Ammar Albanna

Ammar Albanna MD FRCPC IFAPA

Director, Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital , Emirates Health Services, UAE

Founding President, Emirates Society for Child Mental Health, Emirates Medical Association  

Vice President, International Associational of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals (IACAPAP) 

Founding Head of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center of Excellence

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, MBRU 

Dr. Ammar Albanna is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist trained in Canada and currently the Director of Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital, the premier psychiatric facility in the UAE under Emirates Health Services.

Graduating from McGill University, Canada, Dr. Albanna completed his psychiatry residency and pursued child and adolescent psychiatry training. He furthered his expertise with a fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychiatry at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. In addition to being a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, he's also an international fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Albanna holds a Master's in Healthcare Leadership from McGill University.

He is distinguished as the founding Head of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center of Excellence at Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital in Dubai. Under the Emirates Medical Association, he initiated the Emirates Society for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, representing the field nationally. Internationally, he currently serves as Vice President of the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals (IACAPAP).

He is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dubai (MBRU). Dr. Albanna's research, primarily centered on neuropsychiatric disorders in the UAE and innovative healthcare models, has earned him acclaim. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for a study, funded by SWARD, exploring machine intelligence's role in Autism Spectrum Disorders. His endeavors have garnered numerous research grants, including the Dubai Harvard Center for Global Healthcare Delivery Research Award and the Al Jalila Foundation grant.

He has championed significant initiatives, like the Dubai declaration for Autism in 2017 and the 2021 Dubai Autism Guidelines. Recognized for his contributions, Dr. Albanna has received numerous accolades for his clinical, research, and educational pursuits. 

A regular speaker at local and international scientific forums, Dr. Albanna has also chaired pivotal global conferences, including the Autism Congress in 2017 , and the 25th Congress of the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals (IACAPAP) in 2022. He provides peer reviews for esteemed medical journals, is a member of MBRU's Institutional Review Board, and has served on jury committees for prominent awards, such as the Fatima Bint Mubarak Award for Motherhood and Childhood. Additionally, he is on the Consultation Council for People with Determination at the Ministry of Community Development in the UAE.