DOHA: Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) has signed an MoU with Texas Health Resources (THR) to create a joint centre of excellence focused on research, training, performance and sports medicine in the United States.

The new partnership aims to create a sports medicine centre of excellence in North Texas. The MoU was signed at Aspetar’s headquarters by Dr. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, CEO of Aspetar, and Dr. Steven Singleton, Chief Medical Officer at THR.

During the event, Mohammed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, CEO of AZF and Director General of Aspetar, told The Peninsula: “We are proud to say that now we are in a position to exchange our expertise on this level. We have signed the agreement today and it will be our target to complete the process before 2026. Mainly we will focus on three areas which include, research, educational and clinical.”

“The timing of the agreement couldn’t be better with Qatar being a host of the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and North Texas being a site for matches when the US hosts the World Cup in 2026. For us, this collaboration furthers our progress towards achieving AZF vision to become the Reference in Sports Excellence World-wide by 2020,” Al Suwaidi said in a statement.

Talking to The Peninsula, Thomas Donohue, President and CEO of US Chamber of Commerce, said: “What brought this collaboration between AZF and THR together is a group of visionaries in Qatar who were aware that the world soccer events will be held here. They had a rich background in sports, medicine, surgeries and rehabilitation and put all that together to build such an example. They knew what they needed then brought a facility from the US that is rich with great doctors and surgeons, and this partnership is what is going to make this work.”

During the event, Dr Steven said: “We’re committed to advancing our sports medicine programme in North Texas and are excited about what the future holds for athletes in the area. An organisation like Aspire has a strong track record of sports-medicine research, education and advanced orthopedic treatments within an internationally-recognised programme”

Building off the performance, treatment, rehab and research initiatives Aspetar, a member organisation of Aspire Zone Foundation, has undertaken to be a global leader in sports medicine and exercise science in advance of the Qatar hosted 2022 FIFA World Cup, the proposed affiliation will be designed to achieve similar global and regional recognition in advance of the North America hosted 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Delegation from US included also Khush Chosky, SVP and Head of Middle East Program at US Chamber of Commerce, Chris Roberti, Chief of Staff and Senior Vice-President at US Chamber of Commerce, Steve Lutes, Director Middle East Program at US Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Steven Singleton, Chief Medical Medical Office, Texas Health Dallas — USA, Thomas Donohue Jr, Founder and CEO of Adelphi Capital and Gareth Moore, VP of Adelphi Capital.

Source: The Peninsula Qatar