About Myself

Dr. Olaby is a pharmacist with Master's and Doctorate degrees from The American University of Cairo. She also holds an MPH degree from George Washington University, with a concentration in Public Health Marketing and Promotion and community advocacy. She is also a seasoned public speaker that delivered an array of talks in topics ranging from diversity and inclusion, to public speaking, cognitive time management, emotional intelligence, and career counseling in addition to motivational speeches.

Her research effort focused on identifying therapeutic leads for both Hepatitis C Virus and Malaria. To carry out this experiment, she collaborated with Scripps Research Institute (CA), Caltech (CA), UC Davis (CA), Johns Hopkins University (MD), Rutgers University (NJ), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (CA), Stanford University (CA), and the Institute Pasteur De Lille in France. She obtained training at some of these institutes and did all of her research there. Her research study yielded multiple peer-reviewed publications and three USPTO patents. Furthermore, Dr. Al Olaby holds a Master's degree in Public Health from George Washington University. Dr. Al Olaby also earned her Project Management Professional Certification (PMP(r)) from the Project Management Institute.

Dr. Olaby then joined the UC Davis MIND Institute as an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellow in the Autism Research Training Program, where she was mentored by Dr. Flora Tassone and co-mentored by Dr. Randi Hagerman. Her collaboration with them centered on the genetics and epigenetics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), and Fragile X-Associated Tremor and Ataxia Syndrome.

Dr. Olaby is currently an Associate Professor of Biology and Biotechnology at the College of Health Sciences at California Northstate University. Dr. Olaby's research interests combine her drug discovery knowledge with her neuroscience training. She hopes to create a library of pharmacological leads that can be used to treat neurodegenerative illnesses caused by proteinopathies or changes in the protein stability system.

Dr. Olaby believes in what Louis Pasteur once said: "Science knows no country because knowledge belongs to humanity, and it is the torch which illuminates the world!"

  • 2023 to Present

    Associate Professor

    California Northstate University

  • 2018 to 2023     

    Assistant Professor

    California Northstate University

  • 2016 to 2018     

    UC Davis

    Postdoctoral Fellow

  • 2016 to 2016     

    UC Davis

    Visiting Researcher

  • 2014 to 2017

    Masters of Public Health (MPH)

    Milken Institute School of Public Health, Public Health
    The George Washington University

  • 2010 to 2014

    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Biotechnology

    The American University in Cairo

  • 2008 to 2010

    Masters Degree, Biotechnology

    The American University in Cairo

  • 2006 to 2008

    Bachelor of Science (BSc), Biotechnology

    The American University in Cairo

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