new batch of students of Gulf Medical University, here, the leading medical university in the Middle East region, participated in a time-honored tradition – The White Coat Ceremony – on September 12, receiving their first white coats as a rite of passage to their respective healthcare careers. Dr Thumbay Modeen, founder, president Board of Trustees, GMU was the chief guest of the ceremony. Prof Hossam Hamdy presided over the event.

The incoming batch of 472 students joins the international community of GMU comprising of students from 80+ nationalities, pursuing various medical and healthcare courses across six colleges. Those receiving their white coats were students in the first year of various programmes: Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (BBMS), Associate Degree in Pre-Clinical Sciences (ADPCS), Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT), Bachelor of Science – Medical Laboratory Sciences (BSc MLS), Bachelor of Science – Medical Imaging Sciences (BSc MIS), Bachelor of Science - Anesthesia Technology (BSc AT), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Management and Economics (BSc HME).

The incoming students belong to various nationalities. For the students, donning the white coat symbolized their transition into healthcare professionals of the future, committed to providing compassionate care to patients.

Addressing the students, Prof Hossam Hamdy reminded them that the world around them was changing rapidly in terms of communication, travel, treating patients, use of technology etc. “An important competency which will remain unchanged is the communication between human beings. The patients, the students, the healthcare providers and the medical educators are all humans. How to communicate, connect and interact and feel will play a key role in educating health professionals,” he said.

Emphasizing the importance of teamwork, Prof Hossam Hamdy said, “Medical practice is no longer a case of a single doctor caring for his or her patients. You are part of a team, bringing in the expertise of a larger group of professionals, working within a healthcare system. Teamwork is one of the important competencies you have to acquire during your studies and beyond.”

This academic year marks the first ever batches of GMU’s newly launched colleges; the College of Healthcare Management & Economics - The first full-fledged college of its kind in the Middle East region offering Bachelors and Executive Masters programmes in healthcare management and economics and the College of Nursing.

GMU has collaboration agreements with around 68 top international universities in Europe, United States, Japan and Far East, giving the students opportunities for training abroad. Graduate programmes are now being offered jointly and in collaboration with the University of Arizona, United States, Virginia Commonwealth University, United States, Medical College of Wisconsin, United States, FAIMER, United States, CenMedic, United Kingdom and Tokyo Medical and Dental College, Japan. GMU also provides merit-based scholarships to students.

Offering a total of 26 accredited programmes through its six colleges, the university has been at the forefront of attaining international recognition, some of the recent ones being the College of Medicine’s recent accreditation based on ‘World Federation of Medical Education’ standards, becoming the first in the UAE and the Gulf region to achieve this feat. The Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programme offered by the College of Pharmacy was recognized by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), making it the first internationally certified entry-to-practice PharmD programme in UAE. Recently, GMU also hosted the prestigious MRCPUK PACES (Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills) exam in collaboration with the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, joining the exclusive list of international PACES exam centers in the region.

GMU uses cutting-edge technology in classrooms to enrich the learning experience of students. The Virtual Patient Learning (VPL) developed by the university and the recently launched 3D classroom uses Artifical Intelligence and Virtual Reality to give GMU students an interactive learning experience.

Gulf Medical University also has the distinction of being the only private Academic Health System (AHS) in the region, linking healthcare, education and research functions. Among some of the most recent notable achievements is the operations of the state-of-the-art Thumbay Medicity, which includes Thumbay Dental Hospital, Thumbay Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy Hospital and Thumbay University Hospital.

The University’s advanced research facility, the Thumbay Research Institute for Precision Medicine (TRIPM) drives its transformation into a research-based university. The institute is focused on conducting real time cancer and diabetes research with a focus on postgraduate studies and incorporating the research findings in their curriculum.