Ghazi Alsbeih PhD

Dr. Al Sbeih obtained his MD from the University of Damascus in 1984. His fascination for both cancer and radiation earned him a national award that allowed him to move to Belgium and France to specialize in radiation oncology. He obtained his MSc degree in 1991 and a PhD in radiobiology and radiopathology in 1995 with grand distinction. He followed the post-doctoral training at Ottawa Regional Cancer, Canada, and MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, US, where he worked on radiation sensitivity in radiotherapy patients and described the modifying radiation doses in cancer patients presumed to be radiosensitive.

Alsbeih joined the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh in 2000 as an assistant clinical scientist. Currently, he is a senior scientist, head of the Radiation Biology Laboratory, and Deputy Chairman of the Biomedical Physics Department. In addition to teaching radiobiology to university students and residents in radiology, radiation oncology, and nuclear medicine, his current research is focused on genetic causes of radio sensitivity in the Middle Eastern population including genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphic variations; identifying particular mutations in genes involved in cell cycle control and DNA repair, the possible association of these genetic variations with cancer predisposition, and the application to predictive assays in radiation oncology to improve local tumor control and reduce normal tissues’ complications.

Alsbeih published more than 40 manuscripts in reputed journals such as Radiation Research, International Journal of Radiation Biology Oncology and Physics and Clinical Cancer Research. He is a member of the Radiation Research Society, the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), the American Association for Cancer Research, and the executive committee of the Middle-Eastern Association for Cancer Research (MEACR). He is the Chairman of the Animal Care and Use Committee and the Research Centre Safety Committee and a member of KFSHRC Research Advisory Council and a number of research and educational committees.