Muhamad Aly Rifai

In May 2000, Rifai was awarded the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education's Janssen Scholars Fellowship for research on severe mental illness. In 2006, he became the recipient of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine's William Webb Fellowship. As of 2007, he is a fellow of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. He is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association.

In the mid 2000s, Rifai was involved in several studies on interferon-alpha (IFN-α) induced depression in hepatitis C patients and possible use of Paroxetine and other antidepressants for its treatment. He and his colleagues only recommend the use of IFN-α to eradicate hepatitis C along with "a comprehensive pretreatment assessment, a risk-benefit analysis, and intensive ongoing medical and psychiatric follow-up."

He obtained his M.D. with honors from University of Aleppo Faculty of Medicine in 1996 and received a Neuroscience National Research Service Award funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Rifai completed a neuroscience research training fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Medicine in Memphis (1996–1998). In 1998, he began training in the combined Internal Medicine and Psychiatry program at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Carilion Health System Program (Carilion Clinic) in Roanoke and Salem, Virginia. He then completed fellowship training in psychosomatic medicine and psychiatric research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland (2003–2005).