Dr. Hibah Shata

Dr. Hibah Shata

CEO and Founder
Child Early Intervention Medical Center, Maharat Learning Center

Dr Hibah Shata is a dentist from Saudi Arabia, graduated in 1992 from King Saud University, worked in the Ministry of Health and Armed Forces Hospital, achieved MSc Masters from University of London in 1995 and a Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1996, worked as an Associate Consultant for the National Guards in Saudi Arabai before she moved to Dubai in year 2000 and established a prestigious cosmetic dental clinic in 2001. In 2007 her daughter Sarah, who was 15 months old, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. She learnt that Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy and early intervention is the best evidence-based practice to help children learn skills that prepare them for school. unfortunately these services were not available at that time. So she founded Child Early Intervention Medical Center in 2008, in collaboration with an International ABA therapy provider. She had desinged a structured training program to develop capacity int he field of behavioral therapy and by 2010, she had kids ready for school, but schools were not ready for them, and not knowing where to go, she established Child Learning and Enrichment Medical Center as an alternative education center to support transition and inclusion in mainstream schools. she also worked on raising awareness and equipping teachers with inclusion skills, since then her organizations assisted hundreds of children in accessing mainstream schools in the UAE and trained thousands of teachers and specialists in the field.

In 2016, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority launched their inclusion strategy, and there was a large demand for training and education agencies to support inclusion. So she started Maharat Learning Center to support inclusion of children and young adults into mainstream education systems and society.

In 2019 Dr Hibah established Maharat Arabia the first GCC branch in Riyadh, KSA and Maharat ISCS the first Inclusion Center inside a school.