Dr. Laila AbdelWareth MBBCh, FCAP, FRCPC, EMHCAA the Chief Executive Officer of National Reference Laboratory (NRL), a Mubadala Health Partner.
In her role, Dr. AbdelWareth provides strategic direction and leadership, while overseeing the growth, operations and financial performance of the company. Before taking over as Chief Executive Officer, she served as Deputy CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for NRL since 2019.
She brings a wealth of experience to National Reference Laboratory (NRL) having spent more than 30 years working in the healthcare sector. She is a board-certified UAE national pathologist and physician executive with a special interest in capacity building, quality assurance and healthcare administration.
Dr. AbdelWareth earned her medical degree from Ain Shams University Cairo, Egypt, and completed her postgraduate training at the University of British Columbia, Canada, in Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Pathology. She also holds a Master’s degree in Executive Health Care Administration from Zayed University, UAE.
Prior to joining NRL, Dr. AbdelWareth served as the Chair of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Her previous employment included the UAE Ministry of Health at Mafraq Hospital as well as SEHA at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City where she served in multiple leadership roles throughout her years of practice.
Dr. AbdelWareth’s major contributions in the UAE laboratory diagnostic field include; the introduction of the first national new-born screening program in 1998 in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the re-activation of the National Tissue Typing Laboratory to support solid organ and bone marrow transplantation; the introduction of Total Laboratory Automation and the introduction of laboratory accreditations by the College of American Pathologists and American Association of Blood Banks in Abu Dhabi.
She is an active member in various scientific societies and has several publications to her credit in the field of laboratory medicine.
