Saudi women continue to prove that they are determined to cultivate career success and leave a positive impact on this world. Dr. Hanan Balkhy is one such woman who has set a shining example on the capabilities of Saudi women. Best known for leading the Kingdom's fight against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Dr. Balkhy has an impressive background. An associate professor of epidemiology at the School of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), and the executive director of the Department of Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) at the Ministry of National Guard, she is also a member of the Saudi Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (SPIDS), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology (ECCM), and the International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC). She was elected international consultant for SHEA in November 2015 in recognition of her painstaking efforts to fight infectious diseases over the past 16 years. Dr. Balkhy spoke to Al-Riyadh daily about her life and professional achievements. She has published over 90 research papers in different journals and presented over 100 papers at regional and international conferences. Dr. Balkhy graduated from the School of Medicine, King Saud University, in 1991 and shortly after, went to the US to work as a resident doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She passed the American Board of Pediatrics examinations in 1996 and received a graduate degree in medical education in 2009 from King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Family background Hanan's father, who is a college professor, has been her biggest inspiration. Her mother is the third daughter of Al-Sayed Alawi Al-Malki, a renowned scholar and teacher at the Grand Mosque. Thus Dr. Balkhy is a descendant of a long line of family members who taught at the Grand Mosque. "My parents believed in me and helped me a lot. Without their support, I would not have made it alone in the outside world," she recalls. Challenges The most difficult challenge she encountered was when she traveled to the US to study and work. Living in the US and working as a trainee at Massachusetts General Hospital was not easy because the hospital is one of the leading teaching hospitals in the world and competition among graduates and trainees is fierce. Fighting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was the second biggest challenge she faced. "Combatting coronavirus last year proved to be challenging but my colleagues at the Department of Infection Prevention and Control worked hard with me to control this epidemic," she said. Dr. Balkhy hopes to continue to conduct more research on infection prevention and control and impart her knowledge and skills to medical students who she teaches at the university. She also wishes to play a role in improving school and college curricula and update them with the latest developments in the medical field. Her message to parents is to instill the importance of education in their children's minds and always encourage their children to seek knowledge and read. "This is the only way we will raise a generation that focuses on knowledge. Schools alone cannot turn children into scientists. After all, they need the help of parents," she noted.
