Dr Sara Al Madani (centre) with her two daughters Dr Hana Al Madani (left) and Dr Ala’a Al Madani   Dr Sara Al Madani has taken life-long learning to a whole new level and was even honoured for it at a recent Dubai Medical College (DMC) graduation.As a mother of four and grandmother of five, Dr Sara never allowed motherhood to stand in the way of her education,but instead
  the two. Having gone through each stage of her higher education while pregnant, she was not satisfied with a PhD in social linguistics, but instead wanted to go back to medical school.
Proud mother
\"When I delivered my last child I became a supervisor for a number of different postgraduate research students,\" she said. \"After that I decided to enter the medical field after my daughters graduated.\"
Dr Sara is the proud mother of four, two girls and a boy, all fully grown, some with their own families, but all doctors. Their mother, however, is the newest medical doctor addition to the family, having graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from DMC in 2004.
However, she recently went back to school to be honoured in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, during the DMC graduation.
Her honours came after directions, nationwide, by the Ruler to revere mothers and acknowledge their role in empowering the nation.
\"I am proud Shaikh Mohammad devoted time to mothers in our society because they represent a whole country and a country is a mother to all of us,\" she said. \"A mother is a symbol of devotion, giving and caring and is the stability in the family nucleus, which is important for society.\"
Family affair
Dr Sara, having achieved degrees in political science, language planning and social linguistics, decided to pursue medicine to gain a well rounded education in order to give back.
\"I went back to study medicine because I wanted to contribute to society in the field of community medicine,\" she said. \"I thought I\'ve done the demographics, sociology and statistics and combined with medicine they could really benefit the community.\"
She is not alone in her lifelong quest of learning as her husband has been with her every step of the way.