Dr. Sahar Mahmoud Samy graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in Egypt in 1987. After graduation, she interned and received a master's degree in public health from Cairo University in 1991, a master's degree in pediatrics from Ain Shams University in 1994, completed the Egyptian Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) in 2011 and the Egyptian Fellowship in Applied Epidemiology in 2012. From 2009 to 2011, she was the head of the Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis Unit, where she participated in many research endeavors and projects with the National Viral Committee and other international organizations and succeeded in launching the National Plan for Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis in Egypt. From 2014 to the present, she has served as the coordinator of the Egypt FETP. She also works with epidemiology and surveillance investigators on newly emerging diseases. 

In coordination with the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET), Dr. Samy was involved in initiating the Public Health Empowerment Program (PHEP). She also worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop an action plan for the workforce development indicator for the International Health Regulations (IHR) Tools. Since 2018, she has been a member of the TEPHINET Advisory Scientific Committee (TASC). In 2020, she was elected as the new chairperson for the EMPHNET Board of Directors and became the Eastern Mediterranean regional liaison to the TEPHINET Advisory Board.