Lihadh Al-Gazali

Lihadh Al-Gazali is an Iraqi geneticist. She is a professor in clinical genetics and paediatrics at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain. She established a registry for monitoring congenital disorders in the United Arab Emirates.

Lihadh Al-Gazali was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. Her mother was an educationalist and her father an Army judge in Baghdad. She received higher education in Germany.

Al-Gazali studied paediatrics at the University of Iraq in Baghdad. She received her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Baghdad Medical College in 1973. She married and had a child before moving to the United Kingdom in 1976 to study paediatrics and clinical genetics. She continued her education in Leeds and Edinburgh, living and practicing until 1990. She then moved to Al Ain, becoming an assistant professor at the Department of Paediatrics of United Arab Emirates University. She became an associate professor in 1997.

Al-Gazali researches clinical dysmorphology and congenital disorders. She played a key role in establishing the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, a registry for monitoring birth defects in the United Arab Emirates. She founded the Clinical Genetics Service, which offers support and counselling for families affected by congenital disorders in the UAE. She has published over 130 scientific papers. With her colleague Bassam Ali she has identified genes for about 15 disorders specific to Emirati families. Al-Gazali identified and named the genetic disorder CHIME-like syndrome.

Al-Gazali received the Distinguished Performance Award in Research and Clinical Services of UAE University in 2003. In 2008 she received a L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science "for her contributions to the characterization of inherited disorders." She also was awarded the Hamdan Award for Honoring Individuals Working in the Field of Medicine & Health.

Al-Gazali is married to Wessam Shather and has two daughters and a son.

• Baasanjav, Sevjidmaa; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; et al. (July 2011). "Faulty Initiation of Proteoglycan Synthesis Causes Cardiac and Joint Defects". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 89 (1): 15–27. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.05.021. PMC 3135799. PMID 21763480. 
• Akawi, NA; Al-Gazali, L; Ali, BR (August 2012). "Clinical and molecular analysis of UAE fibrochondrogenesis patients expands the phenotype and reveals two COL11A1 homozygous null mutations". Clinical Genetics. 82 (2): 147–156. doi:10.1111/j.1399-0004.2011.01734.x. PMID 21668896. 
• Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Walsh, Christopher A.; et al. (December 2010). "A Homozygous Mutation in the Tight-Junction Protein JAM3 Causes Hemorrhagic Destruction of the Brain, Subependymal Calcification, and Congenital Cataracts". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 87 (6): 882–889. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.10.026. PMC 2997371. PMID 21109224. 
• Al-Gazali, L.; Woods, C. G. (26 October 2010). "A novel NGF mutation clarifies the molecular mechanism and extends the phenotypic spectrum of the HSAN5 neuropathy". Journal of Medical Genetics. 48 (2): 131–135. doi:10.1136/jmg.2010.081455. PMC 3030776. PMID 20978020.