Dr. Isis Ghali is an Egyptian woman pioneer of medicine, a pediatrician, university professor, and a researcher of pediatric endocrinology. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, at Cairo University in 1957, then obtained a higher diploma in pediatrics, before traveling to France on a fellowship to pursue further studies. She also spoke at a number of conferences abroad. Isis founded the Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit at Abu al-Reesh Hospital in Egypt, and served as the President of the Egyptian Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes. She was a member of the European Pediatric Association. In the interview, she talked about her education and career.
Isis Ghali was born Isis Frans Ghali, in Paris where her father was studying for his doctorate in physics at the Sorbonne University. Her father, who later served as the President of the Egyptian Society for Scientific Culture, had a high regard for education in general, and girls education in particular. Isis recalled, “my father was very attentive to our studies in a way you could not possibly imagine. See, in my generation, we were not allowed to go out with the girls who spoke of marriage, or who expressed their lack of desire to complete their education. If I told my father I went out with these girls, he would get very upset with me. It was a big deal for him, and I did not understand it at the time. In the past, girls did not receive much education, and he did not want this for me.”
Isis’s mother was a homemaker who did not complete her education, but was interested in culture, and attending seminars. Both parents were always in agreement on the ways their children were raised, and the importance of their education. Isis had a happy childhood with her sister and two brothers, in the care of two loving and understanding parents.
At the age of two, Isis returned from Paris with her family, and entered kindergarten in a French school, then attended the College for Girls in Zamalek. However, her father transferred her because the school curriculum was limited only to preparing girls to become ‘socialites,’ while he wanted his daughter to receive a high-school diploma to get into medicine school. Her father enrolled her in the Orman Exemplary School, a public school that offered rigorous education. Isis explained that at that time, only public schools with Arabic-based curriculums offered the serious education that prepared students for university studies in medicine, engineering, and pharmacy. She spoke of her geography teacher, who designed a model of the River Nile and its Cataracts in Aswan, as well as her Arabic teacher who used to teach them the rules of grammar through songs.
Isis then moved to Princess Fawkia Secondary School to earn her high-school diploma. While the boys spent five years of secondary education to obtain their diploma, Isis like the rest of the girls at the time, studied for six, with one extra year to study home economics and housekeeping. This remained the case until Taha Hussein rectified the system, cancelled the extra obligatory year for girls, and mandated that girls, like boys, studied for five years. At the secondary school, Isis was taught by Egyptian teachers, except for one French national who taught Isis the French language until graduation, and had a great impact on her. Isis also joined various trips, sports activities, and the girls’ scout, and was friends with Dr. Afaf Atiya Salem who remained her close companion during school and after.
Isis’s father dedicated a special part of the house to a library, and another as a music room, so Isis spent her time playing music and reading, especially the novels by Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti. She practiced the oud in primary school, and the violin in secondary school. She also loved sports, particularly swimming and cycling.
Following her graduation from school, Isis attended the Faculty of Medicine, upon her father’s wishes, but it took her some time to get used to the morgue and the blood. She explained, “the preparatory junior year was easy, but the first year was not. When we started to take classes at the morgue, I felt sick. Before studying medicine, I used to faint at the sight of blood, and cry every time I receive an injection shot.” As a result, she was advised by her father’s friend to transfer to the Faculty of Pharmacy. When Isis announced her desire to transfer, her father told her that he would be upset about it, but he gave her the liberty to do whatever she decided, and so she did not go through with the transfer.
Isis continued her medical studies, and began to enjoy the university, and the friendships she made. She recalled being friends with Dr. Khairi al-Samra, who later became the Faculty Dean, Dr. Mohamed Sharif, who served as a Minister, Dr. Nabil Khattab, the Radiology Professor, and Dr. Magdy Yacoub, whom she described as a genius. As for her teachers, she remembered Dr. al-Geballi, Dr. Abdu al-Khaliq, Dr. Sourour, Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Dr. Awatef al-Badri, Dr. Neamet Hashim, Dr. Nawal Mokhtar, and Dr. Anisa al-Hefni who was her role model.
Upon her college graduation, Isis obtained a higher diploma in pediatrics and another in internal medicine, in fulfilment of the mandatory requirements for the PhD. She began working on her PhD at the National Research Center, under the supervision of Dr. al-Diwani and Dr. Mamdouh Gabr. After passing her first set of exams, she traveled on a fellowship to Leon, France, where she specialized in endocrinology. Describing her study mission, Isis said, “Leon is a very boring city, and that is why I studied a lot. I used to call it the ‘labor camp.’ If I had been to Paris, I would not have learned as much.” She returned to Egypt in 1967, after an 18-month fellowship.
Upon her return, Isis founded the Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit at Abu al-Reesh Hospital in Egypt, and was concerned with the growth curve of Egyptian children. She proposed an integrated project on the issue, in partnership with Dr. Fawzeya Helmi Rafla, but the project was rejected several times. However, Isis fought hard, and traveled more than once to gather support for her project and research, until the project was passed by the League of Universities. One of the challenges to the project was the attack from the parents, who believed the examination system involved putting their children through a genital examination. As a consequence, the project was withdrawn by the, then, Minister Hussein Kamel Bahaa al-Deen. Isis recounted her perseverance to reinstate the project, and the campaign she launched in the newspapers and magazines with the help of her journalist friends, among whom were Lutfi al-Khouly, Ahmed al-Gendi, and Abdu al-Rahman al-Abnudi. She met with the Chairman of the Consultative Council, and the Head of the Medical Syndicate, and finally managed to reinstate the project.
Isis has always believed in the value of education, and as she put it, “I cannot judge the quality of education now because I am not a teacher. What I want to say is the illiteracy rate in Egypt should drop to zero. There is no reason for us to still have any illiteracy, with the implementation of compulsory education in Egypt. I always wondered why the French and the Swedish call it ‘compulsory,’ and I learned that it refers to mandating education to the public. Compulsory education was implemented in Egypt in 1933, how come we still have an illiteracy rate, especially among girls?”
Concluding the interview, Isis Ghali expressed great pride in being part of the first generation of women to receive a university education in Egypt, and in her family. She stated that if it had not been for her father, she would have studied music. Yet, she had no regrets for pursuing her education and career in medicine, the field she loved and excelled at. She was proud having dedicated her life to pediatrics.
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