Key Points
- Dr. Mohammed Haskali is involved in groundbreaking research into new radiopharmaceuticals for clinical use in attacking tumors to destroy them.
- He survived a perilous journey that saw him flee his home country and be imprisoned in Pakistan.
- He credits his grandfather for inspiring him to study and succeed in his career.
Dr. Mohammad Haskali was born in 1985 to an Iraqi family and spent the first three years of his life in Iran. He says his first memories as a child were of a prison in Pakistan.
Three decades later, he is one of Australia’s leading cancer researchers, with more than on new ways in which radioactive chemical elements can be used to target and treat tumors.
His life in Australia is a big difference from the beginning.
“My family (of 11 people, including my grandparents, mother, aunts and uncles) was forced to leave Iraq during the war with Iran (1980-1988) due to political differences with the regime,” he said.
“We moved to Iran and then to Pakistan, where we entered illegally and ended up in prison. I was four years old at the time.”
Dr. Haskali and his family members during their walk from Iran to Pakistan in 1989.
Despite the tough conditions of those early years, Dr. Haskali said he and his family “never stopped dreaming” about moving to the West.
“Year after year went by and we kept saying, ‘This is the year we’re going to migrate,’” he said.
Dr. Haskali said he and his family were released from prison after three months with the help of the United Nations and refugee agencies.
“We kept trying to migrate to a European country, but it didn’t work out. But I (haven’t) lost my ability to dream and imagine. I used to live a lot in fiction and always imagined myself as a scientist or a clergyman,” he said.
Six-year-old Dr. Haskali (left) with his uncle Zain as he waits for immigration in Quetta, Pakistan.
“After 10 years in Pakistan, a resettlement program eased our journey and provided us with the resources we needed to reach Australia safely,” he said.
“We arrived in Australia in mid-1999 and I started my secondary education there in Year 8.”
‘We thought Australia was all farms’
Australia was an unfamiliar destination for the family. Dr. Haskali was 14 when they arrived in 1999.
“We didn’t know much about Australia. We thought it was all about farms,” he said.
After high school, he completed his undergraduate and cum laude degrees at La Trobe and Victoria Universities, before attending the University of Melbourne, graduating in 2013 with a PhD in Radiopharmacology.
Dr. Haskali said that of all the opportunities he had in his life, working in the United States was one of the best.
Dr. Mohammed Haskali with his family.
“I worked in one of the largest labs (the National Institute of Mental Health “I worked at the University of Maryland for two years and published research articles in the top scientific journals,” he said.
“When I came back here to Australia, a lot of doors opened for me.”
His current work focuses on cancer research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the only hospital in Australia dedicated entirely to cancer treatment and research.
“I lead the development and production of specialized radiopharmaceuticals used for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” he said.
“This position combines expertise in chemistry, radiopharmacy and cancer research to improve patient care through innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in nuclear medicine.
“(My work opens up) the possibility of detecting Alzheimer’s disease earlier and treating it therapeutically by injecting radioactive substances into the brain wall.”
According to Professor Ricky Johnstone, the centre’s director of cancer research, Dr Haskali is “a national and international leader in this field” and a “wonderful colleague”.
“Since joining ‘Peter Mac’ in 2016, Dr Haskali has supported our Nuclear Medicine Service by overseeing the production of vital radiopharmaceuticals used to treat and image cancer,” said Prof Johnstone.
“These radiopharmaceuticals extend lives and improve quality of life in people with advanced prostate cancer, and in particular neuroendocrine tumors.
“Recently promoted to our first Chief Radiopharmaceutical Scientist, Dr. Haskali is also leading research into the next generation of radioactive tracers and medicines. He is working to realize the promise of applying these precision treatments to a broader range of cancers.”
Grandfather was the biggest supporter
Dr Haskali said his greatest support in life was his grandfather, Essa Alobaidi, who passed away from cancer three years ago.
“He was extremely kind, helpful and actively involved in my education,” he said.
“I never expected to get to where I am today.”
He said he drew inspiration from the 13th-century Islamic mystic Rumi, who said, “What you seek, seeks you,” and from Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist: “And when you want something, the universe conspires to help you get it.”
He said he was a hard worker and that he got up every morning at 4-5 am to work and study.
“I have found that those early hours are my most productive, allowing me to focus intensely. This dedication allowed me to pursue two bachelor’s degrees simultaneously between 2005 and 2008,” he said.
‘A wonderful experience’
Dr. Haskali visited Iraq once for 10 days in 2014. He described it as a “wonderful experience,” but said it made him realize that it would be difficult to live there again.
“The advantage here in Australia is that there are opportunities to exercise personal freedom when it comes to expressing unconventional ideas,” he said.
“Most people live according to the same pattern and it is difficult for a person to think freely in that environment.”
He said it was difficult to formulate a “clear definition of identity” as a migrant.
“In fact, a person interacts with the society in which he lives,” he said.
“Part of me is Australian, part of me is Iraqi, part of me rejects the Iraqi style and part of me rejects the Australian style.”
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