Senior student at Qatar Foundation partner university Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Haya Al-Kuwari
Doha, Qatar: For medical students at Qatar Foundation’s Education City, a typical day isn’t limited to the classroom and the lecture theater. It takes them into hospitals and research labs, and to sports facilities and community spaces. It’s an education where health is more than a subject to be studied; it’s a way of life, defined by connections and interactions.
A senior student at Qatar Foundation partner university Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Haya Al-Kuwari is among the learners whose academic journey and understanding of what caring for others really mean have been expanded by this unique landscape of knowledge and opportunity.
“My path into health and wellness has been shaped by both personal and academic experiences,” she says. “From an early stage, I was drawn to medicine not just as a profession, but to understand people during some of their most vulnerable moments. Seeing illness up close within my own family made health feel very real to me – it wasn’t abstract or theoretical.”
That early exposure to the importance of healthcare gradually evolved into a broader perspective on wellbeing. “Over time, that curiosity became a deeper interest in prevention, long-term wellbeing, and how science, compassion, and lifestyle all intersect to shape health outcomes,” Al-Kuwari explains.
“Health isn’t just about treating illness. It’s about understanding people’s lives.”
Thinking about her what her years as a QF student have taught her, she says: “My learning journey here has been demanding, purposeful, and deeply transformative. It pushed me to balance high academic standards with reflection, service, and personal growth.
Access to real-world healthcare institutions – which QF’s integrated ecosystem of education, research, and community development allows – has played a defining role. At QF’s women’s and children’s hospital and medical research center Sidra Medicine, just across the road from her university, she witnessed medicine in action.
“During my sub-internship, I saw first-hand how science, innovation, and patient-centered care come together,” she recalls. “Multidisciplinary teams, family involvement, and prevention-focused approaches weren’t just concepts, they were shaping long-term outcomes for real patients.”
Experiences like this have reshaped her understanding of health. Some of Al-Kuwari’s most impactful learning moments happened far from traditional clinical settings. Volunteering at a medical outreach camp serving refugee communities in Jordan brought her studies into sharp focus.
“Being in a resource-limited setting made public health, prevention, health equity, and social determinants of health very real,” she says. “I saw how displacement, limited access to care, and environmental exposures shape health outcomes far beyond what we see in hospitals.” That experience changed her perspective on medicine.
This ability to move between learning environments is, for Al-Kuwari, the essence of QF’s education model. “I’ve experienced integration through the constant flow between classrooms, research labs, clinical environments, and community settings,” she explains. “Concepts from lectures are reinforced through research projects, electives, and innovation-driven discussions.”
Rather than absorbing information passively, she has been encouraged to question it. “QF taught me to ask how knowledge can be applied, improved, and used to better serve communities,” she says.
And as Qatar marks National Sport Day this month, she believes physical activity is inseparable from education, especially in demanding academic fields.
“As a medical student, I’ve learned that physical activity and wellbeing are essential to sustainable learning,” she says. “QF’s emphasis on wellness, through sports initiatives, facilities like the Sport Lab, and supportive environments reinforces that caring for your body and mental health is foundational to academic success.”
