A career is not measured by its length, nor by the positions held or awards received, but by the difference it makes to an organisation, to people and to society. In the career of Dr Wedad Ahmed Buhumaid, Director of the Communication and Marketing Department at the Emirates Drug Establishment, impact has been the thread running through a journey that has brought together government communication, leadership, innovation and community engagement, alongside the responsibilities of her profession and her role as a mother.
It is an experience that gives a deeper meaning to balance, not as an attempt to divide time equally between parallel roles, but as the ability to give each role a value and purpose that extends beyond its immediate boundaries.
For Dr Wedad, communication has never simply been the voice that comes in after an achievement has been completed. Entities do not only need someone to tell people what they have done; they also need someone who understands society, recognises how it is changing, and can translate policies and decisions into clear messages that people can relate to and trust.
This is how her view of government communication took shape: as an integral part of creating impact itself. It is communication that responds proactively rather than reactively; listens and analyses before taking action; and uses knowledge and data not simply to explain what has already happened but to understand what may happen next.
Behind this perspective are years of experience in government communication, institutional reputation management, media crisis management, digital communication and the leadership of communication initiatives, as well as the development of solutions based on data, advanced analytics and the measurement of sustainable outcomes.
Dr Wedad’s professional record also reflects specialised experience in government communication strategies linked to digital transformation and artificial intelligence, as well as institutional innovation and the development of more flexible and effective approaches to communication.
Her move to the Emirates Drug Establishment marked a new chapter in that journey, as she joined a federal entity established as part of a strategic transformation in the regulation of the UAE’s pharmaceutical sector.
During the establishment’s formative stage, Dr Wedad contributed to building its media presence and communication identity, ensuring that its messages reached different segments of society, and strengthening communication as a key tool in supporting and advancing its national role.
Her role takes on greater significance because the Emirates Drug Establishment itself operates within a vision that places innovation, sustainability and future foresight at the heart of its work. Here, the nature of the establishment aligns closely with Dr Wedad’s academic and professional journey. The future, which is now part of her working environment, was also a field she chose to study and understand in depth.
In 2025, she earned a doctorate in Innovation Leadership and Future Foresight in Government Institutions, adding an academic dimension to a professional journey in which she had witnessed first-hand the changes reshaping government work and institutional communication, and the growing need to move beyond managing the present towards preparing for the future.
She had earlier earned an MBA with distinction and honours from Canadian University Dubai in 2012. But learning, in her experience, has never stopped with academic degrees.
From the Executive Diploma for Government Communication Experts, the Diploma in Government Digital Communication and the Diploma in Assessing the Government Excellence System, to specialised programmes in crisis management, digital public relations and the measurement and evaluation of communication tools, one characteristic has remained constant throughout her career: experience does not reduce the need to learn; it makes continuous learning even more important.
Although numbers and job titles cannot fully capture the scale of Dr Wedad’s experience, several milestones provide a clear indication of her contributions.
In 2022, she received the Prime Minister’s Medal for Government Communication, while her career has also been associated with achievements and awards in government and digital communication and crisis management, including an award for the Best Government Communication Campaign Using Modern Media across the Arab world.
Her contribution also extends beyond the establishment. Her belief that professional experience should make a difference in people’s lives has taken her into a wider sphere of community work and public awareness.
She has participated in national committees and initiatives related to combating human trafficking and raising awareness during crises and emergencies, as well as taking part in lectures and engagements addressing social, digital and humanitarian issues. These contributions reflect how she has taken her communication experience beyond the institutional setting and into the broader responsibility of informing communities and building public awareness.
There is also another, more personal dimension to Dr Wedad’s story: Wedad the mother. When success is told only through the lens of a career, an important part of the story is left out.
Behind the meetings, projects, academic qualifications and continued learning lies another kind of responsibility, one that does not come with a title and cannot be measured by performance indicators.
Her recognition with the Ideal Mother Award from Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, the Mother of the Nation, brought this side of her life into focus. It also gives the idea of balance a deeper meaning. Motherhood, in her experience, has never been separate from professional achievement, just as her career has never come at the expense of her personal and family responsibilities.
It is difficult to define Dr Wedad by a single title. She is a communication expert who has sought to take communication beyond responding to events and towards anticipation and informed decision-making.
She is an academic who continued to develop her knowledge through to doctoral level, while always connecting that knowledge to practice. She is a leader who has embraced innovation without losing sight of the people it is meant to serve.
She is active in community work because, in her view, an institution’s influence should not end at its doors. And she is a mother who, alongside her professional responsibilities, carries another fundamental responsibility: helping to shape individuals in the first and most formative setting of all — the family.
On Emirati Women’s Day, her journey represents more than an individual story of success. It is one of many experiences that reflect the role of Emirati women as active partners in driving change
Between knowledge and innovation, leadership and motherhood, ambition and responsibility, and what is achieved today and built for tomorrow, Dr Wedad continues to write her story, measured not only by what she achieves, but by what she leaves behind.
التعليقات مغلقة.