Dr. Sabina Semiz is a professor and the strand leader in biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Khalifa University. Before joining the Khalifa University, she was appointed as the professor at the International University of Sarajevo, where she also served as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences. In 2015 Dr. Semiz was appointed as the Head of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Unit of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and since 2018 she is also the member of Cambridge Working Group for Bioethics Education.
Dr. Semiz completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and her postdoctoral work at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA. Following this, Dr. Semiz worked as a principal investigator at the Cytrx Corporation and in Epic Therapeutics, Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corporation, MA, USA, where she was developing novel drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes. Since 2007 she worked at the University of Sarajevo and International University of Sarajevo, and established active collaboration with the Lund University in Sweden and Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Dr. Semiz is the president of the South East European Center for Research and Health “SOVE”. She serves as an expert in the Evaluation panel for the Horizon 2020 Programme and COST Action for Medical and Health Sciences.
Within the last ten years, Professor Semiz is leading research projects in genomics and pharmacogenomics of Type 2 diabetes as well as in bioethical aspects of precision medicine, genetic testing, and gene editing. These research studies are contributing to the current efforts to improve the efficacy of drug treatment, reduce side effects, and develop novel medicines for Type 2 diabetes.