Houriya Kazim is the UAE's first female Emirati surgeon specialising in breast surgery. As well as founding the Well Woman Clinic in Dubai, she also set up a breast cancer support group. She recently spoke at a Dubai networking event hosted by 85 Broads - a women's network founded by four female Goldman Sachs employees from the United States - about her career path.
How did you become a surgeon?
I became a physician first. I come from a very large family of doctors so one battle I didn't have to fight was my family. I went to medical school in Ireland and when I came back to Dubai I was working at a government hospital and it was there I realised the need for a female surgeon. A lot of the time women, not just with breast problems but anything in an intimate area of her body, would not want the male consultant examining her. It struck me in the government hospital - and that was almost 30 years ago - the advanced cases of breast cancer I saw; I had never seen [such cases] as a student or even in my medical textbooks. There were many reasons for that - superstition and modesty - so the advanced cases were always in my head. So I went back to the UK to do my training as a surgeon.
How did you come to specialise in breast surgery?
I became a surgeon and I thought: I haven't done much cancer surgery so I will apply to this famous cancer hospital, the Royal Marsden in London. I wanted to be there for six months to know what cancer surgery is like. I was shortlisted and what I didn't realise was that there were several jobs up for offer, all in different speciaisations. They tossed a bit of paper at me and said: "which job do you want?" And because breast starts with "b" it was the first one on the list so I just went "breast". My first day in the breast clinic was a revelation and I thought: "this is what I want to do with my life".
How was your return to Dubai?
I came back in 1998 thinking: I am going to save all these women. I didn't have a lot of problems in my own country. The main reason is that people saw the need for it. One of nicest things said to me by a male surgeon was: "It's great since you came back to Dubai because I don't see any more advanced cases of breast cancer".
You also founded an NGO, Breast Friends, why was that?
Initially we raised money for education and awareness and now we use the money to pay for patients' healthcare costs. We would have liked to have gone into locally based research. Even though we do all the right things like have children, breastfeed and don't take too many hormones, we [Emirati women] get breast cancer much younger and much more aggressively than women in the West. But all the research comes out of the West. Until two years ago, any type of cancer treatment was free [in the UAE] if you were here legally but that has changed. There are a huge number of women here who have no, or inadequate, insurance.
You now also do your best to help women stay in work.
There is a lot of pressure [on Arab women] to get married and have children. When I came back [to the UAE] at 29, I was geriatric. Then if you are working your husband is saying: "Well, my friends' wives aren't working". It looks like he can't provide for the family. There are lots of issues that are overcome by things like job sharing. In my own office I only hire women and all but one have young children. They are all free to come and go as they like. So if there is an award ceremony at school, they are free to go. I lose money; it's not ideal from a financial point of view but they want to work because now they have the ideal job.
lgutcher@thenational.ae
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Company%20Profile
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Andor
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The%20specs
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
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Fixtures
Friday Leganes v Alaves, 10.15pm; Valencia v Las Palmas, 12.15am
Saturday Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad, 8.15pm; Girona v Atletico Madrid, 10.15pm; Sevilla v Espanyol, 12.15am
Sunday Athletic Bilbao v Getafe, 8.15am; Barcelona v Real Betis, 10.15pm; Deportivo v Real Madrid, 12.15am
Monday Levante v Villarreal, 10.15pm; Malaga v Eibar, midnight
Arabian Gulf Cup FINAL
Al Nasr 2
(Negredo 1, Tozo 50)
Shabab Al Ahli 1
(Jaber 13)
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
