Journal of Pediatric Epilepsy 2019; 08(01): 021-022
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1685467
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Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Epilepsy Pioneers in Morocco and Current Educational Programs in Morocco

Yamna Kriouile
1   Chef de Service de Pédiatrie II, CHIS, Hôpital d'Enfants de Rabat, Morocco
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

10 February 2019

11 February 2019

Publication Date:
01 May 2019 (online)

After her scientific Baccalauréat obtained at 1986, she studied Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat where she received her Doctorate degree in Medicine with an honorable mention for her thesis on childhood acute leukemia titled “Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, about 85 cases, result of the protocol: July 88” in 1994 ([Fig. 1]).

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Fig. 1 Yamna Kriouile is a Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat at the Mohammed V University, where she also serves as the head of the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic diseases (PII) at Rabat's Children's Hospital.
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Fig. 2 The team of the Pediatric Neurology and Neurometabolic Diseases unit.

She completed her fellowship and Pediatrics internship training at Ibn Sina University Hospital from 1988 to 1994, and between 1997 and 2006 served as an Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor of Higher Education in Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat.

In 1998, she joined Rabat's Children's Hospital as a specialist in Pediatrics. Professor Kriouile is board-certified to practice Pediatric Neurology and she completed Advanced Training in Neurology in 2000 (France) and electroencephalography (EEG) in 2000 (Rabat). She received a master's degree in distance education in epileptology at the University of Sfax, Tunisia, in 2013.

She has worked for nearly 21 years as a neuropediatrics specialist in Rabat's Children's Hospital and as a professor of higher education, during which she served as a doctoral thesis mentor, supervisor, jury member, and chairperson of the recruitment process of assistant professors.

She also serves in many national scientific committees such as those of organ transplantation, pharmacovigilance, and pediatrics residency programs. She is also a member of many associations such as the association of defeating lysosomal diseases in Morocco called Association “Espoir VLM.” Her greatest satisfaction comes from supporting families and their children, who often face medical crises.

Through her role as the cofounder and vice president of the Moroccan Society for Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) and Moroccan Association of Neuropediatrics, Dr Kriouile is experienced in administration, public relations, and the logistical duties of association management, such as organizing meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops, symposiums, and events.

When she was appointed as the Head of Pediatric Department 2, she believed in the importance of putting the child at the center of care and providing access to care for all in her region. Her mission includes meeting the health care needs of infants and children with neurological disorders, advancing knowledge through research in the clinical and basic neurosciences, and training the next generation of pediatric neurologists in the hospital's residency program.

She also has a greater ambition of improving access to the Clinical Neurophysiology Services that flourished in 2015 when she opened the unit of Pediatric Neurology and Neurometabolic Diseases. The unit offers comprehensive speech therapy and psychomotricity consultation, enzyme replacement therapy services for children with rare diseases (Gaucher's, Pompe, and Hurler's diseases), and access to electroencephalography and electroencephalogram. In 2016, she was designated the President of the National Certification Committee for Polio Eradication.

Through her commitment to research, Dr Kriouile's professional interests include epilepsy, autism, movement disorders, lysosomal storage diseases, inherited metabolic diseases, Rett syndrome, leukodystrophy disease, mitochondrial diseases, genetic neurodevelopmental disorders and developmental delay, and diseases of muscle, as well as to better understand the normal and abnormal functions of the human nervous system and how to care for related disorders.

Her main research areas are Pediatric Neurology and metabolic diseases in Morocco, clinical trials, and rare diseases. She is an author of several reviewed publications in neurology-related journals. She occasionally speaks on television, radio, press, and on the web, as well as shares the results of her research at conferences.