Ebrahim Sabbaghs dream of becoming a physician has taken him from the biology classrooms and physics labs atWest Virginia Universityto hospitals in north-central West Virginia and Syria.
The graduating senior from Bridgeport has completed his bachelors degree in biology with honors at WVU in just three years. Sabbagh made the most of his time as an undergraduate by working with several physicians in the state, including his father, Dr. Abdulmalek Sabbagh.
In addition to work in Weston, Fairmont and Clarksburg, Sabbagh worked at the Aleppo University Hospital in Syria, where he learned about foreign health care policy and cultural differences between American and Syrian patients and the approach to their medical care.
All patients experience a great deal of pain and stress following medical procedures,he said.Syrian patients tend to worry about the side effects of medicine and are more reluctant to take it. If health care providers are aware of cultural differences and opinions about medicine, then they are better able to meet the patientsneeds by making them as comfortable as possible.
Born in Johnstown, Pa., Sabbagh lived in Syria for four years where he learned to read, write and speak Arabic. Because of his language skills, he was sought out to help in the recovery of Arabic-speaking patients in West Virginia. He followed the recovery of a Syrian native who underwent open heart surgery and two other Arabic-speaking patients, one who received treatment for a spinal problem and the other who had a knee cap replacement. Throughout the process, Sabbagh made the patients comfortable by reading to them, delivering food, assisting them at therapy and acting as a companion.
The WVU students interest in health care is not limited to the recovery room. It extends into the physics lab as well. He worked with Wathiq Abdul-Razzaq, a professor of physics at WVU , to measure the intensity of waves emitted by cell phones this year. The research project sought to determine the effects of high electromagnetic frequencies on health. Increased electromagnetic radiation in the environment, also known as electrosmog, is a new, potential health risk, Sabbagh said. Using electromagnetic detectors, he and Abdul-Razzaq measured the intensity of electromagnetic waves on campus where thousands of students use cell phones daily.
It is unusual for a biology student to come to the physics lab,said Abdul-Razzaq, who was excited by the prospect of working with an undergraduate studying biology.Our research gave Ebrahim a unique perspective on how to integrate physics and health. It will be very useful for him when he becomes a medical doctor. Many diagnostic tools used in hospitals today, such as MRI , X-ray and EKG , are based on the principles of physics and electromagnetism.
A scholar and dedicated student, Sabbagh has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship andEberly College of Arts and SciencesCertificate of Achievement, and he has been named an Eberly Scholar. He has also achieved WVU Deans List recognition. Sabbagh is a member of the Muslim Student Association and was a teaching assistant in the Eberly CollegesDepartment of Communication Studies.
He aspires to attend medical school and eventually treat families living in poverty as a primary care physician.