Waleed received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, where he studied the intracellular signaling mechanisms underlying abnormal proliferation in the setting of blood cancer transformation. Waleed becomes interested in the basic questions regarding the role of mitochondria biology and its contribution to neuronal death and axon degeneration and he joined Milbrandt’s lab. Combining functional genomics approach using CRISPR technology and induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs)-derived neurons, Waleed aiming to help uncover fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying axonal degeneration under multiple cellular stress and disease conditions. Outside the lab, Waleed enjoys hiking, swimming, and reading.