Dr Nouria Salehi AM

Dr Nouria Salehi AM is the senior physicist in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Nouria studied the International Baccalaureate in Afghanistan and completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Kabul, before moving to France to complete her PhD in nuclear medicine and other studies. She then spent some years lecturing at a French university and working in a university hospital, before returning home to Kabul to practise.

Not long after she returned home, she decided to move to Australia. This was fortuitous timing, as soon after, the Russians invaded Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban were driven out, in addition to her ongoing research in nuclear medicine, Nouria has travelled to Afghanistan many times, at the risk of her own life, to establish science teacher training programs, apprenticeships, literacy programs, and a range of other constructive initiatives, to drive change and empower young people and women and their communities.