Habiba Bouhamed Chaabouni
Habiba Bouhamed Chaabouni | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Medical geneticist, professor |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Employer | Tunis University |
| Known for | Establishing Tunisia's first genetic counseling center; research on consanguinity and genetic diseases; L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science laureate |
Habiba Bouhamed Chaabouni holds a professorship in medical genetics at Tunis University.
Biography
In 1981, Chaabouni pioneered the establishment of Tunisia's inaugural genetic counseling center and launched epidemiological research focused on consanguinity in northern Tunisia, a region characterized by elevated instances of genetic illness, congenital anomalies, and mortality. Her investigations uncovered that approximately 25% of marriages involved first cousins whose parents were siblings.
By 1993, she had introduced a medical genetics unit and consultation service dedicated to advancing prenatal diagnosis techniques. Her efforts contributed to the discovery of novel genetic mutations associated with multiple diseases. Chaabouni has authored more than 100 scientific publications and contributed to 50 peer-reviewed articles.
Concurrently, she initiated a postgraduate program in genetics within the Faculty of Medicine at Tunis University. In recognition of her contributions, she was honored with the distinguished L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2006.
Her expertise has been sought by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the League of Arab Nations, where she participated in global projects addressing hereditary disorders and supported UNESCO's Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights. She is also affiliated with the American Society of Human Genetics and the European Society of Cytogenetics.
In her own words: