{"id":186476,"date":"2025-12-11T03:54:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=186476"},"modified":"2025-12-11T04:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T04:02:25","slug":"pressure-makes-diamonds-dr-alaa-nassereldeens-journey-of-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=186476","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPressure Makes Diamonds\u201d: Dr. Alaa Nassereldeen\u2019s Journey of Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By, Insyirah Ikram<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOMBAK, 9 December 2025:<\/strong> Some were told they could never become doctors, but a graduate from Kulliyyah of Medicine (KOM), Alaa Nassereldeen became one anyway. A Sudanese born and raised in Malaysia, she arrived at IIUM Kuantan determined to succeed despite language barriers from her international school background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaa Nassereldeen was conferred her degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery during the seventh session in the 41st IIUM Convocation Ceremony at the Main Hall of IIUM Cultural Centre (ICC), IIUM Gombak campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting out was far from easy, especially when communication became a daily challenge as she worked to adapt to local slang and patient interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, pressure followed her too, as her father, Professor Naseereldeen Ahmed Kabbashi of IIUM\u2019s Kulliyyah of Engineering, and her mother, Dr. Fatima of UiTM, both held high academic expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all her older siblings already doctors and memories of people telling her, \u201cAlaa, you couldn\u2019t be a doctor,\u201d she felt deeply driven to prove herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of retreating, she stepped out of her comfort zone by joining student organizations such as the Student Union (Officer of International Affairs), the Asian Medical Students\u2019 Association (AMSA), and IIUM Mustangs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support of friends and roommates kept her moving forward through fatigue and self-doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her final year, her perspective shifted as she learned the importance of humility and self-belief. Inspired by lecturers who balanced clinical excellence with Islamic values, she embraced medicine as both a calling and an act of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the struggles she once faced, Alaa now encouraged students to keep pushing forward despite discomfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPressure makes diamonds,\u201d she reminded them, when paired with resilience and self-belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her perseverance led to a defining achievement when she graduated with honors and earned a place on the Rector\u2019s List. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a student who once doubted to becoming Dr. Alaa Nassereldeen, her journey proves that hard work and self-belief can turn obstacles into success.***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By, Insyirah Ikram GOMBAK, 9 December 2025: Some were told they could never become doctors, but a graduate from Kulliyyah of Medicine (KOM), Alaa Nassereldeen… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":186478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4,6,114,3],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[268],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_1025-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186476"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186578,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186476\/revisions\/186578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/186478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}