Dubai: In the UAE, media and residents eagerly wait for her TV appearances three days a week to learn the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected UAE and the whole world. Dr Farida Al Hosani is the official spokeswoman for the health sector in the country, and became a familiar face after she started providing the latest news related to COVID-19 efforts and developments in the UAE.
Through a live media briefing, Dr Farida usually announces the number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country, along with reported recoveries as well as deaths. She then proceeds to answer questions from local media outlets with clear and concise data.
Dr Farida Al Hosani, a UAE national, an received her Master’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in the United States in 2011. In 2017 she received a diploma in Governmental Innovation from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Governmental Innovation and Cambridge University, UK.
Al Hosani received her PhD in Public Health and Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University in 2018.
Career
Dr Farida paved the way for her career specific to the control and prevention of infectious diseases with her first role as Head of the Infectious Diseases Clinic, and from 2008 to 2010, as Senior Officer in the Infectious Diseases Department in Abu Dhabi.
From 2013 to 2019, she played the role as a founding member of the board of directors of the "Rahma" association for cancer care. She was also an associate professor at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at Emirates University.
In 2019, she was appointed as the Director of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Abu Dhabi Center for Public Health and as the official spokesperson for the health sector in the UAE.
Awards
Al Hosani has won a number of distinguished awards, including Hamdan Bin Rashid Education Award for Outstanding Performance in 2007, and the Excellent Bravo Award for Outstanding Employee from the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi in 2009, the Excellence in Teaching Award from the UAE University in 2014 – which she won for the second time in 2017.
