Dr. Ahmad El Ouweini, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Interim Program Director of the Master of Clinical Pharmacy (MPharm) program at Dubai Medical University’s College of Pharmacy, represented the university as a featured speaker at the 6th Emirates Health Economic Society Conference, held on September 11^th in Dubai.

Dr. El Ouweini, who also serves as a Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist at Dubai Medical University Hospital, took part in a clinical pharmacy session organized by the Emirates Clinical Pharmacy Society (ECPS) and moderated by ECPS President Dr. Saeed Hussein. The session brought together three pillars of modern pharmacy practice: infectious disease and antibiotic optimization, presented by Dr. Waqar Ahmed (Director of Pharmacy Service and Fakeeh University Hospital); transitions of care and medication reconciliation, presented by Dr. Ghattas Abudawoud (Clinical Pharmacist at Erada Rehabilitation Center); and ICU concepts, presented by Dr. El Ouweini.

In his segment, Dr. El Ouweini addressed the evolving economic and clinical case for embedding clinical pharmacists within intensive care teams. Drawing on international, regional, and local evidence, he highlighted studies showing benefit-to-cost ratios for ICU pharmacist interventions ranging from roughly 3:1 to as high as 50:1 across health systems in Saudi Arabia, the United States, Australia, Sudan, and Europe — figures that reflect substantial cost avoidance through adverse-event prevention, individualized dose optimization, and antimicrobial stewardship. He also spoke to the leadership qualities that distinguish pharmacists who actively shape ICU decision-making from those who simply participate in rounds, and outlined the evolving skill set — spanning health economics literacy, AI-assisted clinical decision support, and prescriptive competency — that the next generation of critical care pharmacists will need.

Dr. El Ouweini, who chairs the ECPS Scientific Committee, underscored the importance of platforms such as the Emirates Health Economic Society Conference in advancing interdisciplinary collaboration and integrating pharmacists more fully into healthcare decision-making across the UAE.