Ali is a clinician and academic funded by the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia and joined Gareth’s group in April 2019 as a PhD student. He studies how NAD availability can modulate 11β-HSD1 activity to better understand how glucocorticoids regulate cellular metabolism.

Ali completed his bachelor degree in medicine and surgery (MBBS) at King Abdelaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Araba in 2011, followed by a master’s degree in Brain and Mind Science (MBMSc), at Sydney University, Australia in 2017. His research project examined the role of cortisol regulation in autistic patients by measuring heart rate variability as a physiological marker of behavioural synchrony. As an academic and clinician he aims to contribute to research that furthers new developments in medicine and physiology.