After an extensive search process, Harvard Medical International (HMI) and Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) have appointed Robert L. Thurer, MD to the position of Chief Academic Officer for the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center (HMSDC), part of the HMI-Dubai strategic collaboration in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Thurer will assume leadership responsibility for the implementation and oversight of all academic activities within Dubai Healthcare City. The HMSDC was launched in May 2004 and will house the Institute for Postgraduate Education and Research.

Joseph B. Martin, MD, dean of Harvard Medical School, said, “We are very pleased with Bob’s appointment. He brings the right combination of leadership, enthusiasm, maturity, and vision to this role that we believe is critical for the success of the academic mission of the HMSDC and Dubai Healthcare City.”

Thurer has been an active member of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a successful cardiothoracic surgeon and clinical educator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for the past 25 years. A graduate of Dartmouth College and a member of its governing board, as well as a graduate of Harvard Medical School, he completed his general and thoracic surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a residency in cardiovascular surgery at Children’s Hospital. Thurer is a recognized expert in the fields of surgery of the lung and thorax as well as blood use in surgery, and he has published extensively on many topics including blood conservation and lung cancer. He is a contributing editor for Cardiothoracic Digest and a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and many other leading publications.

As Chief Academic Officer, Thurer will lead the development, implementation, and management of postgraduate and continuing medical education programs in Dubai, as well as the development of postgraduate training opportunities at Harvard Medical School-affiliated and other internationally recognized academic healthcare institutions. He will also participate in the implementation of quality management and clinical planning programs within DHCC as they relate to the academic activities of healthcare providers located there. “I'm excited to be part of Harvard's initiative in Dubai,” he said. “By helping to create a sustainable academic medical community, the project has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people in the Middle East.”

Robert K. Crone, dean for international programs at Harvard Medical School, and president and chief executive officer of HMI, said, “As a graduate and longstanding member of the Faculty at Harvard, Bob will serve as an important link between Harvard and the education professionals based in Dubai.”

(Originally published in HMI World: (www.hmiworld.org) January/February 2005)