Dr Hala Raghib
Dr. Hala Raghib starred in The Age (Melbourne) Magazine Top 100 issue, which listed the most powerful, innovative and entertaining Melburnians of 2007. Headed: Dr Hala Raghib Pharmacologist, the article continues: "Hala Raghib never enjoyed dissecting rats for medical research, nor did she believe animal cells were ideal for cardiovascular research. So when she undertook her PhD at RMIT, the aim of which was to determine whether non-cardiovascular drugs had an adverse effect on the heart, she used a genetically engineered human cell line instead of animal cells. Some non-cardiovascular drugs can cause arrhythmia or even cardiac arrest. Dr Raghib found that it was easier to predict the effects of these drugs on humans in studies using human cells. Dr Raghib was born in Kuwait and spoke no English before coming to Melbourne with her family in 1993, aged 12. She says that her study, which won the 2007 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes People’s Choice Award, provides "significant potential to reduce the number of animals that may be required for testing". Her pet cat, she has joked, would be very proud, if only it understood what it all meant.
Hala was also mentioned as the People’s Choice Award in the Sydney Morning Herald (22.8.2007) in an article headed: "Scientists honoured for sparing animals the lab".