N. Hashem
Nemat Hashem was an Egyptian physician and scientist who was a pioneer in the field of medical genetics in Egypt and the Middle East. In 1964, she established the first medical genetics clinic in the Arab world at Ain Shams University.
Education and career
Hashem served as a professor of Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University in Cairo. In the early 1960s, she focused her research on chromosomal abnormalities and the clinical presentation of genetic disorders within the Egyptian population.In 1963 and 1964, she gained international recognition for her collaborative research with Kurt Hirschhorn and others on the mitogenic action of phytohaemagglutinin. This work was foundational in demonstrating that peripheral lymphocytes could be stimulated to undergo mitosis in response to specific antigens, a discovery critical to the development of modern immunology and karyotyping.
Contributions to genetics
Hashem is widely credited with the institutionalization of genetics in Egypt. She founded the Medical Genetics Center at Ain Shams University in 1964, which served as a hub for diagnosing genetic syndromes and providing genetic counseling. Her research extensively covered consanguinity and its impact on the prevalence of genetic disorders in North Africa.In 1982, she edited the three-volume series Preventable Aspects of Genetic Morbidity, which compiled significant research on reducing the burden of hereditary diseases through public health interventions.