King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center

Professor Al-Hazzaa is a Saudi Ophthalmologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center and served as the Chairman and Head of the Ophthalmology Department. She is considered as one of the most influential personalities in Saudi Arabia, and the Arab World in general. She is one of the first Saudi women to achieve international success academically, professionally, and politically. In January 2007, she was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Minister of Health in Saudi Arabia. On January 11th, 2013, in a historical move and per Royal Decree from late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Professor Al-Hazzaa became one of the first ever-female members of Majlis Al-Shura” Saudi Parliament” allowing women for the first time to be part of the Kingdom’s formal advisory body.

Professor Al-Hazzaa was named “Arab Women of the Year” in the field of Medicine and Community Services in 2005 from the Arab Women Studies Center in Paris. In addition, Forbes International Magazine chose her as one of “The Most Powerful Arab Women for Year 2005". She is also the recipient of two awards from Arab Women Award in 2015, in the field of Medicine and for Lifetime Achievement, and received the "Distinguished Saudi Women in Medicine & Health for 2015" award from ‘Sayidaty Awards’. She was also granted the degree of Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa the highest honor of the Franklin University in Switzerland in 2017.

Professor Al-Hazzaa was elected as an Executive Member of the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO), the highest rank in Ophthalmology worldwide, being the youngest member, as well as the first female ophthalmologist from the 5 continents and from the Middle East. She is currently a professor at the College of Medicine at Al-Faisal University in Saudi Arabia and a Visiting Professor at University of Southern California. She has authored over 60 articles, editorials, review articles, and book chapters, and is the first Saudi to contribute to the US-based Duane Ophthalmology Medical Reference Series.