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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Diabetes and Endocrine Practice 2024; 07(04): 202-203
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1795090
State of the Association

Gulf Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes in 2024

Khaled Aldahmani
1   Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Tawam Hospital, United Arab Emirates
,
Naji Al Johani
2   Department of Adult Endocrine, Obesity, and Endocrine Metabolism Center, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Tarik Elhadd
3   Hamad Metabolic Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
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Funding None.
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We are delighted to provide the 2024 state of our association. We will outline the association's key achievements, initiatives, and ambitions. The report reflects the work of the Board of Directors (BOD) throughout the year, highlighting scientific advancements and community engagement activities following our recent ritual of annual reflective briefing.[1] [2] [3]

As the sole professional endocrine and diabetes regional organization, we have gone from strength to strength since the rebranding from the previous AACE-Gulf Chapter to Gulf Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes (GAED). We have trudged on new frontiers and come of age strongly to the fore. This note provides an overview of the association's direction and goals as we transition to the next phase of leadership, ensuring continued progress in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolic diseases in the Gulf region.

We were delighted to welcome delegates to the 2024 Annual Clinical Congress of the Gulf Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes (GAED), held in the vibrant capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, from October 18 to 20. This year's event brought together specialists from around the globe to exchange knowledge, discuss medical advancements, and strengthen our collective commitment to advancing endocrine and diabetes care in the Gulf region.

Our 3-day congress will featured a rich scientific program, with 7 distinguished international speakers and 70 regional and international experts addressing a wide range of topics in endocrinology. We reintroduced the popular debate format, adding a dynamic, interactive element to the sessions. In addition, two highly focused precongress updates were organized, one on pituitary disorders and another on lipid management, which attracted significant participation and engagement. Abstracts of the Free Communications will be published in the current issue of this journal.

In 2024, GAED also continued to expand its virtual education initiatives. We hosted a series of webinars on key topics in diabetes and endocrinology, with an average of 1,219 attendees per webinar. These webinars included the treatment of diabetes during Ramadan and a focused discussion on diagnosing and managing primary hyperaldosteronism.

This year's significant achievement was the establishment of the Gulf Pituitary Group, a new initiative aimed at improving pituitary care across the region. The inaugural meeting, held in Dubai on April 26, 2024, was attended by experts from various Gulf countries. Working closely with the GAED leadership, this group will focus on advancing pituitary knowledge and education, fostering regional collaboration, and promoting research to enhance pituitary care throughout the Gulf region.

Another remarkable achievement in 2024 was the active role of the GAED's Social Media Committee, which greatly enhanced our digital outreach. Several posts were published across various social media platforms, targeting health care professionals and the general community. The content covered a range of important topics, such as guidelines updates and management of adrenal nodules, hyperprolactinemia/prolactinoma evaluation and management, practical guidelines on screening and management of impulse control disorders in patients treated with dopamine agonists, and postbariatric hypoglycemia diagnosis and management.

These efforts were positively received, contributing to a significant increase in the number of followers and helping increase awareness of endocrine and diabetes care in the region.

Our journal, the Journal of Diabetes and Endocrine Practice (JDEP) continues to grow as a key platform for scientific research in the region. We are proud to report that all four issues for 2024 were published on time.[4] [5] [6] [7] We sincerely thank the editor-in-chief, the editorial board, reviewers, and authors for their invaluable contributions. We encourage more submissions as we strive toward achieving PubMed indexation shortly, a milestone that will further raise the visibility of research from the region.

As we look forward to the next chapter in the GAED's journey, we wish the incoming President, Dr. Wiam Hussain from Bahrain, and the BODs the best of luck. We are confident that under their leadership and with the dedication of all our members, the GAED will continue to thrive and advance endocrine and diabetes care in the Gulf region.

Finally, we wish to express our cordial gratitude to everyone for their ongoing support and look forward to another successful year.


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Conflict of Interest

None declared.

Authors' Contributions

All the authors contributed equally to the editorial.



Address for correspondence

Dr. Khaled Aldahmani, MD, FRCPC
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Tawam Hospital, Al-Ain
United Arab Emirates   

Publication History

Article published online:
18 November 2024

© 2024. Gulf Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes (GAED). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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