First-year pre-medical students at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) in February explored Qatar’s rich biodiversity during a field trip to the mangrove forest at Jazirat Bin Ghannam, also known as Purple Island. Divided into three groups, the students visited the island on three separate days, where they identified and collected invertebrates and observed how local flora and fauna have adapted to the environment. Under the supervision of Dr. Kuei-Chiu Chen, a professor of biology at WCM-Q, the students collected invertebrate animals and brought the specimens to WCM-Q’s state-of-the-art laboratory. There, they ...