El Sheikh Mahgoub Gaafar

El Sheikh Mahgoub Gaafar (; born 2 March 1935 in Nuri) is a Sudanese mycologist and an international authority on mycetoma and bacteriology. He was awarded Shousha Prize by the World Health Organization.

Life and career

Early life and education

Gaafar was born on 2 March 1935 in Nuri, Karima, Sudan. He attended Karima Primary School, then moved to Shendi Rural Intermediate School, Shendi, and completed high school at Wadi Seidna Secondary School, Khartoum.

Gaafar started his medical training as a research assistant at the department of bacteriology and parasitology at the University of Khartoum before completing a PhD from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the University of London in August 1965. Gaafar graduated with a Diploma in bacteriology from the University of London in 1966.

Career Upon his return to Sudan, Gaafar was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Bacteriology and Parasitology, University of Khartoum. He was subsequently promoted to senior lecturer in 1969, a Reader in 1972, and a professor in 1974, the same year he was awarded an MD in Microbiology. In 1968, he established a mycetoma ward and clinic in Khartoum North Civil Hospital, and in 1972, Gaafar worked as Consultant to the World Health Organization in Teheran, Iran. thumb left Gaafar gained experience in clinical microbiology diagnosis at the West Middlesex University Hospital and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine between 1976 and 1977. He joined King Saud University as a professor in medical microbiology in 1977 because he could not return to Sudan after the 1969 Sudanese coup d'état and Jaafar Nimeiry seizing power (1969–1985) due to his association with the National Umma Party which was banned.

Gaafar was the editor-in-chief for Eastern Mediterranean Health Services Journal (1990–1994), a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Medical and Veterinary Mycology, a member of the Editorial Panel of Mycopathologia, a member of the Khartoum University Press Editorial Committee, and referee to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Gaafar was a chairman of the Council of Omdurman Islamic University (1986–1988), and a chairman of the Medical Research Council, Sudan (1986–1988). He received the Ademola Prize from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1987,