Dr Delos Cosgrove has performed more than 22,000 operations in his time and today presides over a US$5 billion (Dh18.36bn) healthcare empire that extends to Abu Dhabi.
The Cleveland Clinic chief executive is overseeing the creation of a 360-bed hospital in the capital due to open next year.
As a surgeon in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, he was awarded a bronze star.
Now he has set his sights on taking the fight against disease to the capital and here he talks about his hopes.
q&a
Where will you source your medical staff for the hospital?
We'll probably have 3,000 employees. The physician and nursing leadership will be Cleveland Clinic. About a third of the physicians should be from Cleveland in the United States and the rest will be sourced from as many places as we can find great docs.
What are your research strengths?
Our cardiovascular is very strong, the second is cancer and the third is diabetes. We are concerned that, as the world gets older, the incidence of degenerative neurological disease is beginning to become a huge issue. For instance in the US we now know if you live to be 80, you have a 25 per cent chance of having Alzheimer's disease. So recognising the brain is the last frontier of research. We have put together a major centre for brain health, looking particularly at Alzheimer's and testing drugs to delay or reverse [it].
What are the challenges involved in setting up in Abu Dhabi?
The whole world is searching for the right way to cost effectively deliver health care. If you look at what is going on in Europe they are going increasingly to privatisation. If you look at the US it's going just the opposite way. Abu Dhabi is straddling both and trying to figure the correct balance and model. There's a level of expectation from the Government and a level of expectation from patients, and I think a lot of those have to coalesce around what becomes the most cost effective way of delivering care.
Is your organisational focus on treatment or research?
The name is on the door. We are the Cleveland Clinic. We are not the Cleveland Research Institute or the Cleveland University. We're like a tricycle; the big wheel is the clinical care, the two supporting wheels are research and education. I don't think you can teach until you establish the capacity to look after people well and teach other people to do it … [or] do research until such time as you have the patients on which to base your clinical research, so the big wheel has to come first.
How hard has the transition been from the US to the Arabian Gulf?
It is a challenging area to work. What we like about Abu Dhabi is the desire to do things appropriately and well and continue to improve. We think the pendulum is moving in the right direction - there's no question about that. Is it the US or western Europe? No. But it is in a process of becoming increasingly flexible. It is pretty stunning when you consider this is a country that is only 40 years old.
How should this region tackle chronic illnesses such as diabetes?
The big push has to be around education and public health. If you don't, if people don't understand about smoking, the need for exercise or eating appropriately, then the incidence of diabetes will continue to go up. In the US right now, 10 per cent of the healthcare costs are secondary obesity and in 10 years we expect it to be 20 per cent of healthcare costs. So unless we can control … obesity we will [not] control the cost of health care. In the US we are leading the way in getting fat. At least we're leading the way in something.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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ENGLAND%20SQUAD
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
