GAM Award Recipients

Dr. Hani Najm received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Medicine in recognition of his outstanding contributions to pediatric and adult cardiac surgery and to the treatment of congenital heart disease.

Dr. Najm is internationally recognized for advancing the treatment of complex congenital heart conditions in newborns, children, and adults. He has introduced innovative surgical approaches that have helped achieve a mortality rate of less than one percent in recent years, despite the complexity of the cases he treats.

Born and educated in Riyadh, Dr. Najm graduated from King Saud University’s College of Medicine in 1985. He completed general surgery training at Ottawa Civic Hospital, followed by cardiothoracic surgery training at Toronto General Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He also completed fellowships in pediatric and adult congenital cardiac surgery at SickKids and at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, Canada.

After returning to Riyadh, Dr. Najm spent 16 years developing the Children’s Heart Center at King Abdulaziz Medical City before joining Cleveland Clinic in January 2016 as Chair of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.

He has personally performed more than 5,000 open-heart operations. He previously served as President of the Saudi Heart Association and Editor-in-Chief of its journal. He was also a member of the editorial board of the Saudi Medical Journal and an Associate Professor at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology, lectures internationally on congenital heart surgery, and collaborates on research initiatives, including a multicenter database supporting evidence-based practice in congenital heart disease.

Professor Fadel Adib received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Engineering and Technology in recognition of his pioneering contributions to wireless engineering and wireless sensing technologies, most notably the development of through-wall imaging.

Born and raised in Tripoli, Lebanon, Professor Adib graduated from the American University of Beirut with the highest cumulative GPA in the university’s history. He then earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His doctoral dissertation, See Through Walls with Wi-Fi, received the ACM SIGMOBILE Dissertation Award, recognizing it as the world’s best PhD thesis in wireless networking. It was also named among MIT’s 50 transformative computer science research achievements over the past half-century.

His research is now used in hundreds of homes and hospitals to monitor patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and COVID-19. He also developed the world’s first battery-free, wireless underwater camera, which powers itself from wave motion to explore the ocean’s depths.

Professor Adib is a professor at MIT (following his July 2026 promotion), Founder and Director of the Signal Kinetics Research Group, and Co-founder and CEO of Cartesian Systems, whose technology is deployed more than 700 retail stores across 15 countries.

He has published more than 80 research papers and holds patents. He was named among the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35, included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2024.

Professor Nevin Khashab received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Natural Sciences in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the synthesis, design, and application of nanomaterials and to their use across medical, pharmaceutical, industrial, and environmental fields.

Professor Khashab leads the Smart Hybrid Materials (SHMs) Laboratory in Saudi Arabia. She is a Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Chemical Science Program, and Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the Physical Science and Engineering Division (PSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

She holds a Bachelor of Science from the American University of Beirut and earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida, where she trained with Nobel Prize winner Sir Fraser Stoddart.

Her research has led to the development of novel light-responsive nanoparticles that self-degrade when exposed to light, as well as advanced delivery systems for proteins and genetic material. These innovations have opened new possibilities in sensing, packaging, drug delivery, industrial applications, and environmental solutions, including sustainable agriculture.

Professor Khashab has published more than 275 scientific papers in organic chemistry and nanoscience and serves on the editorial boards of ten leading scientific journals. She received the Cram Lehn Pedersen (CLP) Prize in Supramolecular Chemistry in 2023 and the L’Oréal-UNESCO International Awards for Women in Science in 2017.

Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Economics in recognition of his outstanding contributions to economics and the analysis of global financial systems.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s leading economists, Dr. El-Erian is known for his expertise in global capital markets and for introducing the concept of the “New Normal” to describe the post-2008 global economy. He was named among Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers for four consecutive years, from 2009 to 2012.

He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, and later completed a master’s degree and a doctorate in economics at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. From 2020 to 2025, he served as President of Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Throughout his career, he has held several senior leadership roles, including President and CEO of Harvard Management Company, CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at PIMCO, and Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney, part of Citigroup. He also spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., and chaired President Barack Obama’s Global Development Council from 2012 to 2017.

Dr. El-Erian is Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz; Chairman of Gramercy Funds Management and Under Armour; Practice Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; and Senior Global Fellow at the Lauder Institute.

Among his best-known publications is When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change, which became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller and won the 2008 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Lina Ghotmeh received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Architecture and Design in recognition of her outstanding contributions to architecture and design worldwide.

Her work is guided by the philosophy she calls “Archaeology of the Future,” with each project grounded in research on the relationship among architecture, its surroundings, and the materials used to build it. This approach reflects a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and supports the creation of healthier, more sustainable communities. She has led more than 65 projects worldwide, including museums, exhibitions, and commissions shaped by diverse cultural contexts. Known for her human-centered approach, Ghotmeh combines bold contemporary design with deep sensitivity to place and balances architectural practice with academic research.

She leads her own architectural practice in Paris and earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture, with distinction, from the American University of Beirut. She also holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design.

One of her best-known projects is Stone Garden in Beirut, completed in 2020, and her first building in her hometown. Inspired by the region’s architectural history, the project incorporates locally sourced materials and withstood the Beirut Port explosion later that year. It received the Dezeen Award for Project of the Year in 2021. In 2026, Wallpaper magazine named Ghotmeh among its Architects of the Year. She was also included in the 2025 TIME100 Next list.

Professor Waciny Laredj received the 2023 Great Arab Minds Award for Literature and Arts in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Arabic literature and his introduction of innovative narrative techniques that have expanded the creative possibilities of the Arabic novel.

Professor Laredj earned his bachelor’s degree from Oran University, then a master’s degree in trends in the Arabic novel and a PhD in the theory of the hero in the Arabic novel from Damascus University. He later completed a second doctorate at the Sorbonne, focusing on the language of the Arabic novel.

He currently heads the Arabic Track within the Department of Applied Languages at the Faculty of Languages, Literatures and Foreign Civilizations at Sorbonne University. Since 1985, he has also held a professorship at the University of Algiers, having previously served as a professor at the University of Sétif. He also co-founded and directed the Terminology Laboratory, which oversees research in narrative studies and translation at both the University of Algiers and Sorbonne University.

Professor Laredj’s literary work is known for its constantly evolving style, resisting fixed forms of expression. His novels blend mythology and reality, reinterpreting mythological symbols through contemporary narratives and integrating artistic elements such as music and painting into the structure of his fiction. He has published more than 30 novels that explore Arab societies, culture, and shared human values. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages, studied at universities worldwide, and adapted for theater and film.

Professor Oussama Khatib received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Engineering and Technology in recognition of his pioneering contributions to robotics and to safe human–robot interaction.

Born and educated in Aleppo, Syria, Professor Khatib completed his higher education in France, earning a Bachelor of Science from the University of Montpellier in 1972, followed by a master’s degree in electronics, electrotechnics, and automation, and a PhD in automation and systems from the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) in Toulouse in 1976.

He joined Stanford University in 1982 and has served as a professor since 2000. He is Director of the Stanford Robotics Laboratory and President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR). Widely recognized as a pioneer in real-time obstacle avoidance and adaptive robotics, Professor Khatib has made influential contributions to operational space control, haptic modeling, and mobile robotics.

Among his most notable innovations are OceanOne, a humanoid robot designed for deep-sea exploration, and the Nomad XR4000 mobile robot, which was later adopted for commercial use. In 2026, he also contributed to the development of a robotic ultrasound system that controls probe orientation and contact force to produce stable, high-quality medical imaging.

Professor Khatib has received many of the highest honors in robotics, including the IEEE Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award, the George Saridis Leadership Award, the Engelberger Robotics Award, and the Rudolf Kalman Award. He is an IEEE Fellow and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for his contributions to the design and analysis of robotic systems operating in complex, unstructured environments.

Professor Omar Yaghi received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Natural Sciences in recognition of his pioneering contributions to Reticular Chemistry, a field that links molecular building units through strong bonds to form open, porous frameworks.

Throughout his career, Professor Yaghi has developed innovative methods that led to the creation of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs), materials with exceptionally large surface areas and a wide range of practical applications.

Among his most notable achievements is the development of technology that converts air into drinking water. These devices use MOFs to capture moisture from the air and release it as water when heated, relying solely on sunlight and requiring no external power. Field tests in California’s Death Valley showed that the technology could produce between 114 and 285 grams of water per kilogram of MOF-303 per day, even at humidity levels as low as 9.4%. This makes it a promising, energy-efficient solution to water scarcity in arid regions.

Professor Yaghi also developed Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs), known for their exceptional porosity and stability and widely used in catalysis and chemical separation.

He has published more than 300 scientific papers, with over 257,981 citations and an h-index of 192. He holds more than 45 U.S. patents, has supervised more than 70 doctoral students and 76 postdoctoral researchers, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. His honors include the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.

One year after receiving the Great Arab Minds Award, Professor Yaghi received the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson, for their pioneering work on a new class of molecular architecture known as Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs).

Professor Yacine Aït-Sahalia received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Economics in recognition of his pioneering contributions to economic measurement, financial analysis, and the study of economic patterns.

A leading scholar in financial econometrics, Professor Aït-Sahalia has transformed the analysis of high-frequency financial data and the measurement of volatility and jump processes. His work has also advanced innovative models for analyzing financial markets under uncertainty, including stochastic implied volatility models.

Born in Algeria in 1966, Professor Aït-Sahalia completed his higher education in France, earning an engineering degree from École Polytechnique in Palaiseau in 1987, followed by a master’s degree in economics and statistics from ENSAE Paris in 1989. He later earned a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1993. After serving as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business from 1993 to 1998, he joined Princeton University, where he currently holds the Otto Hack 1903 Professorship of Finance and Economics. He also served as the founding director of the Bendheim Center for Finance from 1998 to 2014.

Professor Aït-Sahalia has published more than 80 research papers and two books. His honors include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2008–2009), a Sloan Research Fellowship (1998–1999), the Michael J. Brennan Award (1997), the FAME Research Prize (2001), and the Dennis J. Aigner Award (2003). He is an elected Fellow of the Econometric Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Statistical Association, and the Society for Financial Econometrics.

Sahel Alhiyari received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Architecture and Design in recognition of his distinctive approach to integrating contemporary design with traditional architectural principles.

His work brings together local architectural traditions, the surrounding landscape, and contemporary design to create buildings that respond naturally to their setting. Each project develops its own architectural identity while drawing on traditional forms within Amman’s modern urban fabric. His designs make thoughtful use of natural materials, local construction methods, and sustainable design principles.

Alhiyari founded the Office of Sahel AlHiyari for Architecture (OSAA) in Amman. He holds bachelor’s degrees in architecture and fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He also pursued postgraduate studies and taught at the University of Venice in Italy.

Alongside his architectural practice, he taught at Arch Lab, part of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE), in collaboration with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He has led workshops at Harvard University and the American University of Beirut and has lectured at Columbia University and ETH Zurich. In 2011, he became the first architect to receive the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative award. He has also served on the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Among his best-known projects are Barghouthi House and Saket House in Amman’s Dabouq district. At Barghouthi House, he preserved the site’s natural topography and mature oak trees. At Saket House, he introduced a metal façade that blends a traditional visual language with practical benefits, including humidity control. In addition to architecture, he is an accomplished painter whose work has been exhibited in Jordan, Lebanon, and Italy.

Artist Dia Al-Azzawi received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Literature and Arts in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the development of contemporary Arab art over several decades.

Born in Baghdad in 1939, Al-Azzawi earned a degree in archaeology from the University of Baghdad in 1962, followed by a diploma in fine arts from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1964. He worked for the Iraqi Department of Antiquities until 1976 and was a founding member of the New Vision Group in 1969, co-authoring its manifesto, Towards a New Vision.
His work is distinguished by a style that blends Arab heritage, folklore, and contemporary artistic expression, drawing inspiration from pioneering Iraqi artists such as Faeq Hassan and Hafidh Al-Droubi.

After relocating to London in 1976, Al-Azzawi served as an art adviser to the Iraqi Cultural Center until 1980. There, he revived the artist’s book, while continuing to work in sculpture, tapestry, and printmaking. Among his best-known works are the mural Sabra and Shatila (1982–1985), which commemorates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and My Broken Dream (2003), which reflects Iraq’s pain through a contemporary abstract visual language.

His works are held in the collections of leading international institutions, including the British Museum, the Library of Congress, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Arab World Institute in Paris, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and museums of modern art in Baghdad, Damascus, and Tunis.

Professor Yasmine Belkaid received the 2024 Great Arab Minds Award for Medicine in recognition of her exceptional contributions to immunology.

An internationally recognized expert in host-microbe interactions, Professor Belkaid has transformed our understanding of how the microbiota shapes immunity and chronic inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and psoriasis. Her work has paved the way for new therapeutic strategies that harness the microbiota to treat immune-related diseases.

Born in Algiers in 1968, Professor Belkaid earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biochemistry from the Houari Boumediene University of Science and Technology. She later completed a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies at Paris-Sud University and, in 1996, earned a PhD in immunology from Paris-Sud University and the Institut Pasteur, where her research focused on the innate immune response to Leishmania infection.

She moved to the United States for postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. In 2002, she joined the Molecular Immunology Division at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Ohio), then returned to NIAID in 2005, where she established the Microbiome Program and the Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome. She later became Director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Human Immunology. In March 2023, she was appointed President of the Institut Pasteur for a six-year term beginning in January 2024, making her the institute’s second female scientist president and its seventeenth since its founding in 1887.

Professor Belkaid has published more than 220 scientific papers on infection, immunity, the microbiome, and nutrition. Her honors include the Robert Koch Prize (2021), the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2019), and the Sanofi–Institut Pasteur Award (2016). She is also a strong advocate for gender equality in science and for supporting early-career researchers.

Dr. Nabil G. Seidah received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Medicine in recognition of his pioneering contributions to cardiovascular health and to advancing our understanding of how the body regulates cholesterol.

Throughout his research career, Dr. Seidah has focused on the fundamental biological processes that govern how the body handles fats. His discoveries have helped protect millions of people from heart attacks and strokes and have advanced knowledge of fatty liver disease, lipid disorders, obesity, inflammation, cancer metastasis, and the mechanisms by which viruses enter human cells.

Born in Egypt in 1949, Dr. Seidah studied at Cairo University and earned his PhD from Georgetown University in 1973. He joined the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) in 1974 and currently serves as Director of the IRCM’s Neuroendocrinology Research Unit. He is also a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal.

Among his most significant achievements is the discovery and cloning of seven of the nine known proprotein convertase enzymes. In 2003, he discovered the PCSK9 enzyme, which plays a central role in regulating blood cholesterol levels. That breakthrough led to the development of PCSK9 inhibitors, a new class of medicines now widely used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Seidah has published more than 815 scientific papers and has received numerous honors, including appointments as an Officer of the National Order of Québec (1997), the Order of Canada (1999), the Léo-Pariseau Prize (2018), the Kuwait Prize-2021 (KFAS) for Applied and Basic Science (2021), and the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine (2023).

Professor Abbas El Gamal received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Engineering and Technology in recognition of his contributions to network information theory, which have advanced the understanding of digital communications and supported modern networking research worldwide.

Born in Cairo, Egypt, Professor El Gamal earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Cairo University in 1972. He then completed an M.S. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University in 1977 and 1978, respectively. He served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California from 1978 to 1980 before joining Stanford University’s faculty in 1981. He later served as Director of the Information Systems Laboratory from 2003 to 2012 and as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 2012 to 2017.

Professor El Gamal co-founded several semiconductor and biotechnology startups, including Actel, one of the first companies specializing in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). He also played a pioneering role in developing CMOS image sensors, the core technology behind today’s smartphone cameras.

He has published more than 230 research papers, holds 35 patents, and is the author of Network Information Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2011). He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and an IEEE Fellow. His honors include the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2016), the Claude E. Shannon Award (2012), the highest distinction in information theory, and the IEEE INFOCOM Best Paper Award (2004).

Professor Majed Chergui received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Natural Sciences in recognition of his outstanding contributions to understanding the interaction between light and matter and to developing technologies that have enabled the observation of the ultrafast motion of molecules at the atomic level with unprecedented precision.

Professor Chergui has dedicated his career to the study of ultrafast molecular dynamics, opening new frontiers in scientific research and revealing phenomena that could not be observed using conventional techniques. He played a leading role in the development of ultrafast X-ray techniques, which have significantly advanced our understanding of light–matter interactions and expanded research opportunities in chemistry, physics, materials science, and energy.

He also contributed to the development of advanced research tools, including two-dimensional ultraviolet spectroscopy and ultrafast circular dichroism spectroscopy, enabling researchers to investigate complex biological systems and advanced materials with greater precision.

Professor Chergui has published more than 450 scientific papers and received over 23,000 citations for his contributions to ultrafast molecular dynamics, ultrafast X-ray science, materials science, and energy research.

Professor Badi H. Baltagi received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Economics in recognition of his pioneering contributions to econometrics, particularly his development of panel data analysis methods that have become essential tools for governments and international institutions in evaluating economic policy and public spending.

His research has helped establish the theoretical and applied foundations of panel data econometrics, providing researchers with deeper insight into the links among the economy, employment, health, and other key economic variables.

Professor Baltagi earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics from the American University of Beirut, a master’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Syracuse University.

He has published more than 200 research papers, and his book Econometric Analysis of Panel Data is widely regarded as a leading reference in the field. His research has examined the impact of economic policies on areas such as healthcare, wages, and economic development.

Dr. Suad Amiry received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Architecture and Design in recognition of her pioneering efforts in preserving Palestinian architectural heritage through the documentation, restoration, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.

Her work has helped protect Palestine’s architectural heritage by restoring historic buildings while preserving their original character. She has also worked closely with local communities, engaging residents in restoring and rehabilitating their villages, creating employment opportunities, and training craftspeople in traditional building techniques and the use of local materials.

Through her books and research, she has documented the evolution of village architecture and construction materials, producing detailed records of stonework, tiles, decorative elements, and architectural plans.

Dr. Amiry holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in architecture from the University of Edinburgh. She taught architecture at the University of Jordan and Birzeit University before founding Riwaq – Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah in 1991, a position she continues to hold.

She also helped lead one of Palestine’s largest architectural documentation initiatives, creating an inventory of more than 50,000 historic buildings and contributing to the revitalization of 50 historic centers.

Under her leadership, Riwaq received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013 for revitalizing Birzeit’s historic center; the Curry Stone Design Prize in 2012; the Prince Claus Award in 2011; and the Qattan Distinction Award in 2007. Dr. Amiry has also received the European Prize for Architecture and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize in 2025, as well as the Tamayouz Women in Architecture and Construction Award in 2018.

Professor Charbel Dagher received the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award for Literature and Arts in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the study of Arabic literature and Arab art, and for deepening the understanding of Arab cultural heritage within its historical and artistic contexts.

Born in Lebanon in 1950, Professor Dagher earned two doctorates from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University: a PhD in Modern Arabic Literature in 1982 and a PhD in the Aesthetics and History of Art in 1996. He has been a professor at the University of Balamand since 1994 and has collaborated with universities including Toulouse–Le Mirail, the University of Metz, Université Paris Cité (formerly Paris V), the University of Malta, and the University of Bologna.

Professor Dagher has published more than 70 books covering poetry, novels, literary criticism, and Arab art. His work has shed new light on modern Arabic poetry, the emergence of the Arabic novel and theater, and major artistic movements in the Arab world. In 2019, he received the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Literary and Art Criticism category for his book Contemporary Arabic Poetry: The Prose. In 2024, he was awarded Tunisia’s Aboul-Qacem Echebbi Prize for his poetry collection Prose Bathes in Its River.