One day when she was a little girl, she was suddenly taken ill. Her family called their doctor, Ibrahim Naggui, who diagnosed typhoid fever. While treating her, he made a prophetic comment to her father: "Your daughter will be a famous doctor when she grows up." The years passed and Dr Ibrahim was proved right. Dr Samia Temtamy, the first-ever doctor in Egypt and the Middle East to obtain a doctorate in Human Genetics and the founder of the Human Genetics Department in the Giza-based National Research Centre (NRC), has discovered more than 40 hereditary diseases. Her discoveries have received international recognition. Samia was born in Damanhour, el-Beheira Governorate, one of four children ��" three girls and a boy. Her mother was a maths teacher before she married the children's father, a lawyer. Dr Samia was a very clever girl and benefited from a free education, which was unusual at the time. "The family doctor, Dr Ibrahim, made me love his profession. He was a really humane man and he inspired me to be a doctor too," she told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. Samia's elder brother, who went off to study in the Faculty of Medicine while she was still at school, also had a great influence on her. "Every evening when he got home from his lectures, I used to read his course books on Anatomy and Physiology. I even read his medical dictionaries and learnt so much," she recalled. Samia joined the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt's biggest university, in 1952. Her class included 300 students, around 30 of whom were girls. In 1957 she obtained her MB and BCH; she was the first female graduate from the faculty. She then worked at Abul Rish Hospital for Children, affiliated to Cairo University. "At first my interest was in trying to heal children who were hopeless cases. I looked at them and felt their pain; their illnesses were a puzzle for me. And this was my first step into the field of human genetics." Her progress continued when she married one of her colleagues, a professor of oncology, and they travelled together in 1961 to John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, the US, so she could study for a doctorate there. "The other doctors were amazed that an Egyptian girl had come to the United States to study human genetics, a new science at the time. They advised me to work really hard. I took their advice and… I passed!" she said proudly. Samia was taught by the pioneer of human genetics, Dr Victor Micozic. She learnt a great deal from him and in 1966 she was awarded her PhD. The subject of her thesis was hereditary deformations in hands. "I was the first person from Egypt, the Middle East, the Arab world and Africa to obtain a doctorate in this field. "I knew that there were many studies tackling bone deformities, but less work had been done on limb distortions. I discovered that there are different kinds of distortions and I divided them into different categories." Her 600-page, two-volume doctorate is a valuable work of reference which has been reprinted three times. Samia has supervised 60 PhDs and 50 Masters' for graduates from the faculties of medicine, science, dentistry and pharmacy. "I think that human genetics is a science that everyone needs to know something about," she said. "Genetics is the basis of life; whether we are ill or healthy, we all depend on genetics and our environment." Perhaps more than anything people do not understand that a person can carry a disease in his genes without being himself infected. A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. While some diseases, such as cancer, are due in part to a genetic disorder, they can also be caused by environmental factors. Most disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousand or million. Some types of recessive gene disorders confer an advantage in the heterozygous state in certain environments. The most common cause of genetic diseases is the marriage of relatives, and the stronger the degree of kinship, the more distorted the genes. Every one of us has 46 chromosomes from his father and mother. Hereditary diseases appear when there's a sick gene. When Dr Samia flew back from the US, life was not easy for her. After all her good work across the Atlantic, she had to start from zero again, when she reached her office at the NRC. "Nobody in the NRC knew what human genetics was. I had to depend entirely on myself and start from scratch. "I brought a technical assistant to help me. Then I brought the first fluorescent microscope to examine chromosomes. You can't imagine how primitive the equipment was I started with, a far cry from everything that was available in America." Despite that, Samia throve on the work at the NRC, passing on all she knows about this new science to other doctors. It was in 1977 that she launched the Human Genetics Department in the Centre. In little over thirty years, she has managed to transform the small Human Heredity Section in the NRC into the Human Genetics Department, which now comprises seven sections in which more than one hundred academics are working. Dr Samia, who has lent her name to World Temtamy Syndrome, has, in participation with Egyptian and foreign researchers, written more than 240 scientific papers for local and international medical periodicals. In the Arab world, as many as 40 per cent of people are thought be married to their relatives, while the percentage might be even higher in Egypt, compared to around 10 per cent globally. Many people aren't aware of the dangers of this. "Most Egyptians are skeptical about pre-marital medical tests. But when a woman carries a disease or there is a particular disease in the family, I recommend she has medical tests before marrying her relative. "If a couple related by blood have sick children, the treatment can be very expensive. " This enthusiastic scientist, who believes she has a responsibility to make people more aware of the importance of human genetics, also established the National Society of Human Genetics five years ago. "Unfortunately, there is little awareness of genetics in our community. There are only a few NGOs interested in this field," she said. The society's goals include collecting donations and giving free medical treatment to those who cannot afford it. Dr Samia has won numerous scientific awards, including the Award for Scientific Distinction in Medical, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences in the National Research Centre (1987); the Award for Scientific Appreciation in the National Research Centre (1977); and the prestigious Higher State Prize of Merit in Medical Sciences (2000). She has also been given dozens of awards and certificates of appreciation from many countries apart from Egypt, including Austria, Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States, but the reward which had the greatest impact on her was when President Gamal Abdel-Nasser presented her with her BCH over half a century ago. The 74-year-old scientist could have stayed on in the US and become an American citizen, spending the rest of her life researching there, but she hasn't done so. She chose to return to her homeland where she has done so much for her country in her field. "Before I travelled to the US, I knew that I would return. Egypt is my family and I returned to benefit it. More people need to follow my example," Samia said.
