Two-Time Kean Alumnus is Unraveling the Mystery of Viral Brain Injuries in Newborns

As a child, Youssef Kousa ’05, ’07 loved to learn, but just hearing the facts was not enough. 

“I always had questions. I would ask, ‘Is that always true? Could you do it another way?’” recalled Kousa, DO, Ph.D. “I was interested more in the questions than I was in the answers.” 

Kousa moved from Egypt to Bayonne when he was 10 because his family believed there would be more opportunity in America. He graduated from Kean in 2005 with a B.S. in biology and in 2007 with an M.S. in biotechnology, later enrolling in an eight-year physician/scientist training program at Michigan State University. 

Now a prenatal and neonatal critical care neurologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Kousa leads an international consortium and a lab. His work focuses on how viruses affect the developing brain. 

“It wasn't foretold that I would come to the U.S. or that I would become a doctor,” Kousa said. “I fell into multiple things that suit me very well. I feel like the luckiest person on the planet. I get to ask cool questions that nobody has ever asked before and figure out how to answer them, and the rate-limiting step is our creativity and our ability to work together. That is an exciting proposition for me, because I can work really hard and really well with people, so there might not be a limit to what we can do.” 

Laura Lorentzen, Ph.D., chairperson of Kean’s Department of Biological Sciences, mentored Kousa as he pursued his master’s degree, and the two co-authored and published a medical case study. 

“Dr. Kousa was the best M.S. biotechnology student I have mentored in my 24 years here at Kean,” she said. “His work ethic is second to none and he is one of the most motivated and compassionate people I have known in science.” 

An internship with the Clinton Global Initiative during his days at Kean helped him secure his place in the physician/scientist program at Michigan State, which included medical school, fellowships and a doctoral program in biochemistry and molecular biology. 

“I asked the professor who reviewed my Michigan State application why he had recommended me,” Kousa recalled, “and he said that my interest in outreach showed leadership potential that was unusual for a basic scientist.” 

Kousa founded his consortium a decade ago to explore how the Zika virus was infecting pregnant women and causing devastating injuries to their babies’ brains. 

“Now we have 33 investigators in six countries who have collected data on 8,000 mothers and infants,” Kousa said. “We're studying how viral brain injury happens prenatally and why some women have a more or less injured baby. The next phase will be to develop a treatment for expectant mothers.” 

Kousa, who now lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and three children, spends much of his time with students in his lab, investigating consortium findings and related ideas. He also treats neurologically impaired newborns and consults with pregnant women whose children will be born with brain injuries. 

Mark L. Batshaw, M.D., director emeritus of the Children’s National Research Institute, appreciates Kousa’s enthusiasm and talent. 

“Youssef is a force of nature,” Batshaw said. “He does many things and all of them well. He is an innovative researcher studying a new disorder, a wonderful mentor and a fine clinician. He works from day to night and has so many ideas that he hardly has time to follow them all. Youssef is a treasure.”