Professor Gamal Ibrahim Serour

Gamal Serour is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Director of the International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research at Al-Azhar University. He is also a former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Azhar University.

He is past President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and immediate past President of the African Federation of Fertility Societies (AFFS). He is also a former member of the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC) and the International Bioethics Committee (IBC), and former Chair of the FIGO Bioethics Committee. He co-chaired the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Health Research Ethics Committee (EMRO/WHO HREC) until 2025 and was a member of the first Egyptian National Bioethics Committee from its establishment in 1996 until 2010.

Professor Serour established the first Health Research Ethics Committee in Egypt at Al-Azhar University in 1995. He is also a former member and Chair of the WHO Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for the Human Reproduction Programme (STAG/HRP) in Geneva, serving from 2012 to 2016. He has also served as Chair of the WHO Guideline Development Group (GDG) on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) since 2014. He was a member and Treasurer of the first Board of Directors of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB), serving for two terms, and is currently a member of the Islamic Research Complex at Al-Azhar.

Professor Serour established the first IVF centre in Egypt with two colleagues in March 1986, leading to the birth of the first Egyptian IVF baby in July 1987. He is currently President of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian IVF Center in Maadi, Cairo, and President of the Egyptian Fertility and Sterility Society (EFSS).

Professor Serour has published numerous articles on bioethics in peer-reviewed international journals, including the Journal of Medical Ethics, Human Reproduction, and Reproductive BioMedicine Online, among others. He has also contributed several chapters to international books on bioethics.

His contributions have been recognised through several prestigious awards. In 2013, the International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research received the United Nations Population Award at the United Nations Headquarters. Professor Serour was also awarded the Nile Award in Medical Sciences in 2018 and the Aziza Hussein and Mary Assaad Award for the elimination of FGM in June 2020.