Kurdish woman receives honor from King Charles

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish doctor who arrived in the United Kingdom as a child refugee was given a top honor by King Charles III on Tuesday for her efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bnar Talabani received a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) from King Charles III during a Tuesday ceremony at Windsor Castle and said that the king was “really interested” in her background.



Talabani was born in the Kurdistan Region in 1988 and fled Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime with her family to the UK in 1998, later growing up to pursue a career in medicine and is on the verge of completing a PhD in immunology at Cardiff University.

“By working with a number of health organizations, religious centers, and scientific institutions to spread awareness about the vaccine among British citizens and to dispel the misinformation [about the vaccines], we were able to convince more people to get the vaccine through our social media, campaigns, and conferences,” the doctor told Rudaw Radio.

An MBE is a British honor awarded by the monarch to people who have made a positive impact in their field.

Talabani is also a guide for Team Halo, a team of volunteer scientists and healthcare professionals from around the world working to end the pandemic by addressing public health misinformation.