Department of Psychiatry

Clinical & Community Services

General Adult  

Since its inception in 1990, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has been fully involved and committed to psychiatric services in the Al Ain region. The department was instrumental in establishing the Al Ain Psychiatric Division and the CME programs. Faculty members provide clinical services on an outpatient, inpatient, and consultation liaison basis. The department runs specialized outpatient clinics in Al Ain Hospital weekly. The specialist clinics include a mood disorder clinic, an adult ADHD clinic, and an older persons’ mental health clinic. The department also provides expert input to the Medicolegal Panel based at Al Ain Hospital.

Furthermore, liaison services are provided to other departments in both these hospitals. The Department played an active role in introducing the official nomenclature of the contemporary classification and the diagnostic systems in psychiatry to be used in recording diagnoses and communicating with other professionals. One of the hallmarks of the departmental activities in this regard is the organization and supervision of the monthly case conference under the title of Al Ain Psychiatry Club. This involves an invited expert presenting a patient with diagnostic difficulties, management problems, or unusual clinical presentations to a large audience consisting of psychiatric nurses, medical students, residents, specialists, consultants, psychologists, and social workers. The faculty is actively involved in the recruitment and training program for the Psychiatry residents in the Al Ain rotation.

Child & Adolescent  

The Department was instrumental in establishing child psychiatry services in Al Ain. The Department supports the clinical services by conducting two specialist outpatient clinics and consultation services at Al Ain Hospital. In addition to providing child mental health services, we support the provision of services in the area of developmental psychiatry.

Student Well-being Services 

Department of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the Students Affairs Office and Research & Postgraduates Office, has launched counseling services for postgraduate and undergraduate students. This initiative underscores CMHS's commitment to student well-being and holistic support.

Community Mental Health Awareness Campaign 

Mental health conditions represent a significant and growing problem in the Middle East. Sociocultural factors like language barriers, stigmatization, logistical constraints, and over-dependence on clinicians for health-related information shape conceptions of health and care and represent challenges concerning engagement. There is an urgent need to improve the dissemination of information related to Mental Health in the community.

One possible way to do so is to promote a knowledge-based culture. This can be achieved by aligning traditional deterministic and spiritual mental health perspectives with scientific and evidence-based models.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Al Ain, is proud of its contributions to developing mental health services in the region and beyond. As a public university department, we have conducted numerous events on the community front.

We offer bespoke, free-of-cost expert-led sessions followed by a Q&A. The sessions are aimed at all members of the community to discuss issues relevant to them.

Teaching

The department plays a vital role in all stages of the MD curriculum, providing significant contributions to the clinical training of students, with a particular emphasis on shaping essential skills and fostering appropriate attitudes. We actively contribute to the PreMed, PreClinical, and Clinical curriculum. As part of this commitment, we are organizing a six-week multidisciplinary ‘Behavioral Sciences’ course for the Pre-Clinical students. The Pre-clinical course compliments our Psychiatry Clerkship Rotation within the Junior Clinical Sciences Course, which offers an intensive 4-week program. The primary aim is to familiarize students with common mental health disorders while equipping them with essential knowledge and skills in psychiatric patient care. During the clerkship, students gain exposure to a range of psychiatric services, including inpatient and outpatient care, primary care psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. Our teaching methods encompass tutorials, student-led seminars, clinical clerking, communication skills sessions, problem-based learning (PBL) sessions, small group discussions, self-directed learning, and an Evidence-Based Medicine assignment.

Research

The main research areas of psychiatry encompass understanding the neurobiological, genetic, psychological, and social factors contributing to mental illness, developing effective treatments and interventions, and addressing the global burden of psychiatric disorders across the lifespan. Some of the key research areas in Psychiatry include:

Clinical Disorders:

Mood disorders, psychosis, anxiety disorders, child psychiatry, suicide, old age psychiatry, cognitive disorders, sleep disorders, and neuropsychiatry are investigated to understand their underlying mechanisms, develop effective treatments, and improve outcomes for individuals affected by these conditions.

Treatment and Interventions:

Psychopharmacology research focuses on developing and optimizing medications to treat psychiatric disorders, while psychotherapeutic interventions and innovative treatments address diverse mental health challenges, offering hope and support to patients.

Global Mental Health and Societal Impact:

Research on career burden and stigma, AI and mental health, and work and study place stress and burnout aims to address societal attitudes, systemic challenges, and environmental factors affecting mental well-being to reduce stigma, promote resilience, and enhance societal support structures.

These research fields represent diverse areas of inquiry within psychiatry and offer interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation opportunities in understanding and addressing mental health challenges.

To access the research profiles of individual faculty members, kindly use the following link:

https://research.uaeu.ac.ae/en/organisations/department-of-psychiatry/publications/

Faculty

Note: If calling from outside the UAEU organization, dial (+971 3 713) before the extension.

Name	Position	Email	Extension
Dr. Syed Javaid	Chair and Assistant Professor	sjavaid@uaeu.ac.ae	7417
Dr. Karim Abdel Aziz	Associate Professor	kabdelaziz@uaeu.ac.ae	7442
Dr Dina El Gabry	Assistant Professor	daly@uaeu.ac.ae	7465
Dr. Leena M. Amiri	Assistant Professor	lina.amiri@uaeu.ac.ae	7595

General Enquiries

Thank you for your interest in the Psychiatry Department. We welcome your query and encourage you to contact us using the information below:

United Arab Emirates University,
College of Medicine and Health Sciences
P.O.Box: 15551, Al Ain, UAE

Email.    Cmhs.office@uaeu.ac.ae