Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh

Special Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh
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KFSHRC CEO Dr. Majid Al-Fayyadh emphasized the integration of artificial intelligence in operations to enhance accuracy and efficiency. (SPA)
Special Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh
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KFSHRC’s pavilion at the Global Health Exhibition showcases its latest health innovations. (AN Photo/Jafar Alsaleh)
Special Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh
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KFSHRC’s pavilion at the Global Health Exhibition showcases its latest health innovations. (AN Photo/Jafar Alsaleh)
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Updated 22 October 2024
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Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh

Saudi heart surgeon honored at health exhibition in Riyadh
  • Dr. Feras Khaliel honored in Riyadh for performing the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant
  • King Faisal Center CEO highlights future of robotic surgery and integration of AI in healthcare

RIYADH: Saudi surgeon Dr. Feras Khaliel, from King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, has been honored in Riyadh for performing the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant.

At the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh on Tuesday, Khaliel, head of cardiac surgery and director of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Program, received the Health Research Excellence: Applied Innovation Award from the Research, Development and Innovation Authority.

This achievement recognizes the hospital’s expanding robotic heart surgery program, which has completed over 400 procedures since its establishment in 2019.

Khaliel’s award underscores his contributions to advancing research and innovation, particularly in robotic heart surgery.

The transplant was performed on a 16-year-old patient with end-stage heart failure, marking a significant advancement in heart transplant surgery. This minimally invasive procedure reduces pain, recovery time, and complication risks, heralding a new era in cardiac surgery.

The center’s CEO, Dr. Majid Al-Fayyadh, emphasized the integration of artificial intelligence in operations to enhance accuracy and efficiency, driving innovation and sharing knowledge to elevate healthcare standards.

Speaking at a panel titled “Innovating Saudi Arabia’s Healthcare: Vision 2030 and Beyond,” Al-Fayyadh said: “Following KFSHRC’s groundbreaking achievement in performing the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant, we are now moving toward using robotic surgery more widely in all our operating rooms, envisioning it as the preferred option in the future.”

He noted that the success in robotic surgery resulted from extensive preparations, including advanced technology in operating rooms, cutting-edge equipment, and comprehensive team training.

“This approach balances bold innovation with stringent safety protocols, ensuring superior outcomes that enhance patient well-being,” Al-Fayyadh added.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Aboud, a cardiac surgeon at King Faisal Hospital, highlighted this achievement’s significance in relation to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to integrate advanced technology into healthcare.

“Today, we are showcasing our case as part of Vision 2030 to integrate technology into healthcare and innovate,” said Al-Aboud.

“We have developed a dedicated team for robotic heart surgeries that is achieving excellent milestones in this field.”

The center’s pavilion at the exhibition showcases its latest health innovations, including robotic heart surgery, organ transplantation, CAR-T cell production, pharmacogenomic analysis, and virtual reality applications in medical education.

It also features the Mobile Stroke Unit, aimed at expediting treatment for stroke patients and reducing disabilities and mortality rates.

Additionally, the center highlights its pharmacogenomic analysis service, which matches medications to a patient’s DNA to predict drug efficacy.


CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university
Updated 6 sec ago
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CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

CERN aims to open data center at Saudi university

MANAMA: Leading particle physics research center CERN is looking to deepen its collaboration with Saudi Arabia by opening a data center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a staff member has told Arab News.

Martin Gastal, CERN adviser to the Middle East and North African region, told Arab News that “the ambition of the Kingdom is to try and integrate CERN into one of its drivers for research,” adding that there are plans to launch the center at the Saudi university to analyze CERN data.

KAUST already collaborates with the Swiss center, with four KAUST students taking part in internships at CERN.

According to Gastal, the Research, Development and Innovation Authority in Saudi Arabia aims to bring together more particle physicists in the Kingdom to improve research efficiency.

Also working with NEOM University, Gastal said he hopes to find synergies between the technology developed at CERN and the research conducted at Saudi universities.

“Scientific cooperation is a way of bringing together lots of brains with different ways of thinking that bring different ideas to the table and maybe also different techniques for testing those ideas,” CERN physicist John Ellis told Arab News.

Ellis, who holds the Clerk Maxwell Professorship of theoretical physics at King’s College London, and is known for his work in helping discover the Higgs-Boson particle, spoke to Arab News at a recent event on promising work in nuclear research and particle physics.

“Most countries in the Gulf region now have some sort of collaboration with CERN … Bahrain is perhaps the most advanced,” he said.

Ellis added that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman have also forged significant partnerships with CERN, with Saudi Arabia taking part in one of its experiments.

He said that CERN’s biggest focus is on “the smallest constituents of matters,” or the particles that make up the universe.

The research center aims to understand the behavior of these particles and decipher how they once behaved in the early history of the universe to answer the fundamental questions of who we are, why we are here and where we are going.

One focus is on the particles that make up dark matter, which, astrophysicists believe, constitute most of the matter in the universe, Ellis said.

CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. It works by colliding hadrons to create new particles and it is responsible for discovering the Higgs-Boson in 2012, a breakthrough that Ellis said was the “holy grail that we physicists have been looking for, for almost 50 years.”

Now, the focus is on carrying out more particle collisions and upgrading the experiments.

“The technological output from CERN is not just from the particles that we discover, but also from the techniques we develop to discover those particles.”

Ellis spoke to Arab News at a CERN event held jointly with the American University of Bahrain and the Sheikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa Center for Culture and Research in Manama on Tuesday.

The event hosted officials from CERN and Bahrain universities to discuss scientific collaboration between Gulf and international countries in particle physics.


Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand
Updated 13 min 32 sec ago
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Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

Saudi program promotes Arabic in Thailand

RIYADH: Arabic Language Month activities in Thailand by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language have concluded, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The initiative, in cooperation with Krirk University in Bangkok and Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai, aimed to enhance Arabic curricula, improve teacher performance and promote the language.

Activities included a scientific symposium on teaching Arabic to non-native speakers which focused on Saudi contributions to Arabic education, challenges faced by educators and students, and the development of dual-language curricula.

Workshops, training sessions and panel discussions further enriched teaching methodologies and improved learning outcomes for Arabic language students.

Abdullah Al-Washmi, the academy’s secretary-general, expressed gratitude for support from Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan.

As part of the academy’s global Arabic teaching program, the initiative has been implemented in countries such as Indonesia, China, India, Uzbekistan, Brazil and France, expanding its international reach and fostering global partnerships.


150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce
Updated 16 min 56 sec ago
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150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

150 new tech programs to train Saudi workforce

RIYADH: Tuwaiq Academy in Riyadh has opened registrations for more than 150 advanced technical bootcamps and programs scheduled for Q1 2025, in partnership with leading global organizations.

The schemes will improve the skills of the workforce in advanced technologies and connect people to job opportunities, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Training is open to employees, university students, graduates and high school students, covering fields such as programming, cybersecurity, AI, cloud computing, user experience and interface design, metaverse technologies, digital manufacturing, game development, robotics and drone programming.

It reflects the academy’s commitment to addressing job market needs and preparing the workforce, the SPA added.

Register for training at tuwaiq.edu.sa.

Established in 2019, Tuwaiq Academy works with more than 1,000 in-person trainees daily and offers professional certifications in collaboration with global organizations such as Apple, Meta, Amazon, Alibaba, Dell, CompTIA, OffSec, IBM and Microsoft.

As the training arm of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, the academy has trained more than 32,000 people, with 80 percent of graduates securing placements through its Tuwaiq Job Fair program involving government and private sectors.


Saudi Arabia, France deepen cultural cooperation with new executive programs

Saudi Arabia, France deepen cultural cooperation with new executive programs
Updated 04 December 2024
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Saudi Arabia, France deepen cultural cooperation with new executive programs

Saudi Arabia, France deepen cultural cooperation with new executive programs

RIYADH: French President Emmanuel Macron signed an executive program with French cultural institutions in Saudi Arabia during his visit to the Kingdom on Tuesday.

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan met with his French counterpart, Rachida Dati, during the visit.

The executive programs focus on fostering partnerships relating to heritage, museums, libraries, film and other cultural sectors. Activities include training artists, conducting archaeological surveys, organizing educational workshops and more.

The agreements represent a milestone in Saudi-French cultural relations, highlighting a shared commitment to advancing global cultural heritage and fostering innovation in the arts.

The executive programs were signed with the following institutions:

⁠ National Monuments Center

⁠Operator of Heritage and Cultural Real Estate Projects

⁠French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research

⁠⁠Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Creation Industrielle

National Library of France

⁠Grand Palais

⁠National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image

⁠⁠National Institute of Cultural Heritage of France

⁠⁠The National School of Photography of Arles


Saudi crown prince holds meetings on sidelines of One Water Summit

Saudi crown prince holds meetings on sidelines of One Water Summit
Updated 04 December 2024
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Saudi crown prince holds meetings on sidelines of One Water Summit

Saudi crown prince holds meetings on sidelines of One Water Summit

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a series of meetings on the sidelines of the One Water Summit held in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Prince Mohammed met with French President Emmanuel Macron and heads of top French companies.

They discussed efforts to combat desertification, exchanging expertise and innovative technologies, and enhancing research and development to address water challenges and ensure the sustainability of water resources.

The crown prince also met with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, Prime Minister of Mongolia, Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Ajaypal Singh Banga, President of the World Bank Group.

The meetings revolved around bilateral relations, joint coordination to address environmental challenges related to water scarcity and drought, in addition to issues of mutual interest.

The summit was jointly chaired by Saudi Arabia, France and Kazakhstan, and supported by the World Bank.

It underscored Saudi Arabia’s pioneering international role in confronting water challenges across the world and its commitment to sustainable environmental issues.

During his opening remarks, the crown prince said the summit was being held in conjunction with the Kingdom hosting the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, which aims to reduce land degradation and drought.

He said that the Kingdom had contributed $6 billion in supporting 200 water-related projects in more than 60 developing countries around the world.