Dr. Selwa Al-Hazzaa (Arabic: سلوى الهزّاع) is a Saudi ophthalmologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital as the head of the ophthalmology department. She is considered as one of the most influential personalities in Saudi Arabia, and the Arab World in general. She is also considered to be a pioneer for Saudi women, as she is one of the first Saudi women to achieve international success academically and professionally.
At a young age she moved with her family from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Tucson, Arizona. She studied at Tucson High, then moved back with her family to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to complete high school studies. She later enrolled at King Saud University to study medicine. She married a Saudi and moved with him to Washington, DC because he worked at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC. She continued to pursue her studies at Johns Hopkins University and obtained her residence at Johns Hopkins Hospital in three years. After that, she moved back to Riyadh to work at King Faisal Specialist Hospital. She published many papers, but her most important paper was DUANES, which specialized in genetically inherited eye diseases in Saudi Arabia. In 1997, she became the first female department head in King Faisal Specialist Hospital, as she became the head of the ophthalmology department.
In that same year she appeared on Marquis Who's Who in the World Publication Board's fourteenth edition as one of the most prominent personalities for that year. A year after that, in 1998, she was chosen as woman of the year by the American Biographical Institute. [1]
She was appointed by the King of Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Saudi delegation to rectify Saudi Arabia's internationally-damaged stereotypical image. She is fulfilling that role through her non-governmental organization, Friends of Saudi Arabia, funded primarily through the Prince Sultan Foundation, the charitable arm of the Office of the Crown Prince.
She currently resides in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with her husband, Abdullah Al-Obaidallah, two sons, Meshal & Naif Al-Obaidallah, and only daughter, Hala Al-Obaidallah.