Iqbal Al Assaad, 20, receives her medical degree from Qatar\'s Cornell University Beirut – Arab Today A Palestinian child prodigy has amazed medical professionals, after becoming a doctor at the age of 20. Iqbal Al Assad was a prodigy with a dream –to become a doctor and help her Palestinian relatives living in refugee camps in Lebanon.
Graduating from high school at the age of 12, she mastered biochemistry and mathematics which she required to attend medical school.
By the age of 13, she had caught the eye of Lebanon’s education minister who helped her secure a medical scholarship in Qatar.
Aged 20, Iqbal not only became the youngest ever medical graduate from Cornell University\'s Qatar branch, but is possibly the youngest Arab doctor ever.
One of her professors, Dr Imad Makki said, “Since day one, Iqbal stood out as a very mature and professional student despite her age and experience.\"
He added, “\"The sky is the limit for Iqbal\".
Despite her success, Assad cannot work as a doctor in Lebanon, the country of her birth.  Medicine is among a number of professions from which Palestinians are barred.
Although Palestinians living in Lebanon were given the right to work in lower level clerical roles in 2005, and then in further professions in 2010, they are restricted from entering into skilled fields such as law and medicine, which are regulated by strict professional bodies.  These impose restrictions which are designed to safeguard jobs for Lebanese nationals.