Huda Zoghbi, MD

A trustee since 2007 and an AUB graduate (BS '76), Zoghbi did her postgraduate training at Baylor College of Medicine where she is now a faculty member. She holds the Ralph D. Feigin Chair at Baylor College of Medicine, where she is also a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics. She is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and the founding director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital. Zoghbi is a neurogeneticist who studies neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Her many awards for discoveries of the genetic causes and biochemical mechanisms of spinocerebellar ataxia, Rett syndrome, and other neurological disorders include the 2018 UCLA Switzer Prize Lectureship, the 2017 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the 2016 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the 2011 Gruber Neuroscience Prize, and the 2009 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Sciences. Zoghbi is an elected member of both the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. She was awarded the National Order of the Cedar, Knight grade, by Lebanese President General Michel Aoun at a ceremony held on January 15, 2018 at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. In 2018 she was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a graduate of Meharry Medical College (MD '79).​