Friday June 19, 2026
New Pharmacy PhD grad Fadumo Isse has adopted her instructional goals all the way in which from Somalia, to the University of Alberta, however has at all times discovered energy in her connection to dwelling. (Photo: Alex Pugliese)
Edmonton, Canada (HOL) — Somali-born researcher Dr. Fadumo Isse has graduated with a PhD from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and is starting postdoctoral work centered on ladies’s heart health.
Isse, who grew up in Somalia earlier than learning in Jordan and later Canada, mentioned her household generally affectionately calls her “stubborn” due to her lifelong dedication to schooling.
“They don’t mean stubborn in a bad way,” Isse mentioned. “It’s more like they recognize that I am going to get educated no matter what, and circumstances will not deter me.”
She added: “Maybe ‘determined’ is more appropriate.”
That dedication has taken Isse from Somalia to Jordan University of Science and Technology, the place she studied pharmacy, after which to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the place she accomplished graduate research in pharmaceutical sciences.
Her PhD and postdoctoral supervisor, Dr. Ayman El-Kadi, described her as an exceptionally motivated and impartial researcher.
“She combines strong critical thinking with outstanding productivity, producing an impressive number of publications and presentations during her graduate training,” mentioned El-Kadi, a professor and affiliate dean of research in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Isse mentioned her father, who died 10 years in the past, was one in every of her biggest sources of encouragement. He pushed her to finish highschool, attend college and think about graduate research.
“He was always the big motivator in my life to be an educated person,” she mentioned.
At 18, Isse left Somalia on a scholarship to check at Jordan University of Science and Technology, greater than 5,000 miles from dwelling. She entered a six-year physician of pharmacy program and mentioned she shortly found a ardour for learning how medicines work on the molecular degree.
“I figured out this is my field. I loved it. It is wonderful when you start something and then you realize, ‘Wow, I have huge passion in this area.’ That’s how it played out for me.”
Her subsequent transfer took her to Canada with help from a University of Alberta scholarship and the World University Service of Canada. She arrived in Edmonton in late summer time and shortly confronted the challenges of adapting to a brand new nation, language, climate and educational system.
“Volunteers helped us to get educated about winter and how to dress and prepare us, but still we were in shock,” she recollects. “The first winter was the hardest. Then you get familiar with the next winter and now we are OK. But everything is different — how to get groceries, how to commute from your place.”
Isse started her grasp’s diploma in 2019 underneath the supervision of Dr. Sherif Mahmoud, affiliate professor and affiliate dean educational for pharmacy, in addition to an adjunct with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
(Photo: Alex Pugliese)
He put her to work learning nimodipine, the usual remedy given for hemorrhagic stroke sufferers.
“I was investigating how we can optimize the delivery of that drug so the patients can have better outcomes,” she mentioned.
She mentioned the mission confirmed her ardour for research.
“That’s when I confirmed my passion for research,” Isse remembers. “I loved figuring out unknown questions about my project. I loved generating data and translating it and linking it to improving care for real-world patients in critical care.”
In 2021, she started her PhD underneath El-Kadi, whose lab research how lipid metabolism impacts the cardiovascular system.
Isse’s doctoral research centered on growing analytical methods to measure lipid metabolites and higher perceive their position in heart problems.
“A huge part of my thesis was about developing analytical techniques or assays that can measure lipid metabolites,” Isse notes. “I am so proud of the techniques that I developed to quantify them and help us understand the role of these metabolites in cardiovascular disease.”
Her research staff just lately printed work figuring out a method to activate a genetic pathway that helps the heart stay wholesome and versatile even underneath dangerously hypertension.
Isse obtained a number of awards throughout her doctoral research, together with the President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship, Doctoral and the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship.
She has additionally gained a CIHR Postdoctoral Research Award and an Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship, permitting her to proceed research in El-Kadi’s lab for the subsequent three years.
Her postdoctoral work will give attention to ladies’s heart health, notably the position of menopause in cardiac hypertrophy, a thickening of the heart muscle.
“When women start to go into menopause, they lose the cardioprotective effect of estrogen, so they are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease,” Isse mentioned.
El-Kadi mentioned her work on sex-specific heart problems mechanisms and analytical strategies has already made vital contributions to the sector.
“Combined with her leadership and resilience, these experiences position her for an outstanding career as a pharmacy researcher,” he mentioned.
Isse hopes to in the future turn into a college college member and proceed a profession in research.
She mentioned graduate college taught her resilience, endurance and adaptableness, in addition to the way to break down advanced issues and resolve them.
“It’s a beautiful journey that teaches you resilience, patience and adaptability,” she says. “It’s not a smooth process, but it’s so rewarding as a person. I know I now have the critical thinking to take every problem, break it into pieces and solve it eventually.”
Beyond the lab, Isse has volunteered with the University of Alberta’s International Student and Visitor Services, served as vice-president of the Pharmacy Graduate Student Association and helped Edmonton’s Islamic Family and Social Services Association through the COVID-19 pandemic.
El-Kadi described her as collaborative, compassionate and dedicated to mentorship and neighborhood service.
Isse mentioned she typically encourages youthful siblings and different Somali college students to maintain pursuing schooling.
“I always tell them, ‘You can do it. Nothing is impossible. You just have to have the passion to continue,’” she mentioned.
In the 15 years since leaving Somalia to check overseas, Isse has returned dwelling solely as soon as. Most of her household nonetheless lives in Somalia, and he or she speaks together with her mom and sisters each day regardless of the nine-hour time distinction.
She mentioned she misses Somali traditions and language and hopes to deliver her mom to Canada for a go to.
“She may not really understand how I live here, but she tells me, ‘I pray for you and I’m so proud of you,’” Isse mentioned. “That’s her way of expressing love, by supporting me and praying for me.”