12 Dec Meet our Members – Dr. Tom Loney
December’s newsletter featured Dr. Tom Loney, the UAE Report Card team leader. Thank you Tom for providing the following information!
Tom is a Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology in the College of Medicine at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Health, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he coordinates the Epidemiology and Biostatistics courses for the MD programme. Tom also teaches epidemiology and research methods to postgraduate students in the College of Medicine and College of Dentistry. Tom serves on various task forces within the Discovery Pillar of Dubai Health to develop clinical and population health research structures.
Tom completed his PhD at the University of Bath (UK) under the supervision of Dr. Martyn Standage. In 2008, he moved to Al Ain, UAE, and worked within the UAE Armed Forces for four years in research on optimizing the physical performance and health of military personnel. In 2011, Tom moved to the Institute of Public Health at UAE University. In 2018, Tom moved to Dubai, where he helped set up a new medical university. Tom has also been involved in the AHKGA Global Matrices since 2.0 as the UAE Report Card Leader, and has participated in 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 (plus the current 5.0 iteration).
Tom enjoys cycling, lifting weights, and kayaking; his favourite sport is ocean kayaking, which he does most days before or after work. Tom uses a long ocean kayak called a surfski, which is designed to ride waves. His favourite part of kayaking is downwind surfski kayaking, which involves riding/surfing large ocean waves and swells (similar to surfing but in a kayak). Tom also cycled the 109 km Cape Town Cycle Tour this year and recently competed for the UAE in the 2025 ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban (South Africa), completing the 31 km doubles race and 34 km singles race on consecutive days in some of the craziest ocean conditions with plenty of predatory marine life to keep him focused on not falling in!
