Seada A. Kassie MSc CCRC

Seada A. Kassie M.Sc. FHEA CCRC

ROLE: Senior Lecturer Psychology
CONTACT:+971 (0)4 367 8100
EMAIL:[email protected]

Biography

Seada received her postgraduate training in clinical research from 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.

Seada’s Ph.D. project focuses on tailoring the person-centered needs and preferences of persons with dementia, and developing strategies to overcome barriers to providing holistic person-centred dementia care services in the region. Her research has been granted ethics approval by Dubai Health Authority for adhering to the ethical principles of medical research involving human subjects, imbedded in the Declaration of Helsinki, and is consistent with Good Clinical Practice guidelines and applicable regulatory requirements. It aims to enhance dementia care practices in the UAE and the overall Gulf region by working closely with government health centres that cater to the needs of persons with dementia. Her project also engages young Emirati citizens in the field of psychology to provide holistic care to the elderly population by offering multiple research assistant positions in the form of voluntary academic internship program.

Alongside teaching in Higher Education, Seada is actively engaged in clinical research, and her collaborative 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 engage in collaborative and inter-disciplinary research with colleagues at Middlesex and a number of healthcare service providers in the UAE, including Dubai Seniors’ Happiness Centre and Al Jalila Children’s Speciality Hospital.

Between 2016 and 2018, Seada served as the coordinator for Research Matters, Middlesex University Dubai’s internal newsletter on all things ‘research’. She also serves as a regular reviewer of original articles for high-impact scientific journals, including Brain & Behaviour and BMC Neurology.

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

Awards and achievements

Top Student Award - M.Sc. Applied Psychology, Middlesex University, 2015

Research Interests

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

Publications in Scientific Journals

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., 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., 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Upcoming Publications in Peer-reviewed Journals

Kassie, S., El Khazen, C., Bertl, B., Sidani, M.F., Melad, M., & Ammar, A. (2023). Psychometric validation of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Clinical impairment Assessment (CIA) in an Arabic-speaking population. Brain and Behavior. [Under Revision].
Kassie, S., & Astell, A. An Environmental scan of current dementia care services in the United Arab Emirates. (To be submitted in July 2023).
Kassie, S. The neuropsychology of meaningful learning: applying Cozolino's three pedagogic tools to enhance adult learning practices. (To be submitted in July 2023).
Kassie, S. Educators as agents of breadth-biased learning: using social reconstructionism as a rationale for Higher Education reform in the United Arab Emirates. (To be submitted in August 2023).
Kassie, S. Inclusion of lessons on mental health and mindfulness practices across higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates. (To be submitted in August 2023).
Almarzooqi, S., Kassie, S., Serry, F. Translation, adaptation, and validation of the child and adolescent trauma screening (CATS; 7–17, Parent Version) in the UAE and Gulf Region. (To be submitted in September 2023).
Mosanya, M., & Kassie. S. Empowering women through physical activity: The buffering role of exercising against self-stereotyping’s effect on agency, autonomy, and physical self-efficacy in the United Arab Emirates. (To be submitted in September 2023).

Conference Presentations

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: doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00010
Alsaadi, T., Kassie, S., & Servano, R. (2018). Efficacy and tolerability of perampanel monotherapy in patients with IGE: post-marketing experience From the United Arab Emirates. Poster presentation at the 13th European Epileptology Conference, Vienna, Austria.
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.
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.

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.