Dr. Javaid Sheikh
Dean, WCMC-Q
Javaid I. Sheikh, M.D. was appointed as Dean at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) effective 1 January, 2010, after serving as Interim Dean since 1 January, 2009. Dr. Sheikh joined WCMC-Q as Vice Dean for Research and Professor of Psychiatry in early 2007 from Stanford University School of Medicine, where he was an Associate Dean and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
From 2001 to 2006, Dr. Sheikh served as Associate Dean for Veterans Affairs at Stanford and the Chief of Medical Staff at the Stanford affiliate VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). As the Chairman of the Board of Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education (PAIRE), he also oversaw the substantial research endeavors of more than 100 Stanford faculty members based at the VAPAHCS. As the Research Director for National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Clinical Director for Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center at VAPAHCS, he oversaw broad based research programs focusing on the neurobiology of anxiety disorders.
Dr. Sheikh is a graduate of King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan who started his psychiatry residency training at University of Connecticut and completed it at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also completed two research fellowships at Stanford after finishing his residency.
Dr. Sheikh is an internationally renowned researcher in the area of anxiety disorders. During the 1990s, he conducted first studies to delineate impact of aging on anxiety disorders, particularly a detailed characterization of panic disorder in aging patients. His most recent investigations funded by the National Institutes of Health have focused on the interface of central fear circuits and sleep architecture in patients with chronic anxiety disorders. He has published more than 125 scientific articles, in addition to numerous abstracts documenting his research findings.
Under Dr. Sheikh’s leadership, WCMC-Q has established a first rate translational and clinical research infrastructure, including core laboratories and research administration personnel. Recently, he began implementation of a five-year strategic plan for the next phase of WCMC-Q’s development (vision 2010-15), which will fully integrate WCMC-Q’s tripartite mission of education, research, and clinical care, with a view to establishing it as the premier academic medical institution in the Gulf.
