The Palestinian researcher Nirmeen Elmadany, who earned her Ph.D. in Germany and is now a postdoctoral researcher there, has won a L’Oréal-Unesco prize for her brain cancer research.
Early in her academic career, Elmadany wanted to study medicine at Cairo University, but the closing of the Gaza Strip after the Israeli withdrawal in 2005 forced her instead to study pharmacy at Al-Azhar University inside the Strip. Yet she never gave up her ambition.
Recently, Elmadany was honored by the Fondation L’Oréal and Unesco at the first For Women in Science Young Talents Awards Ceremony for MENA. She was among 14 Arab female scientists who received the award.
Research Career
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy at Al-Azhar, Elmadany worked there as a teaching assistant before becoming an assistant researcher at the University of Jordan. With the help of a grant from the German government she obtained a master’s degree in clinical pharmacology there in 2015.