Palestinian scientist picks up Rammal 2001 award
The winner of the 2001 Rammal award has been announced as Palestinian Professor Ahmad Teebi. The award is given each year to a scientist from a Mediterranean country who has helped elevate scientific exchanges in that area of the world. The eight judges of EUROSCIENCE (European association for the promotion of science and technology) unanimously decided that Professor Teebi should receive the award following his work over the past 20 years, which has largely focused on genetics. Although born to Palestinian parents, Professor Teebi has worked in Kuwait, Palestine and, since the Gulf war, the USA and Canada. He started the first programme to detect neonatal genetic diseases among Arab populations and was one of the founders of the Kuwaiti centre for medical genetics in 1981. While visiting the USA in 1990, he found that he was unable to return to Kuwait and started work in North America, with placements at Yale, McGill and Toronto universities. He now resides in Canada. He became the first President of the Middle East genetics association (MEGA), a non-religious, non-political scientific grouping, which he founded. He also published a groundbreaking book on genetic diseases in Arab populations in 1997 and has published more than 150 papers on the subject. He volunteered his time on several occasions to assist in humanitarian missions to Palestinian refugee camps, to help their sick.