Iqbal Mahmoud El-Assaad (; also romanized as Iqbal Al Assad) is a Palestinian physician whose research has focused on cardiology. She was recognized as one of the youngest doctors in the world when she completed her medical training at age 20.
Iqbal Mahmoud Al Assad was born February 2, 1993, in Palestine to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother. Her fatherâÂÂs family is originally from Mughr al-Khayt, a village in Safed. At the time of the Nakba, her family sought refuge in the Beqaa region in Lebanon, where her grandfather and his children worked in agriculture. She graduated from high school at age 12 and at age 20 had graduated from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar with a degree in general medicine. She was honored as the youngest Arab doctor after completing her medical accreditation at the age of 20. She has also been rated as one of the most influential women in the Arab world.
She pursued a residency in pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital after witnessing the disparities in healthcare among the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. She held the Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital and is scheduled to graduate in June 2020. She plans to pursue a subspecialty fellowship in pediatric electrophysiology afterwards.