July 11, 2017
A professor of clinical immunology from Iraq, Dr. Khalida Al Mousawy first sought SRF assistance in 2008 after suffering vicious threats and public attacks from members of the student body and other factions of the University of Baghdad.
Before leaving Iraq, Al Mousawy had over 25 years of teaching and clinical experience in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Baghdad’s College of Medicine, where she supervised medical board graduates, Ph.D., and M.Sc. students. Her publications in Iraqi medical journals number over 100, and her main research interests include: immune therapy in rheumatology; immune therapy in oncology with a focus on Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; cancer of the colon and the bladder; and immunotherapy in auto-immune diseases. Various committees at the Ministry of Health in Iraq have also used her services as a consultant.
In special consideration of Al Mousawy ’s family circumstances, SRF secured a position for her in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of South Carolina, which allowed her to join her daughter in the U.S. While there, she pursued immunology research on a National Institute of Health-funded project. By taking her SRF renewal fellowship at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) in Amman, she was able to apply the research methods she learned in the U.S. to benefit cancer patients in the Middle East and North African region. Her position in Amman also allowed her to reconnect with the postgraduate students she still maintained contact with in Iraq.
Al Mousawy received her Ph.D. in immunology with a focus on cancer treatment from Sheffield University in the UK in 1980. She is a member of the Iraqi Medical Board Committee and a consultant at the medical teaching laboratories of Medical City.
Though her SRF Fellowship officially ended in September 2010, Al Mousawy continues to volunteer her time and expertise at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) in Amman in order to complete on-going research projects with other KHCC colleagues. They are testing a new diagnostic procedure to assess renal toxicity. The goal of the project is to help reduce renal complications that result from chemotherapy. In addition, through Dr. Al Mousawy ’s connection with the University of South Carolina, SRF was able to place another rescued scholar who works in the field of cancer research at the university.
Al Mousawy remains a loyal friend to the SRF Iraq Project. She has been an active participant in several IIE conferences designed to encourage higher education development efforts in Iraq. Most recently, she attended an IIE conference on expanding academic partnerships between the United States and Iraq that took place in June 2012 in Erbil, Iraq.