Selwa al-Hazzaa

Selwa Abdullah al-Hazzaa is a physician and consultant in ophthalmology, and the first Saudi woman to hold the position of Head of the Ophthalmology Department and Consultant Ophthalmologist and Ophthalmic Surgeon at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh since 1997. She was titled the "Physician of the Royalty," as she was the ophthalmologist for King Fahd Bin Abdulaziz. She was also titled the "Physician of the Five Continents" in 2001 by the International Council of Ophthalmology. She has received numerous local, regional, and international awards for excellence and was appointed as a member of the Shura Council. She has organized several seminars on eye diseases locally and internationally and is a professional member of sixteen international and national ophthalmology associations.

Selwa al-Hazzaa obtained her medical degree from King Saud University in Riyadh in 1986. She then earned a Fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. She acquired the Saudi Board in Ophthalmology and received fellowships from Johns Hopkins University and the Wilmer Eye Institute in the United States. Franklin University, Switzerland, awarded her an honorary doctorate.

Selwa al-Hazzaa holds the position of head of the Ophthalmology Department and Consultant Ophthalmologist and Ophthalmic Surgeon at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. Alongside her medical profession, she has worked in academia at several universities inside and outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including a lecturer at Al-Faisal University in 2011 and an associate professor in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America (USA), from 2003 to 2009, where she was the first Saudi physician at the institute. She also worked as an assistant professor at the University of Southern California from 2015 to 2020.

In 1995, Selwa al-Hazzaa was appointed to the Medical Advisory Council, an administrative body at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. She was the first female physician to become a member of the Executive Council of the Saudi Ophthalmological Society (SOS) in 1996. In 1997, she was nominated as head of Continuing Medical Education in the society.

She served as a senior clinical scientist and consultant in genetics at the Research Center from 2008 to 2020 at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. In 2001, she gained membership in the International Council of Ophthalmology and was appointed senior advisor to the Minister of Health from 2007 to 2008.

She worked as an executive member of the "Middle East Africa Council of Ophthalmology" representing the Kingdom from 1999 to 2005. She also was a member of the Central Committee of the Ministry of Health in Riyadh in 2001, and an international faculty member of the "International Uveitis Study Group" representing the Middle East in 2002.

She chaired the "Women's Empowerment Forum" at the King Salman Center for Disability Research in Riyadh from 2002 to 2004. She was a member of the "Global Task Force for Diabetic Retinopathy" in the USA, representing the Middle East in 2002. Furthermore, she was elected as an executive member of the International Council of Ophthalmology "ICO," the highest authority in ophthalmology worldwide, as the youngest member, the first woman from the Middle East, and the only ophthalmologist representing all five continents from 2002 to 2006. She was reappointed from 2006 to 2010.

She served as an advisor in the Shura Council from 2002 to 2004 and was appointed as a member of the council on January 11, 2013, serving until December 2, 2016. Moreover, she was appointed the Middle East representative on the Editorial Board of the Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology. In 2007, Franklin University in Switzerland awarded her the highest honor certificate granted by the university, an honorary doctorate in Human Sciences.

In 1997, Selwa al-Hazzaa became a member of the Editorial Board of the Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology and served as associate editor from 1998  to 2008. She was a member of the Editorial Board of the "Ophthalmic Genetics" journal in the USA from 1997 to 2005. She served as assistant editor of the Middle East Journal of Ophthalmology from 1992 to 1996 and has been a member of the Editorial Board of the "Archives of Ophthalmology" Journal in the USA since 2005, and the "Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology" since 2006, representing the Middle East as the first Saudi woman.

Selwa al-Hazzaa has received several appreciation awards from King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center and various institutes in Arab and foreign countries. She was awarded the "Gold Medal" by Prince Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Al Saud, President of SOS in 1999. In 2000, she received an appreciation award from Umm al-Qura University in Makkah al-Mukarramah for her medical, scientific, and humanitarian efforts in the Kingdom. In 2005, al-Hazzaa was honored with the title Arab Woman in Medicine and Community Service by the Arab Women's Studies Center in Paris, France. Forbes Magazine selected her as one of the most influential Arab women in 2005. She was selected again as the "Most Famous Arab Woman" for 2006 by Forbes Magazine.

She received the "Distinguished Saudi Woman in Medicine and Health" award for 2015 from Sayidaty Magazine. In addition, she earned the Arab Woman Award in medicine and the Arab Woman Award for "Lifetime Achievement" in 2015. Al-Hazzaa was the guest of honor speaker at the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity "Mawhiba" in 2007, and a guest of honor at the National Festival for Heritage and Culture "al-Janadriyah" in 2007. She received Abdul Maqsoud Khoja Award in 2008.