Geology of the Human Heart

April 13, 2010

Guest Speaker:Dr. Howaida Obeid M. Al-Qethamy,
M.D., F.R.C.S. (Ed.), Director of Cardiac Surgery Department and Senior Consultant Cardiac Surgeon (Pediatric), Prince Sultan Cardiac Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract:

It is becoming evident that the earth we live on directly interferes with our body in many ways. The Holy Quran recites: “From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again” (Ta Ha 55). Water, air, food, sunrays, dust, soil, magnetic fields, and noise are some of many factors that affect human health. Even the type of soil we walk on every day has a significant relation to our wellbeing. Despite research in the early 1970’s, soil type has been proven to affect water, which in turn can adversely affect kidney function. On the other hand, soil from the area around the Dead Sea is a recognized alternative/complementary treatment for various skin diseases.

In an established link between geology and health, geologists for some time have collaborated with physicians in order to explain many health problems that are attributed to “Mother Earth”. One well-known geologist-physician team is the Keshan Disease Team, which, in 1936, worked in Heilongjiang, a far northeastern province of China. The team recognized that the composition of the local soil was directly related to the death of thousands of people by heart disease.
Geologists have contributed even more into the study of the human heart. Software developed to solve the fluid flow equation for the liquid metal core of earth was used in Royal Bournemouth Hospital to correctly predict the location of a clot in a patient’s heart.
Further geologist-physician collaboration is proving the earth’s “innocence” regarding theories about how it can harm the human body. In Sweden, scientists proved that there is no relation between geomagnetic activity and sudden death by myocardial infarction. Conversely, Russian physicians found that geologists have a significantly higher-than-average risk of death due of arterial hypertension. It has become obvious that collaborative efforts between geologists and heart physicians and surgeons can be of significant benefit to both professions.

Biography:

From 1977 to 1983, Dr. Howaida Al-Qethamy attended the Faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, where she earned her M.B. and Ch.B. degrees. In 1986, she earned her Primary fellowship (F.R.C.S.) from the Royal College of Surgeons in Glasgow, Scotland. Her Final F.R.C.S.E. was obtained from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1987. In 1993, Dr. Al-Qethamy received a Clinical Fellowship of Pediatric Surgery from the University of Toronto (Canada) Hospital for Sick Children.
Since 1984, Dr. Al-Qethamy has had a number of high-profile academic and professional appointments -- in the Armed Forces Hospital and in the Prince Sultan Cardiac Centre in Riyadh, in the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, and in Broussais Hospital in Paris, France.
During her distinguished career, Dr. Al-Qethamy has attended numerous courses and symposia worldwide, and she is a member of numerous societies and associations related to her profession. She has given many presentations in a number of countries, and has been published in a number of well-known medical journals.
Currently, Dr. Al-Qethamy is the Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Riyadh, where she has been working for the past seventeen years. Her responsibilities include the care and management of babies and children in the intensive care units and surgical wards. Her current caseload involves three to four cases of congenital heart diseases a day.
Dr. Al-Qethamy is the first female in the Middle East to head a cardiac surgery department. In addition, she has pioneered a method of implanting a valve into the heart while it is still pumping.