DrAmira Hassouna

Dr. Amira Hassouna has over 20 years of experience in the field of Medical and Applied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, encompassing teaching, practice, and the publication of international scientific papers. Previously, Dr. Hassouna served as a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, where they were a core member of a scientific team engaged in multiple research projects published in prominent international journals. Notably, they were the Principal Investigator of a Hepatocellular Carcinoma research project.

Dr. Hassouna received recognition as a distinguished assistant professor for teaching Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology between 2007 and 2010. Additionally, they were honored with awards for international publications in distinguished journals in 2011 and 2012 from Cairo University. They have successfully supervised MSc and PhD theses through to completion.

After relocating to New Zealand in December 2013, Dr. Hassouna completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Professional Education at AUT University in 2015. In 2014, they became a member of the Australian Institute of Medical and Clinical Scientists (AIMS) after passing the membership examination.
Since joining AUT in July 2015, Dr. Hassouna has been primarily teaching large, content-intensive undergraduate core and shared courses with student cohorts of approximately 1000.

In 2018, Dr. Hassouna joined a research team focused on treating widespread diseases through nutraceuticals, aligning with their research interests. This collaboration investigates the bioactivity of Fucoidan, a polysaccharide extracted from seaweed, and has resulted in four published papers.

In 2020, Dr. Hassouna became a member of the AUT Biodesign Lab, conducting laboratory tests at the AUT Millennium Laboratory and studies using integrated wearable data.

 In January 2023, they were appointed Joint Course Coordinator for the HAP courses, and right before moving to school of Science, Dr. hassouna was coordinating three special topics courses as well.

In May 2023, Dr. Hassouna completed a certificate from Harvard Medical School in "Health and Wellness: Designing a Sustainable Nutrition Plan."

Currently, Dr. Hassouna is supervising two PhD students and supervises summer students. They were a member of the SPHIDS leadership team from 2018 to 2019 and have led the SPHIDS Academic Integrity Team since 2019. Furthermore, Dr. Hassouna served on the editorial board of the World Journal of Stem Cells (impact factor 3.2) from 2018 to 2022 and is a Reviewer Board Member for Marine Drugs (impact factor 3.35).