Dr. Ehsan Ullah is a post-doctoral researcher at Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Dr. Ullah received his Ph.D. degree in 2014 from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. He received his M.Sc. and B.Sc. from University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. Ehsan Ullah is interested in health informatics, computational biology, genomics and algorithms.

Dr. Abdelalim is an Associate Professor at the College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and a Principal Investigator at Sidra Medicine, leading the Pluripotent Stem Cell Disease Modeling Laboratory. He holds a PhD in medical science from Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship and served as an assistant professor.

Before joining Sidra Medicine, he served as a senior scientist at QBRI until February 2024, establishing Qatar's first pluripotent stem cell program dedicated to diabetes research. His team successfully generated multiple iPSC lines from patients with genetic disorders and developed innovative protocols to improve the differentiation of stem cells into pancreatic islets and other cell types.

In addition, Dr. Abdelalim chaired the HSCI-QBRI steering committee, overseeing collaborative diabetes and stem cell research initiatives. He serves on the editorial boards of “Stem Cells Translational Medicine” and “Stem Cells and Development” and has published over 75 articles in prestigious journals. He has received numerous research grants and awards throughout his career.

Mr. Mohamed Eldaw Graduated from Sudan University of Science and Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory Science (Microbiology) in 2006 and a Higher Diploma from Institute of Endemic Diseases-University of Khartoum in 2007. He served in various positions beginning with the Military Hospital in Sudan until he joined Shafallah Medical Genetic Center in 2010, where he worked until 2014 as a Research Assistant in Molecular Genetic Department. During this period he was involved in many projects including (Gene identification in Mendelian forms of Familial Epilepsy) and (Autosomal Recessive diseases) and the internal CAP accredited Diagnostic Laboratory. In 2014, he joined QBRI as a Research Associate in the protein laboratory.

Currently, Eldaw works with Dr. Kolatkar and is involved as a team member in various studies including mechanistic analysis of transcription factor networks involved in pluripotency and β islet cell development using a variety of methods. This includes Protein expression & purification, Bioreactor, CD, ITC, MALS, as well as X-ray crystallography. He has also helped with the techniques in biochemistry and molecular and cell biology course by assisting faculty with supervising students.

"QCRI provides an ideal environment to conduct high-impact research which can transcend disciplinary boundaries."

Dr. Ahmad Sami Abushaikha is a founding faculty member. He received his BS in Petroleum Engineering and his BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004. In 2006, he received his MS in Reservoir Geosciences and Engineering from "Institut Français du Pétrole". From 2007 to 2009, he worked at TOTAL Research Centre at Pau, France and at Qatar Petroleum. In 2013, he received his PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London. From 2015 to 2017, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University specializing in discretization schemes for fluid flow in porous media.

Dr. Julie Decock received her Master of Science (MSc) in Biomedical Sciences from the Free University of Brussels (VUB, Belgium) and completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Medical Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, KU Leuven, Belgium. Her doctoral research focused on the cancer degradome, the repertoire of proteases in the tumor microenvironment that contribute to shaping the extracellular environment and modulating pericellular signaling, thereby affecting tumor progression and clinical outcome.

She joined QBRI in 2013 and established a research program in the areas of tumor antigen discovery and tumor immunity, two key research areas that can help accelerate breast cancer research and advance the development of new treatments. Currently, her research focuses on cancer testis antigens, a group of tumor associated antigens that play pivotal roles in tumorigenesis and progression, and display high tumor specificity with minimal on- and off-target side effects. Her efforts have demonstrated that cancer testis antigens not only play important roles in multiple cancer hallmarks but can also serve as tumor specific molecular targets and modulators of anti-tumor immunity, offering diverse opportunities for anti-cancer targeting.

Dr. Marwa Qaraqe is an Associate Professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She is also the co-founder of the Autism Sensing Center (A-Sense) of the College of Science and Engineering at HBKU. She received her BSc in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University at Qatar with summa cum laude. Dr. Qaraqe earned her MSc and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, United States.

Dr. Qaraqe serves as a TPC and reviewer to several prestigious technical journals and conferences, including the IEEE Wireless Communication and Networking Conference (WCNC) and IEEE Wireless Communication Magazine. She is also a member of the IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc) board for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Region.

She has received several awards throughout her academic career, including the Best Paper Award in the 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), the Richard E. Wing Award for Excellence in Research, and first place in the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum in the Health and Biomedical Sector. She has also been awarded more than 2 million US dollars as lead principal investigator in competitive research grants for her research initiatives.

Dr. Dena Al-Thani is an Associate Professor, Co-Founder of the A-sense Center of Excellence, and Head of the Information and Computing Technology Division at the College of Science and Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Queen Mary University of London. Her research interests include accessibility, inclusive design, and eHealth.

Dr. Al-Thani actively publishes in top journals and presents at international conferences. Her research on inclusion aims to make a global impact. She is a member of the WHO's technical advisory group on assistive technology and the Arab ICT Accessibility Expert Group, led by Mada.

Dr. Halima Bensmail is a Principal Scientist at the Qatar Computing Research Institute, a Professor at the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and a visiting full Professor at Texas A&M University at Qatar. She received her PhD from Pierre & Marie Currie University in Paris, France, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington and FHCRC in Seattle, Washington, USA. Halima was an assistant and associate professor at the University of Tennessee and the Virginia Medical School before joining Qatar Foundation. Halima's expertise lies in the frontiers of machine learning, bioinformatics, and computational biology, and she is also a statistician and a biostatistician.

She has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, Nucleic Acids Research, Genome Research, Briefings in Bioinformatics, Scientific Reports, and Bioinformatics. She has also earned multiple research awards taught courses in Qatar, the US, and France, and mentored many summer interns, and master's and PhD students. Halima has been the principal investigator and co-investigator on various research grants, and she is currently a member of a $2 million newly founded center provided by the USDA grant agency to the obesity center at Texas Tech. Halima has worked as a reviewer for the NIH and NSF, and she is a board member of the Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technology Foundation in Davos and an AdCom representative of IEEE EMBs in MENA.

Dr. Muhammad Modassir Ali is Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Senior Researcher at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). He received his BA (Hons.) in Usuluddin and his MA and PhD in Comparative Religion from the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). His teaching and research focus on comparative religion, particularly Christianity and Eastern religions, Qur’anic civilizations, Sīrah studies, and the intellectual history of the Indian subcontinent. Before joining CIS‑HBKU in 2015, he taught and held leadership roles at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) and Qatar University. Recent activity includes a peer‑reviewed article on medieval Muslim youth culture (Islamic Studies, 2025) and a chapter in Mercy and Grace: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Georgetown University Press, 2025). He currently leads or contributes to projects on medieval Muslim culture, Islamic education in colonial India, and translations of classical works in Islamic education. He is a two‑time Fulbright scholar (UCSB 2003; UIUC 2008).