The 2020 “Young Talents for Women and Science in Sub-Saharan Africa” prize from the L’Oréal-UNESCO Foundation rewards Maha DAHAWI, doctoral student at the Paris Brain Institute for her research carried out as a collaboration between France (Paris Brain Institute-Sorbonne Université ) under the supervision of Pr.Eric LEGUERN and Sudan (Faculty of Medicine -University of Khartoum ) under the supervision of Pr. Ammar ELTAHIR.
Maha DAHAWI is one of the 20 laureates selected among 330 candidates from 16 countries, and thanks to this prize, she will be able to continue and consolidate her work on the identification of genes responsible for generalized epilepsies in consanguineous families originating in Sudan within the team co-directed by Stéphanie BAULAC and Prof. Eric LEGUERN at the Brain Institute, and pursue her functional studies on C. Elegans as a collaboration with Nicolas BIZAT.
Before coming to France, she established “Pay It Forward at khartoum University for female medical students to help them overcoming different obstacles they face in science.
Maha is also a member of the XX-initiative for gender Equity of the Paris Brain Institute, she participated in the different seminars and training organized by the committee.