​I was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and was able to experience a diverse education between the educational system of Saudi Arabia and the United States. I became curious about how life worked, and how we are all similar but different! This led me to the field of genetics and trying to understand how each individual gene plays a role in the life or death of organisms. I started off my undergraduate studies at King Saud University, Riyadh, in the College of Applied Medical Sciences, where I was interested in genetics and their effect in heredity and transmission of diseases. After graduation, I worked in a Clinical Cytogenetics lab at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, where I helped diagnose diseases and leukemias using chromosomal analysis and molecular genetics techniques. It was these techniques that got me interested in pursuing my graduate studies in genetics. I then went on to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, USA, where I got a masters with a double major in Medical Laboratory Sciences, and Molecular & Cell Biology.