Professor Dlawer Abdul-Aziz Ala'Aldeen

His Excellency, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, is a trained clinical academic and held the post of Professor of Clinical Microbiology in Nottingham University in the UK.

Born in the town of Koya in Iraqi Kurdistan, Prof. Ala'Aldeen grew up in the city of Erbil, and studied medicine in Baghdad. He moved to London in 1984 to study tropical medicine (LSH&TM) and  train in molecular microbiology research at the MRC-Clinical Research Centre at Harrow, UK. He was appointed as a clinical academic at Nottingham University Hospital. He founded the Meningococcal Research Group in 1995 and the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group in 1999. He has worked on pathogenesis, molecular epidemiology and vaccine development of various bacterial pathogens, particularly Neisseria Meningitidis (which causes meningitis and septicaemia) and Campylobacter jejuni (the most common cause of food poisoning).

Prof. Ala'Aldeen was the Founding Director of the M.Sc. course in Clinical Microbiology at Nottingham University. He was seconded to the Health Protection Agency as Deputy Director of the Centre for Infection, Colindale (2007-2008). In 2009 he was appointed as the Director of Research at the Royal College of Pathologists, London.

His Excellency has been chairman or member of a number of UK-based learned societies and committees, including:

1.  The Infection and Immunity Board of the Medical Research Council;
2.  The RCPath Specialty Advisory Committee in Microbiology;
3.  The RCPath Senior Examiner’s Board;
4.  The RCPath Director of Research and Chairman of the Infection Research Subcommittee;
5.  The Federation of Infection Society’s Scientific Committee;
6.  The Clinical Microbiology Group of the Society for General Microbiology; and
7.  The Meningitis Scientific Advisory Board (UK).

The Minister was on the editorial board of three international microbiology/infection journals including the Journal of Medical Microbiology, the Journal of Infection, and BMC-Microbiology.

Over the past couple of decades Prof. Ala’Aldeen has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals and co-authored several books in the field of infection and microbiology.

Dr. Ala'Aldeen has long lobbied for Kurdish people's human rights and campaigned for a global ban of chemical and biological weapons. His own parents and siblings were among the survivors of the chemical weapons attacks in Iraq. He persuaded the British Government to establish a 'Safe Haven' for the Iraqi Kurds after the 1991 Gulf war. He investigated the use of chemical weapons in Kurdistan and the poisoning of Kurdish refugees in Turkey (published in the Lancet, (1990) Feb 3, 335, pp. 287-8).

As a Kurdish writer, Prof. Ala'Aldeen has published numerous articles on the impact of global politics on Kurdistan and on strategic issues relating to Kurdish human rights. He published his memoire of lobbying in the 1980s and 90s as well as some of his critical studies in his book, Lobbying for a Stateless Nation.

His Excellency, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, is a trained clinical academic and held the post of Professor of Clinical Microbiology in Nottingham University (UK).

Born in the town of Koya in Iraqi Kurdistan, he grew up in the city of Arbil, and studied medicine in  Baghdad. Moved to London in 1984 to study tropical medicine (LSH&TM) and train in molecular microbiology research at the MRC-Clinical Research Centre (Harrow, UK). He was appointed as a clinical academic in Nottingham University Hospital, and founded the Meningococcal Research Group in 1995 and the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group in 1999. He has worked on pathogenesis, molecular epidemiology and vaccine development of various bacterial pathogens, particularly Neisseria meningitidis (causes meningitis and septicaemia) and Campylobacter jejuni (most common cause of food poisoning).

He was the Founding Director of the MSc course in Clinical Microbiology in Nottingham University. He was seconded to the Health Protection Agency as Deputy Director of the Centre for Infection, Colindale (2007-2008). Was appointed in 2009 as the Director of Research at the Royal College of Pathologists, London, UK. 

He has been chairman or member of a number of UK-based learned societies and committees, including the

1. Infection and Immunity Board of the Medical Research Council;
2. RCPath Specialty Advisory Committee in Microbiology;
3. RCPath Senior Examiner’s Board;
4. RCP/RCPath Infection Research Subcommittee;
5. Federation of Infection Society’s Scientific Committee;
6. Clinical Microbiology Group of the Society for General Microbiology; and
7. the Meningitis UK Scientific Advisory Board. He was on the editorial board of three international microbiology/infection journals, including the Journal of Medical Microbiology, Journal of Infection and BMC-Microbiology.

Over the past couple of decades, Prof. Ala’Aldeen has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals and co-authored several books in field of infection and microbiology.

Ala'Aldeen has long lobbied for Kurdish people's human rights and campaigned for a global ban of chemical and biological weapons. His own parents and siblings were among the survivors of the chemical weapons used in Iraq. He persuaded the British Government to establish a "Safe Haven" for the Iraqi Kurds after the 1991 Gulf war. He investigated the use of chemical weapons in Kurdistan, and the poisoning of Kurdish refugees in Turkey (published in the Lancet, 1990 Feb 3;335,p287-8).

As a Kurdish writer, Prof. Ala'Aldeen has published numerous articles on the impact of global politics on Kurdistan and on strategic issues relating to Kurdish human rights. He published his memoire of lobbying in the 1980s and 1990s as well as some of his critical articles in his book “Lobbying for a Stateless Nation”.