Naguib Mahfouz is justly considered to be the founder of modern obstetrics and gynaecology in Egypt. He was bom in Mansoura, a city north of Cairo, where he attended the American Mission School, obtaining the primary certificate in 1895. He was then transferred to Cairo, where he was accepted at the Tewfikiya Secondary School. There he distinguished himself by graduating in three instead of five years. He then entered the Kasr-el-Aini School of Medicine in 1898, graduating at the top of his year in 1902.