Robert Owen

Chief of Major Incident Preparedness and Resilience

Chief Executive Officer, Hamad Medical Corporation Ambulance Service

Doha, Qatar

After completing his undergraduate education in South Africa, Prof. Owen spent some of South Africa’s most troubled years working in the government ambulance service in KwaZulu-Natal providing pre-hospital advanced life support on the ground and in the air. 

After developing an interest in research, he completed a Master of Science degree in research methods before taking up the post of Academic Head of the Department of Emergency Medical Care and Rescue and the Durban University of Technology, a post he held for five years. During this time, he served as a member of the Professional Board for Emergency Medical Care and was responsible for several national developments in the provision of pre-hospital care. He left this role to take up a position as Clinical Director of Surrey Ambulance Service NHS Trust in England, where he was responsible for clinical governance and risk management, education and development of clinically effective practice. He held this role for two and a half years before returning to academia as a National Institute of Health Research Training Fellow at the University of Manchester in England, where he researched the development of pre-hospital care quality indicators and obtained Doctor of Philosophy degree in Health Service Research. 

For the last twelve years, Prof. Owen has led, and is currently the Chief of Major Incident Preparedness and Resilience and Chief Executive Officer of Hamad Medical Corporation’s Ambulance Service (HMCAS), the national ambulance service of Qatar. Years ago, he established the Mobile Healthcare Service and the Healthcare Coordination Service, which he continues to lead. Prof. Owen is an honorary research fellow at the Durban University of Technology and has several peer-reviewed publications.