First ever Egyptian alumni event held in Cairo

The first Imperial alumni event in Egypt was held in Cairo earlier this month.

The reception was hosted by Imperial’s Dr Mona El-Bahrawy (PhD Clinical Medicine Research 2001), Adjunct Reader and Consultant Histopathologist, and was attended by the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy and Imperial alumnus, Dr Mohamed Shaker El Markabi (PhD Electrical Engineering 1977).

Dr El-Bahrawy, also an Imperial alum, updated the gathered alumni on the College’s future plans and strategy before moderating a question and answer session.

In her opening remarks, Dr El-Bahrawy said: “I am most privileged and delighted to be hosting this first Egyptian Alumni gathering on behalf of Imperial College and to meet fellow alumni.

“I hope that this meeting ignites a new or rekindles an existing passion to reconnect with Imperial College and with one another.”

Dr El-Bahrawy also updated the gathered alumni on Imperial's new White City campus. Dr El-Bahrawy said: "This centre hosts different hubs and programs that all work on providing support to transform ideas to reality."

The Egyptian Minister spoke of his happiness to be at the event and meet old friends and colleagues who he had not met for many years. He also spoke about the major advances and developments Egypt has made in recent years in the field of electricity and how there is a will to build further on that.

Professor Shaker Helmi, Professor of Environmental Studies, at the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, Alexandria, shared his memories of being a PhD student at Imperial.

Profoessor Helmi spoke about the balance between work and personal and family obligations, including helping one another to get through it all on a very tight budget, and how these were challenging, but happy years.

Maha Wagdy Hamada (MSc Surgery and Cancer 2015) said: "It was great to meet with fellow alumni who I’d otherwise never have had the chance to meet." 

Imperial's Egyptian links

Egypt is Imperial’s second biggest collaborator in Africa – publishing around 170 research papers together every year.

There are around 300 alumni living in Egypt and over 700 alumni of Egyptian nationality around the world.

Last year, students from the Armed Forces College of Medicine in Egypt spent four weeks carrying out placements with consultants across various hospitals within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.