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Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)
Dr. Manal Musallam Othman, PhD, MPH, BSN, CDE is a Qatar-based public-health specialist, diabetes educator, health educator and academic whose career has focused on diabetes education, chronic-disease prevention, lifestyle intervention, patient empowerment, health promotion and self-management.
She has spent much of her professional career with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), where she has held senior leadership responsibility for diabetes and patient education. HMC's conference biographies identify her as Director of Patient Education – Diabetes & Endocrine Division, while a 2025 Primary Health Care Corporation conference profile identifies her as Director of Patient Education at HMC.
Her academic background began in nursing. She graduated from nursing school in Jordan in 1993 with a bachelor's degree, subsequently completing a postgraduate diploma in diabetes education in 2002 and becoming a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) in 2005. She later completed a Master of Public Health in Community Medicine/Public Health in 2007.
She subsequently pursued doctoral research at Qatar University's College of Medicine, focusing on population health and diabetes self-management. In April 2022, she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “Development of a Problem and AttRibutes bAsed DIabetes self-manaGeMent (PARADIGM) intervention.” Qatar University described this as the first PhD oral defense conducted by the College of Medicine and identified Othman as the first Qatari woman to obtain a doctorate in medical sciences from Qatar University.
Her documented professional appointments include:
Her work extends beyond diabetes education into obesity, lifestyle intervention, chronic-disease management and behavioural approaches to health. This makes her particularly relevant to the QPEDC 2026 workshop on healthy lifestyle choices and obesity management.
Othman began her professional healthcare career after graduating from nursing school in Jordan. Her subsequent specialization moved toward diabetes education and public health rather than conventional bedside nursing alone.
She obtained postgraduate training in diabetes education in 2002, became a certified diabetes educator in 2005, and completed her master's degree in public health/community medicine in 2007.
At HMC, she became involved in developing structured diabetes education and patient-empowerment services. Her responsibilities expanded into education strategy, professional training, public awareness and chronic-disease self-management.
Othman has served as Co-Chair of the National Patient Empowerment pillar and Co-Chair of the National Awareness pillar of Qatar's National Diabetes Strategy. She has also participated in national chronic-disease and multiple-chronic-conditions initiatives.
One of her documented achievements was establishing Qatar's first accredited advanced diploma in diabetes education, in collaboration with CNAQ. She subsequently helped develop a Master's program in Diabetes Care and Applied Science with CNAQ/Qatar's University of Doha for Science and Technology.
She was involved in adopting the DESMOND structured group diabetes-education programme for people with type 2 diabetes in Qatar. Her work has consistently emphasized patient education and self-management rather than relying exclusively on clinical treatment.
She helped develop an HMC patient-education organizational structure within the allied-health workforce, including job descriptions, performance-appraisal systems and competency frameworks. She also developed clinical training programmes for public-health graduates in diabetes management.
Her doctoral dissertation investigated a problem- and attributes-based diabetes self-management intervention, examining how educational interventions could affect outcomes including knowledge, physical activity, HbA1c and quality of life.
Her research and educational output includes publications on diabetes prevalence, metabolic syndrome, diabetes education and self-management. HMC also credits her with producing extensive patient-education material, including videos, pamphlets, Arabic educational resources, materials for deaf patients and Braille diabetes materials.
Her documented areas of expertise include:
Her doctoral research particularly connects behavioural intervention, patient education and diabetes self-management, which is directly relevant to the behavioural-science component of her QPEDC workshop.
Dr. Othman has extensive experience as a conference speaker, workshop chair and diabetes/public-health educator.
For example, HMC listed her as chair of the “How to Educate Educators” workshop at the 2024 Qatar Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Conference. The programme also included an Obesity Workshop and sessions addressing dietary advice and diabetes complications.
Earlier, at the 2020 Qatar Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Conference, she moderated the Approaches to Lifestyle Management workshop, which addressed diabetes self-management education, physical activity and motivational interviewing.
She has also served as an international lecturer in diabetes education and has appeared on Qatari television discussing diabetes and public-health issues.
For the Qatar Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Conference (QPEDC 2026), MedArena identifies Dr. Manal as conference faculty presenting a workshop covering healthy lifestyle choices, behavioural-science approaches and obesity management.
Sidra Medicine confirms that QPEDC 2026 is scheduled for 27–28 November 2026 and is a multidisciplinary conference focused on pediatric endocrine disorders, diabetes, obesity, growth and puberty disorders and related areas.
Full name: Dr. Manal Musallam Othman
Qualifications: BSN, postgraduate Diploma in Diabetes Education, CDE, MPH, PhD
Primary specialty: Public Health / Diabetes Education / Health Education
Current major affiliation: Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Academic affiliation: Qatar University, Clinical Assistant Professor of Public Health
Additional academic affiliation: University of Doha for Science and Technology, Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences
Core expertise: Diabetes education, chronic disease self-management, lifestyle intervention, patient empowerment, obesity and public health
Country: Qatar
Although she is often introduced simply as “Dr. Manal” in event material, the available official conference and institutional records strongly identify the QPEDC faculty member as Dr. Manal Musallam Othman. Her professional profile is that of a public-health/diabetes-education specialist rather than a pediatric endocrinologist or physician treating obesity surgically.
Sidra Medicine
Sidra Medicine