“كل من يبدع، أو يسجل اختراعاً، أو يستغرق وقته في بحث معين، لا يكون حافزه أي جائزة أو أي شيء في المقابل، بل هو شغف في ذاته لكشف لغز ما، كألغاز الأمراض مثلا… هو إيمان بفكرة ما يسعى إلى جعلها حقيقة، وتكبر في داخله لتصبح حلما وهدفا وهاجسا أحياناً. الشخص الطَموح يسعى إلى تحقيق أهدافه بغض النظر عن أي تقدير، مع أن التقدير مرحلة ضرورية فيما بعد لأنها تحتّم تطوير الفكرة وحمايتها وتسويقها واستفادة الإنسان منها. البحث والطموح والاختراع حاجات إنسانية لصاحبها أولا، وحين يُخرجها من داخله فإنها تدخل في خدمة الآخر”.
With these words, Dr. Ali Taher, winner of the 2021 Kuwait Award in the field of applied medical sciences, began his interesting talk with the Journal of Scientific Progress about his scientific career, and his advanced research in the field of developing new drugs and vaccines and addressing epidemics and communicable diseases, especially thalassemia.
"I believe that my success in my career depended on many things, including my passion and love for my work. I believe that no one can succeed without loving what they do. Once we have a passion for our work, once we have a passion for our area of interest, we will achieve success. The other important thing is to focus; focus on a specific area and delve deeper into it. The third thing is networking and networking. I have established a network of relationships in my country, in my region and globally, and this has greatly influenced my success. When you have a network of relationships, then it will make a difference. It's important to be passionate, focused on your work, use the network you have, have a scientific mind, and always believe in fairness, diversity and inclusion."
Dr. Taher's scientific passion began in Lebanon where he studied high school at Al-Rawda High School, at a time when Lebanon was going through one of the most difficult periods of civil war in its history. After finishing high school, he studied human medicine at the American University of Beirut, then specialized there, and then went to London, where he continued his training in hematology. In London, he developed an interest in thalassemia (a genetic disease transmitted to the child by both parents, which requires lifelong blood transfusions, called transfusion-dependent thalassemia), because he saw many patients with thalassemia in Lebanon. The First Lady of Lebanon at the beginning of the nineties of the twentieth century, Mrs. Mona Hrawi, and his professor, Professor Victor Hofbrand, proposed the idea of establishing a center for thalassemia care in Lebanon, which was initiated in 1994.
An important stop for Dr. Tahir was in the Netherlands, where he obtained his PhD, and his thesis on unrevealing morbidities in thalassemia was non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia.
Promising Treatments
Treatment of transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients requires constant blood transfusion for them to survive. Because the blood contains so much iron, iron will be deposited in these patients in the heart, liver, and endocrine glands. Therefore, the first thing Dr. Taher sought was to try to find the best treatment for these patients to remove iron from their bodies using drugs that are not given intravenously or regular injections, but rather oral medications that remove iron from these patients' organs. This is the work he did at an early stage on Diveriprione and then on Divarazerox, two oral medications that patients should adhere to, so that iron can be removed from their bodies. Current efforts are focused on trying to increase hemoglobin or red blood cells in the patient's blood so that he does not need a blood transfusion.
وعن الفوائد المترتبة على تلك الأبحاث على المرضى بصورة خاصة والبشرية بصورة عامة، يوضح الدكتور طاهر أنه بعد إزالة الحديد من هؤلاء المرضى سيصيرون أصحاء مثل أي فرد عادي، وهذا هو السبب في أنهم يعيشون حاليًا سنوات أطول ويندمجون على نحو أفضل في المجتمع. و”في الوقت نفسه “نعمل على تطوير حقن من شأنها زيادة خلايا الدم الحمراء في دمهم بدلاً من نقلها إليهم، وهذا سيحسِّن نوعية حياتهم ويزيد مستوى الهيموغلوبين لديهم، ويقلل من إصابتهم بالمرض”.
He believes that these efforts will lead to finding promising treatments, thus improving the quality of life, not only in Lebanon or neighboring countries, but also globally. Recently, some of these drugs have been approved. We are currently conducting several new clinical trials not only on hemoglobin booster injections, but also on hemoglobin booster tablets.
ويضيف “نحن كعلماء سنستمر في مساعينا لإيجاد علاجات جديدة من شأنها تحسين نوعية حياة مرضانا وزيادة اندماجهم في المجتمع، ومنحهم فرصة العيش مثل أي فرد آخر في المجتمع. وهذا هو السبب الذي يجعلنا نتطلع إلى المزيد من علاجات تقليل الحديد في الجسم وزيادة الهيموغلوبين لدى هذه المجموعة من المرضى”.
Stimulate Creativity
Dr. Taher received the Kuwait Award in recognition of all his efforts in the field of thalassemia, and the research he conducted in this regard, especially transfusion-dependent thalassemia and clarifying the problems related to non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia, as well as for research related to the work on removing excess iron in transfusion-dependent and non-transfusion-dependent patients, and increasing hemoglobin in cases of dependence and non-dependence on blood transfusion.
On the role that such awards play in motivating Arab scientists and researchers to create, give and excel in their fields of specialization, Dr. Taher believes that the awards represent something more than their value, which is appreciation, appreciation is beautiful, and fuels enthusiasm for more giving, as there is nothing more beautiful than to appreciate the tireless efforts made by any inventor. Appreciation fuels enthusiasm that you are in a society aware of the value of what you do, and therefore has great significance at the level surrounding your inventions and ideas.
ويقول إنه ليس هناك سبيل أمثل لتحفيز بيئة الإبداع العلمي في الوطن العربي، وتشجيع الباحثين والعلميين العرب، ولاسيما الشباب، على الإنتاج والعطاء في أوطانهم؛ لأنه لا يوجد سبيل ثابت. “فالكون في تطور دائم، والمخترع هو كالجوهرة، يتزاحم عليه كثر بالعروض والتقدير. وهل هناك رهان على انتمائه، وتعلقه بوطنه؟ هذا صحيح. أنا تعلقت بالإنسان، لذلك صمدت واحتفلت بتقدير مرضاي، وتحديت نفسي لأرى الأمان في أعينهم. لكلٍّ حوافزه. لكن لا شك أن البيئة السليمة أمر مطلوب لكل من ينتج، وتسهم في توفير سبل الراحة له. والحافز الأساسي لخلق الإبداع هو مساحة مريحة لمزيد منه، هو التقدير والتحفيز والتمويل والاحتفال، هو حق الشعور المتبادل عندما تعطي”.
Bleeding Minds
Dr. Taher touches on the continuous bleeding of creative Arab minds in all fields, especially in the last two decades, and believes that the best way to keep these scientists connected to their homelands, strengthen ties among them, and benefit from their achievements, can be achieved by strengthening the events that bring them together, because they contribute to the exchange of ideas and experiences, and it is also important to listen with great focus and great attention to young people, as they understand the pulse of homelands and potential energy, and at the same time they are prone to migration to places that motivate them. We must treat the inventor in the medical world as a treasure; he is the servant of all humanity. Whoever finds in his homeland what he deserves will give more and will remain clinging to his land and homeland.
He stresses the need for distinguished national strategies for scientific research in the Arab countries, especially since the gap between those countries and their advanced counterparts in this field is widening, with the need to focus on important priorities for Arab societies, such as health, development and environment issues. It calls on Arab universities to launch initiatives in the field of supporting scientific research and encouraging researchers, in addition to strengthening cooperation among them.
ويشير إلى الدور الحيوي الذي يمكن أن تؤديه المرأة العربية في المجالات العلمية، ويرى أنها تعتبر ثروة للأوطان، ولديها قدرة كبيرة على العطاء في كل المجالات، “لكن بعض التقاليد أو أنظمة العمل في بعض البلدان تحول دون بروز قدراتها. والتغيير يجب أن يكون على مستوى المجتمع، ومن يديرون السلطة يملكون القدرة على الاستفادة من الإمكانات الهائلة التي تملكها النساء في كل المجالات. وفي الآونة الأخيرة نشهد انفتاحا واعدا في كثير من البلدان العربية، وأنا متفائل بذلك”، كما يقول.
Abdullah Badran's dialogue