Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, Prof. Ali Al-Anwar, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Chairman of the Board of Directors of University Hospitals, and Prof. Tariq Youssef, Executive Director of University Hospitals, witnessed the official opening of the Department of Medical Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine, at Ain Shams University, which is the first and only genetics department in Egyptian universities.
And in the presence of Prof. Samia Abdo, Deputy Executive Director of Ain Shams University Hospitals, Prof. Solaf Mohamed El-Sayed, Head of the Department of Medical Genetics, Prof. Heba Hassan Al-Sadfy, Former Head of the Department of Medical Genetics, Prof. Hisham El-Ghazaly, Head of the Research Center at the Faculty of Medicine, at Ain Shams University, Prof. Ezzat El Sobky, Professor of Genetics, Prof. Mohamed Salah El-Khouly, Professor Pediatrics, Prof. Hisham Awad, Professor of Pediatrics and former Head of the Department of Pediatrics, Prof. Ahmed Ramy, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and former Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a group of professors of the department, faculty staff, doctors of the Center for Research and Treatment of Genetic Diseases, the teaching assistants and staff.
The opening ceremony included a tour of the department, including day-care rooms, cellular, molecular, and biochemical genetics laboratories, and a lecture hall named after Prof. Rabah Shawky (may God have mercy on her), one of the founders of genetics in Egypt.
During the inauguration, Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini expressed his happiness and pride in the Department of Medical Genetics and its importance in integrating genetics in all disciplines and promoting genetic research and personalized medicine, explaining the necessity of diagnosing and prescribing treatment according to patient’s genetics.
He is grateful to the Department of Pediatrics, headed by Prof. Hisham Awad, for the initiative and endeavor to establish the Department of Medical Genetics and its purposeful vision, which was benefiting the public interest in all medical specialties and the practice of scientific research in cooperation with the various medical departments.
Prof. Heba Hassan gave a speech, talking about the idea of establishing the department, whose decision was approved by the Ain Shams University Council, in 2018, which includes all the activities of genetics at the Faculty of Medicine, praising the continuous hard work with the support of the university president, Prof. Hisham Awad, and Prof. Mohamed Salah El-Khouly to advance the department.
Prof. Slaf Mohamed El-Sayed also thanked and appreciated Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, and affirmed her pride and happiness in realizing the dream of establishing the Department of Medical Genetics and its importance in the presence of new emerging generations to exchange experiences and transfer knowledge between generations.
Prof. Ezzat El Sobky also praised the support and directives of the President of the University in the participation of the Department of Genetics for the Egyptian Human Genome Project, which is the largest research project in the history of the modern Egyptian scientific research system.