Sidra Medicine, a Qatar Foundation entity, has appointed Dr Barbro Friden as its chief executive officer. She has extensive experience in both the public and private healthcare sectors in Sweden and the Middle East.
Prior to joining Sidra Medicine, Dr Friden was the CEO of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Ajman and before that, the CEO of Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Scandinavia’s largest teaching hospital.
She was previously the hospital director of the Children’s Hospital at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden.
Mohamed Khalid al-Mana, managing director and member of the Board of Governors at Sidra Medicine said: “We are delighted to have Dr Barbro Friden join us at Sidra Medicine.
“Her leadership experience in obstetrics and gynaecology and experience in having led women’s and children’s hospitals in Sweden will be a tremendous asset to our patient care model as we embark on strengthening and expanding our services in Qatar. We look forward to Dr Friden’s stewardship over the next chapter of our journey towards achieving our overall vision of becoming a beacon of learning, discovery and exceptional care.”
Dr Friden noted: “Together with our diverse multidisciplinary teams, I look forward to building on Sidra Medicine’s legacy of providing quality care and a personalised patient experience with excellent medical outcomes built on a strong research foundation of precision medicine.”
Dr Friden is well recognised within her field having won ‘Leader of the Year’, a national award in Sweden in 2015 as well as ‘Influencer of the Year’ in 2014, a life science business national award. Dr Friden sits on the board on a variety of government and commercial boards related to healthcare including a leading medtech company and Sophiahemmet, a non-profit healthcare provider under royal stewardship that conducts education, healthcare and research.
Dr Friden received her medical degree from Umea University in Sweden, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology with a subspeciality in reproductive medicine and IVF. She was also a visiting research fellow in reproductive medicine at the University of California. She holds a PhD in Medicine from Gothenburg University.