Dr. Abdullah Adlan has since 2019 served as the executive director of the ethics and compliance department at the National Institute of Health Research, or Saudi NIH, one of the sector’s transformation programs. 

In addition, he is the founder and chairman of the National Committee for Health Ethics at the Saudi Health Council, where he is also the co-founder and vice chairman of the national data exchange committee. He further serves as a consultant and faculty member at several medical and research establishments.

Adlan is considered an expert in medical and biological ethics, specifically in the field of research governance. He also serves as the leader and head of the project to establish a national committee specializing in health ethics.

He is the first Saudi bioethics and health research governance activist, who has been a consultant on the national ethics committee since 2018. Since then, he has participated in formulating regulations for ethical research on humans and animals. He has contributed to various initiatives to update regulations and build research capacity in the field.

Adlan’s considerable experience has seen him collaborate with international academic and research bodies including the UK’s universities of Birmingham and Bristol, University of Leuven in Belgium, and the University of Sydney in Australia.

He has also worked with the European Society of Best Practice and other organizations to exchange and transfer knowledge to Saudi Arabia; and has contributed to establishing several academic and training programs including for diploma and master’s courses.

Adlan received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the Riyadh-based King Saud University, and a master’s degree in bioethics from King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

He further obtained two doctorates in health research and bioethics from the universities of Bradford and Birmingham, respectively. He has also completed an Executive Master of Business Administration course at Prince Mohammad bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship.