• hybrid-event

    Face to Face

  • Saturday 1st November 2025

  • Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, Abu Dhabi

    Register Here

1 Day Event
Dates: Saturday 1st November 2025
Time: Registration open from 7:30 a.m
Conference: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Join us for the 1st SSMC Burns Centre of Excellence Symposium on Saturday 1st November 2025, to be held at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), Abu Dhabi.

The Symposium combines concepts from around the world to achieve excellence in burn care, raise awareness of the unique needs of burn patients and building collaboration in the UAE and region. Our theme ‘Excellence in Burns’ will provide a platform for clinicians to share their knowledge in the field. This symposium will provide an opportunity for healthcare professionals to learn more about burns in the region, while networking with other burn providers. Whether you are a seasoned professional in the field of burns or new to the field, this event offers something for everyone and is structured to be of interest to all multidisciplinary professionals.

In addition, you will have the chance to submit your research and engage with researchers and explore the impact their findings have had through our poster displays. The Symposium will be offering Abu Dhabi DoH CME accreditation hours. We look forward to having you join us at SSMC.


Learning Objectives

  • Discuss clinical practice of burns in the region for both adult and paediatric patients.
  • Collaborate with other burn care healthcare professionals in the comprehensive care of burn patients, with a better understanding of each team member’s role.
  • Provide opportunities for all attendees to learn about topics of interest from the multi-disciplinary team of burn care professionals.
  • Showcase burn research in the region.
  • Identify challenges of managing burns in the region.
  • Provide an opportunity for healthcare professionals and survivors / peer support to learn more and contribute to burns in the region.
  • Provide an opportunity for healthcare professionals and survivors / peer support to network with others

Target audience

Healthcare professionals working in the field of burns or working with burns patients:

  • Physicians
  • Nurses
  • Rehabilitation
  • Allied Health
  • Trauma / burns programme management
  • Burn survivors
  • Healthcare students (medicine, nursing, allied health)

For further information
Please contact Symposium coordinator: [email protected]

Register by completing this form (link the form to the words this form). All delegates including presenters (oral and poster) must register and pay for the Symposium

  • Before 1 September 2025 AED 100 [ exclusive of tax ]
  • After 1 September 2025 AED 200 [ exclusive of tax ] (last day to register October 15th)
There will be no refunds once the registration fee is paid.

Dr. Simon Myers

Consultant & Division Chair of Burn Surgery
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Dr. Jussi Petteri Valtonen

Consultant, Burn Surgery
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Dr. Reem Muaz Naif

Medical Practitioner
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Dr. Basel Debal

Medical Practitioner, Burn Surgery
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Mohammad Hamdan

Senior Charge Nurse and Unit Manager of the BICU
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Katharina Fischbach

Rehab Burn Coordinator
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Goldamier Ramos

Physiotherapist
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Sondos Jarrad

Emergency Dept Clinical Resource Nurse Educator
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Jerome Rocafort

Burn Unit Interim Clinical Educator
Sheikh Khalifa Hospital, Fujairah

Saritha Kunju

Emergency Department Clinical Resource Nurse
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Neev Condes

Charge Nurse
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE

Abstract submission is now closed.

Notification date for accepted abstracts: Authors will be notified via email by 30 August 2025

Please ensure you have read the attached information on abstract submission guidelines prior to submitting your abstract. Once an abstract has been submitted it cannot be amended.

Symposium sessions will be multidisciplinary. The topics listed cover the different aspects of burn care, and any professional (e.g., nurse, surgeon, OT, intensivist, physiotherapist etc.) can submit abstracts in the topic that best suits.

  • Basic research
  • Critical care and anaesthesia
  • Surgery
  • Infection
  • Education
  • Nursing
  • Nutrition
  • Organisation and mass casualties
  • Pain
  • Paediatrics
  • Prevention
  • Psychosocial and psychiatry
  • Rehabilitation
  • Scars
  • Wounds
  • Survivorship / Peer support
All abstracts must be submitted in English. Oral presentations and posters are to be presented in English

Please find below some suggestions of hotels located close to SSMC.

Please note, these are a list of hotels, in no particular order. SSMC does not have any affiliations or endorsements with any of those listed. Accommodation is to be arranged and paid by the delegate / presenter.

Distance Hotel Name
5 minutes by car
  • Metropolitan Al Mafraq Hotel, Mafraq, Abu Dhabi.
20 minutes by car
  • Marriot Hotel Al Forsan, Abu Dhabi
  • Ibis Abu Dhabi Gate, Abu Dhabi
  • Traders Hotel, Abu Dhabi
  • Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi
  • Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi
25 minutes by car
  • Vogo Abu Dhabi Golf Resort and Spa, Abu Dhabi
  • Al Raha Beach Resort and Spa, Abu Dhabi
  • Hilton, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Rotana, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Centro Yas, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Staybridge Suites, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Crown Plaza, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Radisson Blu Hotel, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
  • Park Inn by Radisson, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
For further information
Please contact Symposium coordinator: [email protected]
Time Topic Speaker
8 – 8:45 a.m. Registration
8:45 – 9 a.m. Welcome and Opening
9 – 9:40 a.m. Keynote Speaker Professor Peter Dziewulski
9:40 – 9:50 a.m. First UAE experience on explosion–related burns: Comparative outcome of gas vs non-gas injuries Dr. Reem Muaz
9:50 – 10 a.m. Chemical burns in UAE – trends, severity and management outcomes (A retrospective observational study) Dr. Basel Debal
10 – 10:10 a.m. Effectiveness of advanced fluid resuscitation strategies compared to the Parkland formula in adult burn patients with more than 20% TBSA for the first 24 hours Saritha Kunja
10:10 – 10:25 a.m. Open Panel Q & A Dr. Reem Muaz, Dr. Basel Debal, Saritha Kunja
10:25 – 10:45 a.m. Break
10:45 – 11:25 a.m. Keynote Speaker Dominique Potokar
11:25 – 11:35 a.m. Reducing hospital multidrug-resistant infections among patients in burns unit Mohammad Hamdan
11:35 – 11:45 a.m. Activation and multidisciplinary impact of the first dedicated burn unit in the Northern Emirates Jerome Rocafort
11:45 – 11:55 a.m. Bridging the gaps in burn care: An integrative review on identifying needs and the roles of peer support in burn recovery Neev Condes
11:55 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Open Panel Q & A Mohammad Hamdan, Jerome Rocafort, Neev Condes
12:10 – 12:40 p.m. Panel Discussion: Complex burn care – Lessons from diverse experiences Dr. Simon Myers, Professor Peter Dziewulski, Dr. Jyrki Vuola, Dr. Jussi Valtonen
12:40 – 1:40 p.m. Lunch Break and Poster Presentations
1:40 – 2:20 p.m. Keynote Speaker Dr. Jyrki Vuola
2:20 – 2:30 p.m. Stages BTM closure with meek autografting in large paediatric full-thickness burns: A case series Dr. Jussi Valtonen
2:30 – 2:40 p.m. Management of MRSA wounds: Topical bacteriostatic dressing vs triple ointment dressings Dr. Muhammad Tariq
2:40 – 2:55 p.m. Open Panel Q & A Dr. Jussi Valtonen, Dr. Muhammad Tariq
2:55 – 3:20 p.m. Break
3:20 – 4 p.m. Keynote Speaker Dr. Lina
4 – 4:10 p.m. Combined use of coban bandaging and silicon sheets in managing hypertrophic scars post-burn Goldamier Ramos
4:10 – 4:20 p.m. Impact of structured rehabilitation intensity and 7-day service implementation on burn patient outcomes: A six-month comparative analysis Katharina Fischbach
4:20 – 4:30 p.m. Finding a way home: A literature review on community reintegration of burn survivors Sondos Jarrad
4:30 – 4:45 p.m. Open Panel Q & A Goldamier Ramos, Katharina Fischbach, Sondos Jarrad
4:45 – 5 p.m. Evaluation and Closing
*Agenda may change without notice
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