BU in Dubai Welcomes Inaugural Class
SDM launches new training institute in UAE
The Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education in Dubai — one of two dental facilities BU is operating in a regional medical complex known as Dubai Healthcare City — welcomed its inaugural class of residents on July 1. Joseph Mercurio, BU’s executive vice president, and Jeffrey Hutter, dean ad interim of the Goldman School of Dental Medicine, along with Muhadditha Al-Hashimi, chief executive officer of Dubai Healthcare City, Khalid Malik, the CEO of the development company Tatweer, and Ayesha Adbulla, the senior vice president of Dubai Healthcare City, were among the dignitaries attending the ceremony.
The institute, which received accreditation from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June, is the first in the region to offer postgraduate dental education. The first class comprises 14 residents, who will train in a variety of specialties, such as endodontics, orthodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry. The programs are overseen by SDM faculty, among them Thomas Kilgore, associate dean of SDM’s office of advanced education and the institute’s chief academic officer.
“The Goldman School of Dental Medicine is very proud to be in partnership with Dubai Healthcare City to provide world-class oral health care and education in the region,” says Hutter. “We at Boston University take our responsibility as educators and researchers in the global community very seriously.”
Dubai Healthcare City is a 500-acre free-trade zone within the Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It is being developed in partnership with several international health-care institutions, with the goal of becoming a world-class academic medical campus.
“Several years ago,” Kilgore explains, “the ruler of Dubai, understanding that gas and oil were not the economy of the future, decided to reinvent the emirate and looked to develop science, technology, tourism, and business.”
Tax-free zones such as Dubai Healthcare City were created to attract businesses and investment. Currently the campus contains mainly clinics and corporate offices of pharmaceutical and medical technology firms. In addition to BU’s dental facilities, the campus will eventually contain a wellness center, private clinics, and a major teaching hospital.
“We at Boston University are very proud to be associated with Dubai Healthcare City,” Mercurio said at last week’s ceremony. “And we’ll strive to create not just an excellent but a great clinical, teaching, and research dental organization that will make a significant contribution to the exceptional goals established by Dubai’s leadership.”
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