Lihadh Al-Gazali

Lihadh Al-Gazali
Born	November 1950 Amarah, Iraq
Education	Iraqi University, Baghdad Medical College (B.Med., B.Surg., 1973)
Known for	Identifying inherited disorders in Arab populations
Awards	L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
Scientific career
Fields	Clinical genetics
Institutions	Department of Paediatrics of United Arab Emirates University

Professor Lihadh Al-Gazali MBChB MSc FRCP FRCPCH (Arabic: لحاظ الغزالي) is a professor in clinical genetics and paediatrics. Her main area of interest is identifying new inherited disorders in Arab populations clinically and at the molecular level.

Biography

Al-Gazali was born in November 1950 in Amarah, Iraq, and raised in Baghdad. Her mother was an educationalist and her father an Army judge in Baghdad. She received higher education in UK.

Al-Gazali studied medicine at the University of Iraq in Baghdad. She received her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Baghdad Medical College in 1973. She married and had a child before moving to the United Kingdom in 1976 to study paediatrics and clinical genetics. She continued her education in Leeds and Edinburgh, living and practicing until 1990. She then moved to Al Ain, becoming an assistant professor at the Department of Paediatrics of United Arab Emirates University. She played a role in establishing the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies. In 1995 she set up the first registry for birth defects in the UAE. This registry was the first birth defects registry in an Arab country and the first to become a member of the International Clearing House of Birth Defects in Rome, Italy. She became an associate professor in 1997.

She founded the first Clinical Genetics Service in the UAE, which offers support and counselling for families affected by congenital disorders. She has published over 240 scientific papers.

Al-Gazali received the Distinguished Performance Award in Research and Clinical Services of UAE University in 2003. In 2008 she received a L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science "for her contributions to the characterization of inherited disorders." She also was awarded the Sheikh Hamdan Award for medical sciences which honours distinguished individuals working in medicine. In 2014 she was awarded the Takreem Award for Scientific and Technological achievement. In 2016, Professor Al-Gazali received the Abu Dhabi Award for service in clinical genetics and research.

Personal life

Professor Al-Gazali is married to Wessam Shather and has two daughters and a son.

Selected publications

• Baasanjav, Sevjidmaa; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; et al. (July 2011). "Faulty Initiation of Proteoglycan Synthesis Causes Cardiac and Joint Defects". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 89 (1): 15–27. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.05.021. PMC 3135799. PMID 21763480.
• Akawi, NA; Al-Gazali, L; Ali, BR (August 2012). "Clinical and molecular analysis of UAE fibrochondrogenesis patients expands the phenotype and reveals two COL11A1 homozygous null mutations". Clinical Genetics. 82 (2): 147–156. doi:10.1111/j.1399-0004.2011.01734.x. PMID 21668896. S2CID 23839531.
• Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Walsh, Christopher A.; et al. (December 2010). "A Homozygous Mutation in the Tight-Junction Protein JAM3 Causes Hemorrhagic Destruction of the Brain, Subependymal Calcification, and Congenital Cataracts". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 87 (6): 882–889. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.10.026. PMC 2997371. PMID 21109224.
• Al-Gazali, L.; Woods, C. G. (26 October 2010). "A novel NGF mutation clarifies the molecular mechanism and extends the phenotypic spectrum of the HSAN5 neuropathy". Journal of Medical Genetics. 48 (2): 131–135. doi:10.1136/jmg.2010.081455. PMC 3030776. PMID 20978020.