Samira Ibrahim Islam is a Saudi Arabian

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...

and scholar. She heads King Fahd Medical Research Center's Drug Monitoring Unit at

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) ( ar, جامعة الملك عبد العزيز) is a public university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With over 117,096 students in 2022, it is the largest university in the country. Located in south Jeddah, the univ ...

. She was instrumental in securing formal university education for women in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Early life and education

Islam was born in al-Hafuf, al-Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia. Following her secondary education, Islam was sent to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

to finish her schooling. She initially enrolled at the Medical School of the

University of Alexandria Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...

but transferred to the School of Pharmacy after a year. Here she obtained a BSc in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1964, followed by a Masters in 1966. Islam continued to study pharmacology, becoming the first Saudi woman to earn a PhD in 1970.

Career

In 1971, Islam began to lecture at

. She was appointed Academic Advisor for the girl's section of the Makkah and Jeddah branches of the university in 1973. She worked to establish formal university education for Saudi women. She became Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1974. In 1983, she was appointed as Professor of Pharmacology, becoming the first person from Saudi Arabia to achieve this. Islam has been recognized as an advocate of the nursing profession and founded the first faculty of nursing in Saudi Arabia in 1976.

Research

Islam has investigated

drug metabolism Drug metabolism is the metabolic breakdown of drugs by living organisms, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. More generally, xenobiotic metabolism (from the Greek xenos "stranger" and biotic "related to living beings") is the set o ...

as it pertains to the Saudi population. She founded and heads the Drug Monitoring Unit of King Fahd Medical Research Center at

. Islam is on the board of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation. Islam received a Makkah Award of Excellence for her research on the effects and impact of medication on Saudis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islam, Samira Living people Academic staff of King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabian pharmacologists Women pharmacologists 21st-century women scientists Saudi Arabian women scientists Year of birth missing (living people)

Early life and education

Career

Research

See also

References