On 13 December, the Arab International Women’s Forum and Pfizer were delighted to launch our new ‘DEI By Design’ joint initiative to empower MENA women’s leadership in health, following our earlier announcement that in 2022-2023, AIWF and Pfizer will collaborate on a virtual panel series exploring salient diversity issues impacting women’s inclusion in global and MENA health.
In this first session, a high-level DEI panel explored the importance of mentorship, role modelling, recognition, and visibility in empowering women to progress in their careers in the health sectors in the MENA region, in discovery, research, and innovation. For this panel discussion, which was moderated by Ouardia Djoudjai, Category Lead Oncology for Pfizer, AIWF and Pfizer were proud to welcome:
Dr Oualae Alami, Global Influenza Lead, Pfizer & AIWF Board Member
Dr Mariam Matar, Founder and Chairperson, UAE Genetic Diseases Association, UAE
Dr Maha Al Mozaini, Scientist & Director, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, KSA
Dr Thekra Hasan, Research and Innovation Center – Department of Health, UAE
Our very special thanks to all speakers and participants who joined us for what was an engaging and highly insightful discussion. You can watch the first session here.
For the second session, which will be held in March 2023, we will address the gender pay and leadership gap, and in the third and final session, we examine key drivers and outcomes of diversity in the innovation landscape and on clinical trials. The proceedings of each panel event will be synthesised to culminate in a report and recommendations to be published jointly by AIWF and Pfizer in 2023. To register your interest in attending future sessions, please email us with your details to be added to the invitation list.
