Mike has met with health officials in several nations around the world during 2006 to discuss, among other subjects, the standardization of medical research processes internationally. On a stop in the United Arab Emirates, Mike met with Dr. Maha Taysir Barakat (center), Medical and Research Director of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi; and Stephen Baker, General Manager of the Centre. The UAE has one of the world’s highest rates of diabetes and the incidence is rising as rapidly as the construction of local fast-food restaurants. The Diabetes Centre, built as a research and teaching affiliate of Imperial College London, is one of the most modern medical facilities in the world. It operates entirely without paper records: patients have a smartcard with an electronic key to their medical records. As they move from department to department, they insert their card in a reader. Then, as a test is done – a blood-pressure reading, for example – the results are fed electronically to their medical records with no intervening paper.