Alaa Najjar

Alaa Najjar (Arabic: علاء نجار) is a physician,[2] Wikipedian and internet activist, who was named the Wikimedian of the Year at Wikimania in August 2021 by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales for his pioneering role in the development of the Arab and medical communities as well as for his role in the development of COVID-19 topics.[2][3][1][4]

Alaa Najjar
علاء نجار
Najjar in 2019
EducationAlexandria University, faculty of medicine (MB Bch)
Occupation(s)Doctor, researcher, Wikipedian
AwardsWikimedian of the Year (2021)[1]

With the Wikipedia username علاء (ʿAlāʾ), Najjar is an active contributor to WikiProject Medicine and a volunteer administrator in the Arabic Wikipedia.[1][5] He is a board member of Wikimedians of the Levant User Group[6][7] and an editorial board member of the WikiJournal of Medicine.[8][1][3]

Education and career

Najjar graduated from Alexandria University, faculty of medicine in January 2021 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB Bch).[9] He is currently employed in “a very busy public hospital”, he told The National in 2021.[3]

Wikipedia and Wikimedia activities
Najjar presenting about WikiProject Medicine at WikiArabia 2019

Najjar is an active contributor since 2014, and most of his edits focus on medicine-related articles. He also serves as an administrator on Arabic-language Wikipedia and in several other roles on different projects of Wikimedia Foundation.[3] He is also a board member of Wikimedia Group in the Levant[6] and editorial board member of the WikiJournal of Medicine since December 2018.[8] Also, he is a member on the Arabic Wikipedia's official social networking team.[1] [10]

He spearheaded the COVID-19 project on the Arabic encyclopedia and majorly contributes to the WikiProject Medicine. Najjar's work helps to combat medical misinformation and confront the pandemic with reliable, fact-checked information.[1]

He was named the Wikimedian of the Year on 15 August 2021 by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.[11] Najjar was praised for his pioneering role in the development of the Arab and medical communities as well as for his role in the development of COVID-19 topics.[12][3] Because of travel restrictions, Wales could not personally deliver the award to Najjar as per standard practice, but instead spoke to him in a surprise Google Meet call.[2]

See also

References
  1. Koerner, Chris (2021-08-15). "Meet Alaa Najjar: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 winner". Diff. Archived from the original on 2021-08-15. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  2. "حوار خاص مع علاء نجار.. الفائز بجائزة "ويكيميدي العام" 2021". Ultrasawt (in Arabic). 15 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  3. Bedirian, Razmig (16 August 2021). "Arab medical professional Alaa Najjar honoured by Wikipedia for Covid-19 coverage". The National. Archived from the original on 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  4. "جوائز مؤتمر "ويكيمينيا" 2021.. من الفائز عن المنطقة العربية؟". Ultrasawt (in Arabic). 15 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-08-16. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  5. حجاوي, محمد (2018-02-01). "برنامج ويكيبيديا للتعليم بنسخته الثانية بصمة من طلبة جامعة النجاح في الفضاء الإلكتروني". سوا (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  6. السبيعي, عمر (7 January 2020). "تعرّف على مبادرة "ويكي دوّن" السعودية للنشر في موسوعة "ويكيبيديا"". صحيفة سبق الإلكترونية (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2021-08-19. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  7. "مبادرة "ويكي دوّن" للنشر في موسوعة "ويكيبيديا" | ويكي دون". WikiDowen (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2021-08-19. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  8. "WikiJournal of Medicine/Editors". Wikiversity. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  9. "Alaa Najjar (Orcid ID: 0000-0001-6362-8899)". Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  10. بن ساسي, أوسمان (26 October 2017). "مؤتمر «ويكيبديا عربية 2017 » يبحث إثراء المحتوى العربي". Alwasat News (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  12. Sharma, Unnati (2021-08-17). "3 Indians win Wikimedia awards for helping provide free, accessible knowledge on the internet". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
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