Dr. Ravinder Mamtani (second right front row), Dr. Sohaila Cheema (second left front row), with other speakers and programme participants.
Doha, Qatar: More than 60 healthcare professionals from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Cameroon, Croatia, the United Kingdom, and Canada attended this year’s Certificate in Lifestyle Medicine (CLM) programme.
The course was organised by the Institute for Population Health (IPH) at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).
The CLM is a 60-hour certificate programme that equips healthcare practitioners with the education and competencies to aid in the evaluation, prevention, and management of lifestyle-related chronic health conditions. The programme emphasises evidence-based practices focused on lifestyle-related interventions, including regular physical activity, healthy nutrition, adequate sleep, tobacco cessation, stress management, and social connections. Additionally, the course enables healthcare practitioners to improve overall quality of life and patient outcomes by engaging in meaningful discussions with patients about the potential of lifestyle medicine.
WCM-Q professor of population health sciences and vice dean for population health and lifestyle medicine, and professor of medicine at the Center for Global Health, Dr. Ravinder Mamtani said, “Integrating lifestyle medicine practices into mainstream healthcare is essential for advancing the quality and effectiveness of care. The course’s eighth offering reflects a rising urgency to integrate evidence-based lifestyle medicine into healthcare delivery.”
The CLM programme featured a selection of local and international experts, including Dr. Mamtani; associate professor of clinical population health sciences and assistant dean for IPH Dr. Sohaila Cheema; assistant professor of clinical population health sciences and assistant director of IPH, Dr. Amit Abraham; psychologist/learning support specialist and wellness counselor at WCM-Q, Sarah Burshan; senior consultant of public health and disease control, and director of the Tobacco Control Center at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Dr. Ahmad Al Mulla; and professor of medicine at WCM-Q and senior consultant in diabetes and endocrinology at the National Obesity Treatment Centre at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Dr. Shahrad Taheri.
They were joined by past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, founding chair of the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine, and chief medical officer of Blue Zones Health, Dr. Wayne Dysinger; Executive Director of the American and International Boards of Lifestyle Medicine, Stephan Herzog; president and founder of the Global Positive Health Institute, and assistant professor of the Center for Positive Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medical and Health Sciences, Dr. Liana Lianov among others.
Dr. Cheema said, “This year’s programme featured an impressive lineup of experts who provided participants with world-class insights and practical strategies to integrate lifestyle medicine in medical practice. We are also proud that the programme reached full capacity, a clear sign of the high demand for, and growing recognition of lifestyle medicine as an essential component of healthcare.”
