[3] She began work looking at a virus that has been spreading from Ethiopia and it affects the important food plants of lentils, faba beans and chickpeas.
[4] This is devastating for low income families who rely on these beans to be their "poor man's meat".
She decided to risk her life by travelling to Damascus and then driving to rescue the disease resistant seeds.
[5] Two women from Syria made the list - the other was the film maker Waad Al Kateab.
Where she worked at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in the Beqa’a Valley.