My name is Omnia, I am 37, and I am an Egyptian pediatric oncologist.
From early on, my parents fought hard so that my sister, brother and I have the best possible life and that we excel in our respective careers. My parents’ vision, in fact my family’s vision, has always been to be sympathetic and help those in need, to do our best to ease their pain and make them feel whole again. This naturally led me to become a doctor and to specialize in oncology to go after the most terrible of all diseases, cancer. I sub-specialized in pediatric cancer as children are not only the most vulnerable elements of our society, they represent humanity’s future.
From my personal perspective; I love to meet and get to know new people from foreign lands and cultures. I believe it helps me open up to the world beyond the confines of my own culture, it helps me see others’ philosophy, way of life, and how they handle day to day challenges, and it helps me gain in perspective and possibly even in wisdom. This is why I travel a lot and love being part of projects that aim at delivering free services to others.
As a doctor, I have for 13 years now lived the pains of moms and dads who one day discover that their child is hit by cancer. I treat children and help their parents carry their burden the best I can, I share their joy when their child is in remission, and cry with them when their children relapse or die. This has been my journey, one that I wouldn’t change for anything else.
This is also why I joined the “No to Cancer” project launched by the Cancer Epigenetic Society. The people involved in this project are some of the most kind-hearted people I’ve ever met. They very much believe in their message: which is simply to “say no to cancer”! They provide practical, easy to implement advice (for example what to eat or not to eat), that very significantly reduces one’s risk of cancer. Their mission was to deliver this message not only to English-speaking people but to people from all over the world, and in their native language nonetheless. I am currently in charge of the Arab language division of the No to Cancer initiative and I am very lucky to have amazingly talented and dedicated people in my team. It also amazes me how everyone at the No to Cancer initiative is so passionate, dedicated and focused on this project and helping people either not to get cancer, or else get the best possible treatment if already suffering from cancer. In addition, everyone in this project is tolerant and very much open to others’ cultural backgrounds. Being part of this project is my dream come true!
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Dr. Omnia Nagy AbdelHamid GadElRab
Paediatric oncologist from Egypt
