Dr Rafia Al-Lamki is a Senior Clinical Scientist at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge. She graduated with a MPhil/PhD in Cellular Pathology at Fitzwilliam College in 1999 and was admitted as a Bye-Fellow at St Edmund’s college in 2004. She was appointed a full Governing Body Fellow of the College in April 2019 and a Council Member and Tutor in June 2019.

Rafia was awarded scholarships by the Oman-American Joint Commission and Oman Ministry of Health-British Council for her undergraduate studies. She also received the Leatherseller’s award for best achievement in BSc studies and a Biomedical Science training fellowship by the World Health Organisation. Cambridge Commonwealth Trust awarded Rafia a bursary during her postgraduate studies.

Rafia has extensive experience in cellular, molecular and structural biology. Her research focuses on examining the role of inflammatory mediator TNF in renal disorders and cancer, and cardiovascular disease. She has developed a human organ culture model, which has provided novel insights into molecular responses in kidney and heart tissue, findings of which have contributed to various publications and a patent invention. She actively collaborates with Yale School of Medicine and has authored a book titled ‘The TNF Superfamily’. Rafia self-raised £70,000 to fund her postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge.

She is fluent in English, Kiswahili, understands Arabic, and enjoys reading, running, water sports as well as travelling both leisurely and professionally.