Study Plan

Knowing how the body function and how everything in the body works was always my aspiration during my study time in the school of medical science in Iraq. I graduated from Baghdad University in 2002 believing I will be changing the world, however, I still felt something was missing. I decided to continue my education and applied for graduate school, Department of Epidemiology. During my master’s degree, I investigated the Brucella Infection in Kirkuk, Iraq. My thesis was focused on understands the distribution, risk factors, and what causes this health-related disease in the population of Kirkuk, Iraq. During this time, I began to discover the magnificence of research and how there is much more to know.

I continued my education and applied for a second Master’s in Microbiology and Immunology in Baghdad University. The research emphasis was on studying the immunomodulatory effect of Candida Albicans and bacterial vaccine preparation. While I worked on both Master’s I start to be more interested in investigating the cause of human diseases at the cellular and molecular levels, using medical and research technologies to elucidate disease mechanisms. There is one questing that lingered in the back of my mind, is what is the role of the environment and its role in the development of diseases.

I decided to apply for Texas Southern University (TSU) to pursue a PhD in Environmental Toxicology. I am expecting that the research experience at Texas SouthernUniversity will really broadened my knowledge and honed my skills in research. I find a degree in Environmental Toxicology interesting because it provide the alliances between medicine and environmental factors that contribute to disease. I believe that my educational at Texas Southern University will provide me with a strong base in research and knowledge to prepare you for the outside world. I am certain that the strong faculties and research training will prepare me to become one of the outstanding research scientist professionals.

When I joined Texas Southern University, I researched many faculties to understand and know their research are of interest. I read many of the research articles done by the present faculties and saw it was board and I must try to minimize the search to be able to find a particular subject that would match my interest. I decided to shadow each faculty and spend a rotational time to grasp more about their research. During the summer 2018 time, I rotated in Microbiology laboratory with Rosenzweig, with Dr. Shishodia Ph.D., and Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar Ph.D. In addition, I did an observation rotation at Dr. Shodimu-Emmanuel Olufemi.

My research interest is to investigate and understand microbes and their effect at the genetic levels as well as understand how environmental toxicants play role in humans when investigated at the genetic level. Furthermore, I find it interesting to work with soil and water when I brought soil and water from Tigris River in Iraq to study cell toxicity, microbial analysis, and chemical analysis.

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