Honors and Recognition
Awards &
Recognition
Honors received during his life—and one established to carry his values forward.
Overview
A Life Recognized Through Service
Throughout his all-too-brief life, Dr. Qusay Salih Hussein Al-Mamari received numerous honors that reflected his extraordinary resilience, his commitment to advocacy, and his unwavering determination to lift others as he climbed. These awards—some bestowed while he was alive, others established in his memory—stand as testaments to a life that refused limits.
Awards & Honors
Received by Dr. Hussein
Best Indie Book Award – Book of the Year
Dr. Hussein and his co-author, Monica Sakura Urso, received the 2025 Best Indie Book Award® Book of the Year grand prize for their memoir, Can You Open My Eyes?
The book is described as "not only a story of survival, but a story of vision, purpose, and possibility." Qusay's life changed forever on August 3, 2006, when a car bomb in Iraq blinded him and nearly took his life, setting him on a journey from Iraq to Jordan and the United States.
Through the dedication of doctors, the serendipity of fate, and his unshakable faith, he survived and began a new chapter—one he described, in remarks quoted by the Best Indie Book Award, as "richer and more fulfilling than the life I once knew."
"Qusay Hussein takes us far beyond the moment that changed his life. Through deeply personal reflections, candid humor, and powerful storytelling, he offers readers an intimate glimpse into what it means to rebuild one's identity from the inside out."
Best Indie Book Award, 2025 Winners Announcement
The annual Best Indie Book Award® is an international literary award contest recognizing independent authors. One hundred and thirteen indie authors, illustrators, and book cover designers from around the globe were named as winners in 2025.
Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award
Dr. Hussein was a recipient of UT's Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award, which recognizes young alumni who "have made significant achievements in their careers, community, and service to the university."
The award is given each year to a select group of Longhorns aged 39 and younger whose impact reaches far beyond the Forty Acres, recognizing professional achievement, community service, and meaningful contributions to the University.
"An education advocate, author, and motivational speaker, Hussein became a powerful voice for people with disabilities after a 2006 suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, left him blind and critically injured. Following years of grueling surgeries, he resettled in the United States and fulfilled a promise to his father to pursue an education, earning four degrees in social work from UT, including a minor in disability studies—a field he helped create. Hussein's work reflects kindness, resilience, and a legacy of creating opportunities for others."
Texas Exes, Meet the 2025 Outstanding Young Texas Exes
He was the first UT student to graduate with a minor in disability studies, which he helped create, and served on UT's Student Advisory Committee for students with disabilities.
Nemec Fortitude Award
Dr. Hussein was posthumously named the recipient of the Nemec Fortitude Award at the Spring 2025 Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition.
The award was created in honor of Craig Nemec, who exemplified fortitude in his personal and professional life. The recipient best embodies resilience, perseverance, leadership, and the ability to overcome adversity.
The award was announced at the Spring 2025 Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition finals, held May 2, 2025, in Crum Auditorium, following semifinal rounds among thirty competing UT graduate student startups.
"A member of his dissertation group, Diana DeNitto, accepted the award on his behalf."
Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs Blog, McCombs School of Business, UT Austin
ACC Presidential Student Achievement Award
While pursuing his associate degree at Austin Community College, Dr. Hussein received the Presidential Student Achievement Award and delivered the commencement keynote.
After surviving the 2006 bombing and enduring more than 70 reconstructive surgeries, he resettled in the United States in 2012. With help from the Austin American-Statesman's Season for Caring and Interfaith Action of Central Texas, he took classes to learn English, obtained his high school equivalency, and earned an associate degree at ACC.
"In 2012, Hussein earned an associate degree from Austin Community College, where he received the Presidential Student Achievement Award and delivered the commencement keynote."
Texas Exes
In His Honor
Established because of his life and example
Qusay Hussein Humanitarian Award
In honor of Dr. Hussein's life and legacy, the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at UT Austin established the Qusay Hussein Humanitarian Award, to be given annually to a graduating student who demonstrates strength of character, resilience, and compassion for others.
The award is named for beloved graduate Qusay Hussein (BSW '21, MSSW '22, Ph.D. '25), who walked across the graduation stage in May 2025 to earn his doctorate in social work, honoring the promise he had made to his father to obtain an education in the United States.
"Dr. Qusay Hussein studied in our programs at UT at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. He was determined from his first step on the UT campus, and even before, to become a Ph.D. so he could support and motivate others on a broader scale. He lived his life on a day-to-day basis, uplifting others and always staying positive despite his challenges."
Professor Sandy Magaña, Hussein's dissertation supervisor
The award recognizes strength of character, resilience, and compassion for others. It will be given annually to a graduating student who has demonstrated these values in the school community.
Learn MoreOther Recognitions
Leadership, service, and institutional impact
MSF USA Board Member
Dr. Hussein was the first former patient to serve as an MSF USA board member, serving from May 2023 until his death in June 2025.
Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières
"Qusay's legacy at Doctors Without Borders includes being a trailblazing former patient and patient counselor, an outspoken voice of conscience on our governance board, and an advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities across the organization. We have lost a great humanitarian whose indomitable spirit and tenacity impressed everyone he met."
Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF USA