Huda Basaleem

In 2010, and just a few months after finishing my PhD, I was appointed Head of the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Aden University. This is one of the biggest and departments and is essential in the formation of future doctors, pharmacists, dentists and other health professionals. Thereafter, I was appointed Head of various centers, committees and editorial boards of local, regional and international medical journals such as the Saudi Medical Journal, the American Journal of Food and Nutrition, the Journal of Infectious Diseases and Therapeutics (Pakistan), the Journal of Tropical Nephrourology (Yemen), Hadramout Medical Journal (Yemen) and the International Reviewer Panel of Medical Science Monitor (USA). In particular, I’m very proud to be the Secretary General of OWSD National Chapter in Yemen , theYemeni Women Association for Science and Technology for Development (YWASTD).

In August 2013, I became the UNESCO Country Focal Point (Yemen) and Advisory Board and a member of the Bioethics Network on Women's Issues in the Arab Region (BiNWIAR) as well as a member of the Scientific Board of Science and Technology Ethics Center, Aden University. In 2014, I was selected and trained to be the WHO expert for Advising Eastern Mediterranean Countries on Non Communicable Diseases Surveillance. I continued the hard work and was nominated one of the best doctors for working for better life in the Arab world in March 2014. I have been an OWSD member since 2005 and was elected Excecutive Board Member for the Arab countries in 2016.

In 2013, I received the Elsevier Foundation - OWSD Award which I consider a tremendous milestone in my life and career. In fact, winning the OWSD postgraduate fellowship to pursue my PhD studies in Malaysia was the initial starting point for many major achievements in my life.

Winning the Elsevier OWSD Award gave me more scientific and professional visibility. Not only have Elsevier and OWSD played a pivotal role in my career development. They have also sensitized me more towards contextual issues such as the complex challenges Yemeni women are facing in their traditionally conservative and poor home country. This challenged me to develop my social accountability which flourished during the latest military and political conflict in Yemen, beginning in March 2014 in my city Aden and is still ongoing. During the most intense military clashes, I coordinated charitable and medical initiatives to help people in my country to stand up to the realities of the war. We did this by fundraising money and medicine and distributing all to community welfare centers. Later, I participated with civilian efforts to organize the distribution of food, clothing and monetary aid for the poor.

Many thanks to Elsevier and OWSD!