Dr. Nauf AlBendar is a medical scientist at the forefront of human health research. With a BSc in Molecular Genetics and Genomics, an MSc in Nutrition & Food Science and a PHD in clinical medicine, Nauf has developed a deep appreciation and understanding for the developmental origins of health and disease.
After completing an undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics and a Master's in Food Science and nutrition, Nauf went on to study a PhD in clinical medicine at Imperial College London. She simultaneously worked at the Robert Steiner MRI Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital to develop an anatomical compartmentalisation technique for examining fat content and distribution in different organs using the noninvasive Multi-Echo MR Imaging technique.
Furthermore, until recently, Nauf was best known as a patron of the arts and for setting up a gallery at a very young age as a focal point for women artists from the Gulf. In a time when there was a void in the region, the Lahd Gallery soon became a well-known exhibition space on the contemporary art scene, representing emerging and semi-established artists and bringing together the leading contemporary artworks from the MENASA ( Middle East, North Africa and South Asia). Nauf was shortlisted as the Woman of the Future in Arts, Media and Culture at the Women of the Future Awards in 2011 and as the Distinguished Honoree of the UN Millennium Development Goals: 2015 Progress Award for her work with the gallery.
Now a mother living in London, Nauf is passionate about providing global evidence-based research that usually takes more than a decade to reach clinical practice. Having become a parent and discovering the lack of recent evidence-based information available to parents, Nauf set up 'the womb effect’—an educational platform created to inspire and inform aspiring parents who would like to prepare for and guide their families to optimal health and well-being for life.
By decoding recent studies on the impact of preconception, pregnancy, birth and the first years of life and ongoing chronic health diseases, Nauf bridges the gap between clinical evidence and public information. In addition, speaking several languages has helped Nauf to ‘rediscover’ critical breakthroughs in prenatal research and important statistics invisible to most scientists as they were overlooked by global reviews because they were non-English papers.
When she's not working, Nauf is an unconventional artist and a big advocate of mind-body interventions as pivotal tools for her well-being. She is a keen Qi Gong practitioner and has been interested in its implications as a healing therapy in pregnancy and postnatal depletion.
MY STORY
I fell into my profession almost by accident. I have an undergraduate degree in Molecular Genetics, a Master’s in Food Science and nutrition, and a PhD in clinical medicine, with expertise in the Developmental Origins of Health and disease (DOHaD).
Looking back, like a jigsaw puzzle, I realise that my academic journey took time. Still, all the different pieces finally came together and gave me the best all-rounded knowledge and expertise for my current work. In addition, speaking several languages has helped me ‘rediscover’ critical breakthroughs in prenatal research and important statistics invisible to most scientists. These statistics are usually overlooked by global reviews because they are non-English papers.
During my academic career, my Master’s dissertation focused on the impact of a rich OMEGA 3 diet during pregnancy and the concentration and trace of immune factors in Breast Milk. I also worked at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I helped advance the aim of a local project in autism and the methylation of repeated sequences such as ALU and LINE in the autistic genome.
When I was offered a sponsorship to complete my PhD at Imperial College London, this led to my understanding of the impact of visceral adipose tissue and ectopic fat (mainly liver and pancreatic fat content) on obesity and metabolism and assessing the potential impact of environmental factors on fat deposition and its fetal origins. I simultaneously worked at the Robert Steiner MRI Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital in developing an anatomical compartmentalisation technique to look at the fat content and its distribution in different organs using the non-invasive Multi-Echo MR Imaging technique.
During this time, I have been periodically speaking at obesity conferences and seminars and was involved in the review concerning the different effects of preterm birth on metabolic pathways and its implications for later life https://tinyurl.com/y5ww277g
THE WOMB EFFECT
The Womb Effect is an educational platform created by Dr Nauf AlBendar, to bridge the gap between medical studies and a lack of evidence-based information for aspiring parents, expectant and new parents.
Dr AlBendar aims to raise awareness and increase access to medical studies so that everyone can benefit from their findings and optimise their children’s health and well-being for life.
"When I was an expectant mother, not once was the most important question asked: How do I optimise the health and wellbeing of my unborn child?"
AlBendar’s qualifications in molecular genetics and developmental origins of health and disease make her uniquely qualified to understand and decode medical studies and scientific research. She unpacks global evidence-based research, which usually takes more than a decade to reach clinical practice, by decoding recent studies on the impact of preconception, pregnancy, birth and the first years of life and ongoing chronic health diseases. This is evident in her commendable Instagram, where she uses her social platform to inform her followers of global research using engaging visual and written content shared widely by the medical community.
The Womb Effect started as an educational platform on social media @thewombeffect and has progressed to include this website where Dr AlBendar can list her findings and provide more in-depth advice.
N.B. All articles and videos on The Womb Effect will be updated every three years with the latest medical research based on the most recent studies.