Men are given treatments. Women are told to endure. For generations, this imbalance has always formed the face of medicine and left generations of broken families without a voice. However, across Arab healthcare, a revolution is beginning to emerge; a revolution that demands dignity for women, respect for patients, and leadership based on humanity, more than hierarchy.
These pioneers are transforming medicine into a new practice and experience. Their focus extends beyond healing the body to nurturing the soul. They are creating spaces where care equals comfort, and where patients are recognized not as statistics, but as human beings.
Among the most remarkable is Dr. Leila Soudah, CEO of DLS Clinic in Dubai. As a doctor, leader, teacher, and survivor, her life demonstrates that resilience can be the catalyst for change. She has lived through hunger, war, displacement, and personal struggle. Based on such experiences, she has created a vision of healthcare which is passionately compassionate and unapologetically frank.
Let’s uncover the story of a doctor who heals bodies, empowers souls, and restores dignity in every patient!
From Survival to Leadership
Dr. Soudah’s life changed when she left Jordan at just eighteen. Alone in Germany, she had no financial support. She worked tirelessly to fund her education, pay her rent, and survive. It was a time of hardship, but it became the foundation of her leadership philosophy.
She recalls those days with clarity: “This made me into a leader who told herself, girl, you can do this. You can do anything. There is nothing for me called impossible.”
This spirit still defines her. She brings the same resilience to her patients. When a woman comes to her fearful of disease or weighed down by infertility, she tells her with conviction: “You can do it.” She knows this because she has done it herself.
Women at the Heart of Progress
For Dr. Soudah, women are not half of society, they are society itself. Empowering women is not an extra responsibility but the key to building stronger futures.
Her leadership is not only visible in the way she treats patients but also in how she develops her team. She proudly recalls the story of the cleaning lady at her clinic. While others overlooked her, Dr. Soudah saw potential. Over years of guidance and encouragement, that woman became her right hand. She earned a higher salary, grew in confidence, and even became a mother while working at the clinic.
This, Dr. Soudah insists, is leadership in action. “You should be humble. Leadership is humanity. Leadership is not about being powerful and using money or position to hurt others. True leadership is caring for people, for children, for humanity.”
Motherhood and Single Motherhood
Motherhood changed her deeply. Later, as a single mother, she experienced firsthand the silent battles many women face. These experiences shaped the way she treated her pregnant patients.
She insisted that gynecology must be approached with tenderness. “Treat your patient as if she is your daughter. Teach her, guide her, prepare her to be strong for birth.”
Her philosophy extended to delivery itself. She always placed newborns on their mothers’ chests, ensuring the first thing they heard outside the womb was the heartbeat they knew so well inside it. She describes this as a vital act of reassurance. “When the baby hears the mother’s heartbeat, it knows everything is fine. It is safe.”
Standing Against Abuse
In her clinic, Dr. Soudah has seen countless women scarred by abuse. Some have been beaten, others silenced, many broken. Often, she does not need words to know. “My patients say she will know if I come to her in silence. She will understand without me speaking.”
She does not stop at recognition. She fights for them, even in courtrooms. She remembers one patient who endured over three hundred injections for infertility treatment, only to be violently attacked by her husband. “He broke her hips with his leg,” she recalls.
Dr. Soudah canceled her own appointments to testify. She gave her time and her voice to women who had none. For her, the clinic is not just a place for treatment, it is a place where women regain their dignity and their right to be heard.
Memories of Hunger and War
Her empathy is rooted in her past. She grew up during the wars of 1967 and 1970. She saw her mother tending to the wounded in the streets. She remembers homes destroyed, families torn apart, and the terror of displacement.
One memory stands out. As a young girl, she once ate stones from the roof of her house. Years later, a doctor explained her body had been desperate for calcium. She marvels even now at the survival instinct of the human body: “Can you imagine the body tells the brain what to do, and the person can still walk and function?”
She also remembers the loss of her family’s home in 1976 and the stories of women imprisoned, raped, and shot. These memories are painful, but they forged her determination to defend humanity at every step of her career.
A System Still Biased Against Women
Dr. Soudah does not hesitate to speak about the deep bias in medicine. She recalls how bioidentical hormones were available in Germany in the 1980s but ignored. Women in menopause were told to accept their suffering as natural. “My mother went through it. My grandmother went through it. Just deal with it. That is what women were told.”
Men, however, were treated very differently. A man with declining sexual function could visit a urologist and receive treatment without hesitation. “Medicine is biased,” she says firmly. “The man gets the treatment, the woman does not, because her doctor told her it is normal.”
She describes the consequences without hesitation. Families break down. Women lose confidence. Men seek other partners. She works with women to restore their vitality because, as she says, “I have saved a lot of marriages by helping women regain their health and sexuality.”
The Infertility Struggle
For Dr. Soudah, infertility is one of the most emotional battles women face. Society often punishes women who cannot conceive, leading to broken marriages and broken spirits. “Most women go through hell if they are not able to get pregnant,” she says.
Her care goes far beyond prescriptions. She hugs her patients, comforts them, and promises to do everything possible. She recently shared the joy of one case. A patient who had suffered infertility for eight years was suddenly able to produce four healthy eggs after treatment. “She never had that in her life. Everyone told her she could not get pregnant.”
She remembers the words of the woman’s husband: “Leila, save my marriage, give me a baby.” Her answer was honest and compassionate. “God will give you, my dear, but I will do my best.”
False Transformations
The term “transformative leadership” is often used in modern healthcare, but Dr. Soudah calls it a lie. “I do not see it at all. It is not there. It is a lie.”
She condemns doctors who claim leadership by offering cosmetic surgeries that exploit women’s insecurities. She describes hearing one respected doctor claim he could create a “Barbie vagina.” Her reaction was sharp: “Why would I want to be a Barbie vagina? If you want to sleep with a doll, go buy a doll.”
She points out the double standards. Countless procedures are offered to alter women’s bodies, but there are no equivalent operations for men. “This is sexist. Medicine is for men, not for women. Most of these procedures are done to please men, not for the women themselves.”
Her message to women is clear. “If you want surgery, do it for yourself. Do not do it because your husband asked you to.”
Respect in Medicine
Her critique extends to the way doctors brand themselves. When she heard of a male doctor calling himself a “vagina doctor,” she was outraged. “What does that even mean? If I had power, I would take his license. It is disrespectful.”
She compares it to what would happen if a female urologist called herself a “penis doctor.” She would be condemned and silenced. Yet society tolerates men using disrespectful titles for women’s bodies. “No, you do not say that. Have more respect.”
Redefining the Clinic Experience
At DLS Clinic, Dr. Soudah has created a new kind of medical environment. She redesigned the rooms with soft colors, new curtains, and welcoming spaces so that patients feel safe rather than intimidated. “I wanted a space where women do not feel scared when they enter my office.”
She also invested in advanced regenerative medicine technologies. Ozone therapy now cleanses blood from toxins. Red and infrared light therapy boost immunity, support fertility, and help with muscle building. Oxygen chambers provide rejuvenation and stress relief. Patients report better sleep, reduced stress, and a calmer mind.
Even her staff feel transformed. One described the clinic as “friendly and homely.” Dr. Soudah takes pride in this. “When you work here, you feel you are in your home, honestly.”
Caring for Employees Like Family
Her leadership extends to her employees as much as her patients. She creates a culture where staff feel safe, respected, and valued. The story of her former cleaner who rose to become her right hand is one she tells with joy. That woman not only grew professionally but also became a mother, supported by the clinic family.
Dr. Soudah explains her philosophy clearly. “Leadership means guiding people in the right direction, not abusing them. Leadership is humanity.”
A Doctor on a Plane
One of her most remarkable recent experiences occurred mid-air. On a flight from Bucharest to Dubai, exhausted and in pain, she was woken by commotion. A passenger was having a seizure.
She forgot her own back pain and rushed to help. She positioned the woman, provided oxygen, and calmed the entire cabin. “I told everyone, sit in your places. I got it. No worries. Just stay calm. And thank God, she woke up and began to talk.”
She reassured the woman with tenderness: “My name is Doctor Leila. I am a doctor. You are safe. You are in safe hands. Everybody loves you here.” The woman later admitted her seizure was triggered by heartbreak. Passengers clapped, grateful for the doctor who had reminded them of humanity’s strength.
Vision for the Future
The next five years will bring even more growth for DLS Clinic. Dr. Soudah plans to expand services, add more technologies, and create even more welcoming spaces. Her goal is clear: to reduce the need for hospitals by focusing on prevention and regeneration.
Her vision is global. She lectures in Cairo, Qatar, Bucharest, and beyond, teaching other doctors about bioidentical hormones, preventive medicine, and reverse aging. She wants to build a worldwide movement of women doctors who speak with honesty and courage.
She often says openly: “I want to save the world. This is my vision. I do not know if it sounds crazy, but I want to save the world.”
The Last Word
Dr. Soudah is more than a doctor. She is a leader, a teacher, a survivor, and a woman who refuses to be silenced. She challenges injustice in medicine, stands beside abused women, saves lives mid-air, and creates clinics where women feel safe and respected.
Her story, from a hungry child eating stones to a doctor changing healthcare, is one of extraordinary resilience. She speaks with courage, acts with compassion, and dreams of global change.
In her own words: “Say no to war, no to occupation, no to killing humans.”
For patients, for women, and for humanity, Dr. Soudah is a voice of hope and a leader of transformation.
