Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi is the Minister of State in the UAE Federal Cabinet and in this capacity heads the Marriage Fund of Abu Dhabi. She has also retained the position of Research Advisor of the UAE University (UAEU). She has served the UAEU as the Deputy Vice Chancellor and Assistant Provost for Research for many years. She is an international expert on issues regarding scientific research and higher education and represents the UAE at regional and international forums.

She has been associated with the UNICEF as the member of the Regional Scientific Committee and contributes regularly to UN ESCWA on issues related to population and immigration in the Arab World. She sits on many national and international boards, councils and committees in the UAE and in GCC countries on Science and Technology.

Dr. Maitha has special interests in women and population and manpower issues in the GCC countries and has written many books on women, family and society. She is also the Advisor to H. H. Sheikha Fatima, President of Family Development Foundation and the wife of the founding father of the UAE, late Sheikh Zayed Al Nahayan.

She is the Member of the Research Advisory Committee of Harvard Medical School Dubai Center (HMSDC), Member of the Advisory committee of the Swedish Institute Alexandria and Member of the Management Council of Sorbonne University.

She has also won the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Arab Administration in 2003.