Photo: Great Arab Minds Awards official website
In a post on X, the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister said Seidah’s work had played a key role in advancing global understanding of cholesterol regulation and heart disease, contributing to the development of widely used cholesterol-lowering treatments.
“We congratulate today the winner of the Great Arab Minds Award in the Medicine category for 2025, Dr Nabil Seidah from Egypt, director of the Neuroendocrine Biochemistry Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute,” he said.
Sheikh Mohammed noted that Seidah has made groundbreaking scientific contributions to understanding heart health and cholesterol regulation, focusing on the biological mechanisms that govern how the body processes fats.
Seidah, an Egyptian-Canadian biochemist, is best known for his role in the discovery of the enzyme PCSK9, which regulates levels of LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol in the blood. His research showed that excessive PCSK9 activity leads to dangerously high cholesterol levels, paving the way for PCSK9 inhibitor drugs now used worldwide to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Born in Cairo in 1949, Seidah graduated from Cairo University in 1969 before earning a PhD in chemistry from Georgetown University in 1973. He moved to Canada the same year for postdoctoral research at the University of Montreal and joined the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) in 1974.
He currently heads the Biochemical Neuroendocrinology Research Unit at the IRCM, where he has spent decades researching proprotein convertases, a group of enzymes with broad implications for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders.
Seidah has authored more than 820 scientific papers, cited over 71,000 times, and has also contributed to research on fatty liver disease, obesity, cancer biology, and viral entry mechanisms, according to the award organizers.
Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the Higher Committee of the Great Arab Minds initiative, informed Seidah of the award during a video call on Wednesday, according to Emirati media.
During the call, Al Gergawi praised Seidah’s advanced scientific research, saying it had “opened broad horizons for harnessing cutting-edge technologies and data to develop new medicines and specialised treatments that enhance healthcare systems and safeguard the future of coming generations.”
Launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid in January 2022, the Great Arab Minds Award honours exceptional Arab talent across six categories: natural sciences, medicine, engineering and technology, architecture and design, economics, and literature and the arts.
The initiative aims to discover, empower, and celebrate Arab innovators while amplifying the impact of their work regionally and globally.
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