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I was born and raised in the beautiful city of Beirut, Lebanon. My father owned a business making olive oil and olive oil soap, and my mother was a homemaker, but they valued knowledge. The house I grew up in had an enormous library stacked floor to ceiling with books. My father loved reading history and sharing what he learned, while my mother insisted that her children take their studies seriously.

She often kicked me out of the kitchen because she felt that was a distraction from studying. They clearly set a good example: my oldest brother became an electrical engineer and businessman, the second brother became a chemical engineer and researcher, and the third a professor of history. My older sister became a philosopher and professor, then a lawyer, and I entered academic medicine.

As a child I was drawn to my biology and math classes, but in high school I grew to love literature — both Arabic and English. My mother, however, had a practical bent and insisted that I study medicine. She said medicine would allow me to be independent and able to take care of myself. I resisted initially, but eventually yielded and majored in biology.

This changed the course of my life in every way. I met the love of my life, William Zoghbi, who has been my great joy for the past 46 years. Then, halfway through the first year of medical school, civil war broke out in Lebanon. Students could no longer commute to campus because of the bombing and sniper attacks.