I was born in Baghdad Iraq, and then accompanied my father to Champaign Illinois while he was studying his for his PHD where I went to School.

My father was a university professor in Virology. This inspired me to study microbiology / biology. 

I graduated from the department of Plant Protection in 1981. I was hired as a lab instructor in the same department. I worked there for 5 years then started my Master’s in applying Remote Sensing to plant disease detection. Then went back to be a lecturer in the same department till 2002 when I resigned to start the process of applying for immigration to New Zealand as a skilled migrant. The last gulf war started in 2003 in Iraq. Being without a job l applied for a job as a translator with the American Army where I worked for sometime.