Dr. Sarah Al-Aqeel

Occupational Therapist & Lecturer

Dr. Sarah Al-Aqeel is a lecturer at the College of Applied Medical Sciences at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An occupational therapist by specialisation, her academic and clinical work focuses on fatigue management in neurodegenerative conditions, particularly Parkinson's disease. She belongs to the King Saud University ecosystem, one of the most established universities in Saudi Arabia and a central player in training healthcare cadres in the Kingdom. Al-Aqeel completed her PhD at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the United Kingdom, where she led an integrated research programme that included a systematic review and meta-analysis, alongside a pilot randomised controlled trial evaluating the "ReFresh" intervention for fatigue management in Parkinson's patients. The ReFresh programme is available as an open-access digital resource featuring educational materials to support patients and caregivers. She has also distinguished herself in designing scalable, evidence-based self-management interventions that involve patients and the public to enhance the quality of health outcomes. Al-Aqeel's research interests span digital rehabilitation, the integration of behavioural approaches in intervention design, and implementing research findings within Saudi Arabia's healthcare system, alongside outcome measurement for fatigue and community participation among patients. She has contributed to academic discussion on the role of occupational therapists in including students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, and gained local recognition after inventing an assistive tool to enable patients with motor disabilities to play video games, for which she received a patent. This reflects her orientation toward combining scientific research with applied innovation in service of patients.