Staff Profile

Seada A. Kassie FHEA

Biography

Seada received her postgraduate training in clinical research at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, and is a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals Community. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology at University of Reading, U.K. Her research aims to enhance dementia care practices in the UAE by working closely with government health centres that cater to the needs of persons with dementia.  

Alongside teaching in Higher Education, Seada is actively engaged in Clinical Research, and her collaborative high-quality research outputs are focused on informing national and regional policies concerning mental health and neurological/neuropsychological disorders, as well as improving clinical practices in the wider Gulf region. Examples include recent publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals recommending the extension of health insurance coverage for psychiatric disorders to improve mental health help-seeking behaviours, as well as encouraging policy makers to consider establishing local/regional clinical trial registries to increase clinical research output in the UAE and the wider Gulf region. She continues to collaborate on regional clinical research studies with a number of healthcare service providers in the UAE, including Dubai Seniors’ Happiness Centre and Al Jalila Children’s Speciality Hospital. 

Education and Training
  • Master of Science, Applied Psychology - Middlesex University
  • Bachelor of Arts, International Studies, Minor in Psychology, American University of Sharjah
Post-Graduate Trainings
  • Post-graduate Certificate: Global Clinical Scholars Research Training (GCSRT), Harvard Medical School
  • Post-graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE), Middlesex University
Professional Certificates
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Learning, AdvanceHE, UK       
  • Good Clinical Practice for Social and Behavioral Research in Clinical Trials, Society of Behavioral Medicine, USA   
  • Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Harvard University, Boston, USA   
  • Ethics and Human Subjects Protection – The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), USA  
  • Protecting Human Subjects in Clinical Research, The National Institute of Health (NIH), UK

Research Interests

Neurodegenerative disorders; Dementia care practices; Person-centered care; Personhood in dementia; Biopsychosocial model of health; Quality of life; Management of chronic illnesses 

Upcoming Publications
  • El Khazen, C., Kassie, S., Bertl, B., Sidani, M.F., Melad, M., & Ammar, A. (2024). Psychometric Properties of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) Using a Heterogenous Clinical Sample from Arab Countries. Sage Open. (Under revision). 
  • Kassie, S., Alsuwaidi, S., & Astell, A.J. Environmental scan of dementia care services in the United Arab Emirates. (Underway).  
  • Kassie, S., & Astell, A.J. Knowledge of dementia and personhood among healthcare staff in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Nursing Education. (Underway).  
  • Kassie, S., & Astell, A.J. Observed behaviours of persons with dementia while receiving routine care in a permanent care facility. (Underway).  
  • Kassie, S. & Astell, A.J. Caregiving for a loved one with dementia: an interpretive phenomenological analysis of lived experiences of family caregivers in the United Arab Emirates. (Underway). 
Conference Presentations
  • Kassie, S. (2024). Rethinking pedagogical approaches in Higher Education: Educators as transformative agents for the media-multitasking generation. Oral presentation at the Teaching and Learning Conference 2024, Middlesex University Dubai, UAE. 
  • Kassie, S., & Astell, A.J. (2024). Knowledge of dementia and personhood among healthcare staff in the United Arab Emirates. Poster presentation at the 36th Global International Alzheimer’s Disease Association Conference, Krakow, Poland.  
  • Kassie, S. (2024). Knowledge of dementia and personhood among healthcare staff in the United Arab Emirates. Oral presentation, Weekly Research Seminar, Middlesex University Dubai, UAE.  
  • Kassie, S. Improving dementia care services in the UAE. (2023). Oral Presentation at the Annual Post-graduate Research Conference, School of Psychology and Clinical Sciences. University of Reading, U.K.   
  • Kassie, S. (2023). The importance of person-centred care in dementia care practices. Invited oral presentation to clinical staff at Dubai Seniors’ Happiness Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.    
  • Kassie, S., & Hyland, L. Biopsychosocial implications of living with Multiple Sclerosis: An Interpretative phenomenological study. (2021). Key-note presentation at Integrated Sciences Department, College of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Bahrain.   
  • Kassie, S. (2018). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of major depressive disorder: Preliminary results from the United Arab Emirates. Conference presentation at the 4th International Emerging Research Paradigms in Business and Social Sciences Conference, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  
  • Kassie, S. (2018). Psychiatric comorbidity in neurological disorders: Towards a multidisciplinary approach to illness management in the United Arab Emirates. Poster presentation at the 3rd International Educational Neuroscience Conference, Emirates College for Advanced Education. Conference Abstract: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00010. 
  • Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., & Servano, R. (2018). Efficacy and tolerability of perampanel monotherapy in patients with IGE: Postmarketing experience From the United Arab Emirates. Poster presentstion at the 13th European Epileptology Conference, Vienna, Austria.  
  • Al Fardaan, S., Kassie, S., & Alsaadi, T. (2018). Narcolepsy in the United Arab Emirates: A descriptive case series. Poster Presentation at the Abu Dhabi International Mental Health Conference, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  
  • Khandoker, A., Hadjileontiodios, L., Kassie, S., & Alsaadi, T. (2018). Investigating sleep fragmentations by autonomic arousals in depressed patients with sleep apnea. Oral presentation at the 2018 Computing in Cardiology Conference, Maastricht, the Netherlands.  

Kassie, S. A., Alia, J., & Hyland, L. (2021). Biopsychosocial implications of living with multiple sclerosis: a qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis. BMJ open, 11(8), e049041.

Kassie, S.A. & Astell, A.J. (2024). Reimagining neuroscientific and andragogical principles for dementia care education. Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2024.2346741

Kassie, S.A. (2024). Educators as agents of breadth-biased learning: using social reconstructionism as rationale for embracing media multitasking and enhancing teaching practices in higher education. Frontiers in Psychology: Educational Psychology, 15, 1356232. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1356232 

Mosanya, M. & Kassie, S. (2024). Psychological empowerment and exercising: The relationships between exercising, self-stereotyping, agency, autonomy and physical self-efficacy in non-Western women. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 34(3), e2791. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2791 

Mastoras, R.E., Lakovakis, D., Hadjidimitriou, S., Charisis, V., Kassie, S., Alsaadi, T., Khandoker A., Hadjileontiadis, L.J. (2019). Touchscreen typing pattern analysis for remote detection of the depressive tendency. Scientific Reports, 9, 13414.  

Mohamed Ali, O., Kassie, S., Luthra, V., Karrani, A., Orr, K., Alsaadi, T., Arida, A. (2020). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of major depressive disorder: Preliminary results from the United Arab Emirates. Hamdan Medical Journal, 13(1), 46-51.  

Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., Farooq, F., Nasreddine, W., Wani, S., & Salih, B.T. (2020). Antiseizure drugs use during pregnancy and congenital malformations: A retrospective review from the United Arab Emirates. Epilepsy Research, 20, 159: 106259.  

Saleh, D., Kassie, S., & Alsaadi, T. (2020). Knowledge and experience with Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) among neurologists in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 113. https://doi.10.1093/qjmed/hcaa063.067.  

Kassie, S., Alsaadi, T., & Ammar, A. (2020). Opportunities and challenges of conducting clinical research on neuropsychiatric disorders in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Sage Research Methods Cases. https://doi:10.4135/9781529743715.  

Kassie, S., Alia, J., & Hyland, L. (2021). Biopsychosocial implications of living with multiple sclerosis: A qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis. BMJ Open, 11(8), e049041.

Saleh D., A., Kassie, S., Hassan, A., & Alsaadi, T. (2022). Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: A pilot study on neurologists' knowledge and experience in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Seizure, 94, 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2021.11.011 

Kassie, S.A. (2023). Prevention before intervention: introducing mindfulness-based social-emotional learning in higher education institutions across the United Arab Emirates. Frontiers in Education: Higher Education, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1281949 

Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., & Servano, R. (2019). Efficacy and tolerability of perampanel in patients with genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE): A retrospective, single-center study from the United Arab Emirates. Epilepsy and Behavior Reports, 12, 100330. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ebr.2019.100330. 

Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., Mohammed Ali, O., Mozahem, K., Al Fardan, S., & Ahmed, A.M. (2019). Psychiatric comorbidity in neurological disorders: Towards a multidisciplinary approach to illness management in the UAE. (2019). Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 263. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00263.  

Khandoker, A. H., Hadjileontiadis, L., Kassie, S., & Alsaadi, T. (2018). Investigating sleep fragmentation by autonomic arousals in depressed patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Computing in Cardiology, 45. doi: 10.22489/CinC.2018.175.  

Alsaadi, T., El Hammasi, K., Shahrour, T., Shakra, M., Turkawi, L., Nasreddine, W., Kassie, S., Raoof, M. (2017). Depression and anxiety as determinants of health-related quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis: United Arab Emirates. Neurology International: 9, 2. doi:10.4081/ni.2017.7343.  

Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., El Hammasi, K., Shahrour, T., Shakra, M., Turkawi, L., Nasreddine, W., Raoof, M. (2017). Potential factors impacting health related quality of life among patients with epilepsy. Seizure: 53, 13-17.  

Shrivastava, A., Pietschnig, J., Yousuf, A., Kassie, S. (2017). Influencing factors of materialism among residents of the UAE: The role of mortality salience and spirituality. Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis, 13, 2.  

Faculty Members