Dr Dunia Ismail

Consultant Paediatrician with Special Interest in Endocrinology and Diabetes

MD (Commendation) Italy, EU. Paediatric Speciality Training (Italy, EU). Subspeciality Training in Endocrine and Diabetes (Melbourne AUS, London UK)

Specialties at a glance

Dr Ismail is clinical lead for endocrinology and diabetes at Royal Alexandra Childrens Hospital in Brighton. As a paediatrician, she treats people aged between 0-19 years of age only. Specialities Include:

• Diabetes in children & young people
• Endocrinology
• Growth disorders
• Puberty
• Thyroid problems
• Obesity

About Dr Ismail

After completing her medical training and core Paediatric Speciality training in Europe (University Hospitals of Palermo, Italy) Dr Ismail received International Speciality training in Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes. She undertook a Clinical research fellowship at the world renowned Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes of the Royal Children Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, Australia, in 2004. There she worked under the guidance of Professor G Werther, Dr M Zacharin and Professor F Cameron, all world experts in this field. Dr Ismail published four articles following her time there, three of which as first author. 

Following that and finalising her core paediatric training, Dr Ismail worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) from 2008-2012 as senior clinical fellow under world endocrinology expert Prof Khalid Hussain. She developed a sub-speciality interest in glucose physiology and Hyperinsulinism. Dr Ismail produced many first author papers while in GOSH on the topic and presented her work at national and international conferences such as ESPE and BSPED. 

Since 2012 Dr Ismail has been working as a Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist/Diabetologist at Royal Alexandra Childrens Hospital (RACH) in Brighton. She currently is clinical lead for the services of Paediatric Endocrine and Diabetes there. She leads MDT Diabetes clinics for children and young people and runs virtual Diabetes data-review clinics. Dr Ismail is confident in managing all currently commercially available (HCL) closed loop Insulin systems and pumps. Her focus on technology managed Diabetes is to allow patients to optimize their own Diabetes management and improve QOL and long-term outcomes. Dr Ismail aims at utilising technology as much as possible and where appropriate for the patient, including all latest available continuous glucose sensors and HCL systems.

At RACH Dr Ismail also runs specialized clinics investigating causes of hypoglycaemia in children and general endocrinology clinics for growth and puberty disorders of children and adolescents. Equally she specializes in identifying and excluding Endocrine causes of fatigue and tiredness in young people.

Dr Ismail is bilingual and is comfortable running clinical consultations in both English and Italian (mother-tongue). She is also fluent in Arabic thanks to her heritage and is comfortable with conversational French and Spanish.

Passions

I am passionate about looking after children and YP with Diabetes. Having a chronic illness can be scary, debilitating and exhausting for the child /YP and their families. I strive to give families the care, knowledge, confidence and reassurance that they deserve through their life and through their journey with Diabetes, so that they can lead a normal life. I aim at always treating Children and young people with Diabetes and their families with individualised care, as we are all different and unique. Individualised care that follows up to date and gold standard treatment creates strong and independent individuals that can feel proud of who they are and feel comfortable and confident in managing their medical condition.

Outside work my passions are my family and playing the piano. Music gives calm strength and humility at the same time and teaches resilience. I believe in becoming better clinicians through being “all rounded individuals”.

Accolades

I am proud of my multicentre international training spanning over 15 years. I am proud of striving for excellence in my training and seeking to follow in the shoes of great clinicians at first class medical and academic centres who have taught me and shaped me as the clinician I am.

To seek this I have trained and worked at RCH ( Royal Childrens Hospital) in Melbourne, Australia (2004) and at GOSH and UCL (Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London), London (2008-2012) in Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes. I also have European medical training influence from Italy (1997-2007) .

I am proud of  my time spent in clinical research, which allowed me to produce over 10 original articles under great mentorship and guidance. This brings a new point of view to my clinical work, always striving for up to date treatments and answers for my patients and families.