On December 08, 2022, International Pharmaceutical Federation released its debut sports pharmacy report; Sports pharmacy practice and education: A global overview. Dr. Dixon Thomas and Prof. Sherief Khalifa contributed a case study to the report; ‘GMU-UAE NADA collaboration in drugs in sport education and research’. The full report can be found at; https://www.fip.org/file/5391
A Gulf Medical University (GMU) and United Arab Emirates National Anti-Doping Agency (UAE NADA) collaboration is mutually beneficial. For implementing the International Standard for Education as part of the World Anti-Doping Program, the UAE NADA delivered educational sessions and conducted hands-on training for PharmD students at GMU. Future pharmacists have the potential to care for bodybuilders and athletes by preventing inadvertent doping and creating the right attitudes among people who care about performance enhancement. Interested students had the opportunity to join as chaperones with the UAE NADA. The collaboration of GMU and UAE NADA is instrumental in developing national capacity and advocacy with an educated and trained pharmacy workforce. A group of students researched the performance enhancement attitudes of bodybuilders in the UAE; the research had an intervention to improve the attitude of bodybuilders against unfair and unhealthy performance enhancement. The interim research findings were presented at conferences in DUPHAT 2022 and ASHP Midyear 2022 Clinical Meeting & Exhibition. The final research report is under publication.
Prof. Sherief Khalifa, Dean of the College of Pharmacy commented, “The partnership between GMU and UAE NADA was instrumental for UAE to lead the advancement in the pharmacy profession and expand the scope of practice to include Sports Pharmacy.”