Cleveland Clinic Opens New Cancer Center in Abu Dhabi

Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD

Cleveland Clinic has opened a new state-of-the-art cancer facility, named the Fatima bint Mubarak Center, at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

“Today marks the next step in fulfilling our mission to provide compassionate, complex care in the UAE,” said Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., CEO and President and Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair of Cleveland Clinic. “Eight years ago, our mission in the UAE began with the opening of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. It continues today with the Fatima bint Mubarak Center, which will allow patients to receive world class cancer care in the UAE. Thank you to everyone who is helping us fight this disease and improve the lives of those throughout the region. Working together, we can bring new hope and better outcomes to those diagnosed with cancer.”

The 205,000-square-foot facility provides cutting-edge, personalized care for each cancer patient’s journey. The Fatima bint Mubarak Center is modeled after Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center, which is home to the No. 6 cancer program in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. The new cancer facility brings an integrated and transformative approach to diagnosing and treating the disease in the UAE and the Middle East. Cancer is the third most common cause of death in the UAE and the primary reason patients travel out of the region for care. The new center will help eliminate the need for patients to travel abroad for the necessary treatment and care.

Across its international locations, Cleveland Clinic provides comprehensive cancer care, enhanced by innovative basic, clinical and translational research. The focus is on delivering the most effective treatments to achieve long-term survival and improve patients’ quality of life. The Cleveland Clinic’s global cancer team includes more than 800 physicians, researchers, nurses and technicians who care for thousands of patients each year and provide access to a wide range of clinical trials. Clinicians at Fatima bint Mubarak Center will collaborate with colleagues at Cleveland Clinic’s highly ranked cancer program in the US to bring multidisciplinary care, precision medicine and cell-based therapy to patients in the Middle East.

“Our vision is for anyone diagnosed with cancer to have access to the most advanced care in a way that’s convenient for them,” says Alex A. Adjei, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. “Cleveland Clinic offers that through its comprehensive global network of cancer experts who share best practices and provide patients around the world personalized treatments and innovative clinical trials.”

The Fatima bint Mubarak Center has 32 exam rooms for multidisciplinary cancer consultation and 24 private infusion rooms for administering medications intravenously. The chemotherapy infusion suites are located on the exterior of the building, providing natural light and views of Al Maryah Island and surrounding islands. In addition, the building has two procedure rooms, and an area devoted exclusively to women’s oncology services. The cancer center provides personalized care throughout each cancer patient’s journey, including sophisticated screening and diagnostic testing, advanced radiation treatments, and precision cellular therapies. The center employs an expert team of 150 world-class nurses, physicians, and radiologists— who have experience caring for patients with the most critical and complex cancer challenges.

Cleveland Clinic is committed to increasing access to clinical trials, developing novel therapies, and focusing on untapped areas of research, such as understanding the causes of and managing side effects of cancer treatments, and preventing and treating young-onset cancers.

“For the first time, Cleveland Clinic will bring cancer clinical trials from North America to the Middle East,” says Stephen Grobmyer, M.D., chair of the oncology institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. “This will establish a foundation for patients to have access to the latest and best treatments, from early to late stages of disease.”

Beyond clinical services, the facility will house critical support services intended to reduce cancer’s psychological stress, including a healing, comforting environment offering meditation and spiritual areas, and a rooftop and surrounding gardens. The 4th Angel Mentoring Program will provide patients with free, confidential, one-on-one advice and support from a trained volunteer and cancer survivor. The program will begin with breast cancer patients, which is the most prevalent type of cancer in the UAE, and will expand to all cancer patients in the future. A Comprehensive Lifestyle Medicine Program will be the first in the region to support cancer patients with the expertise of a lifestyle medical doctor, physiotherapist, psychologist, and in-house dietitian.

The naming of Abu Dhabi’s cancer center honors the pivotal leadership role played by H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, and the Mother of the Nation, in the development of the UAE’s healthcare sector. The name recognizes the pivotal gift from the UAE to Cleveland Clinic, made in the name of H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi oncology institute established a patient and family advisory council, which included cancer patients, patients in remission, and patients’ family members, who provided feedback on how to enhance the delivery of cancer treatments. Insights from the council have been incorporated into the new cancer center’s design to optimize the services and care patients will receive.