Masooda Jalal daughter of Alhaj Tellah Mohammad was born in Gulbahar of Kapisa district in a middle-class and educated family.

She has studied primary and secondary school in, Gulbahar High School. In 1361 graduated from Rabia-e-Balkhi High School and joined medical college the same year.

She earned her degree from Kabul medical institute in 1367. In 1368 she started her service as an ear doctor for Maiwand Hospital and then was apponted in mental health Hospital. From 1372-1375 she was the women’s right Director in a Women’s Organization, then she was a member of the children’s Department of Kabul Medical Institute, and served as a doctor in Ataturk Hospital.

In 1375 she worked for UNHCR and afterwards, she was the health advisor of WFP and also a Natioanl Program officer with that organization.

In a society where nearly all women are wives by 22, and some as young as 12, Jalal remained unmarried until she was 30, and her family applauded her single status. "Education was the priority for my parents," she said. She became a general practitioner and a lecturer at Kabul University. Continuing her education, she specialized in pediatrics. She chose her own husband -- also rare here, where more then 90 percent of all marriages are arranged.

During the Taliban period, Jalal worked for the United Nations in Kabul. Her boss eventually asked her to sign a paper saying her safety was her own responsibility. "I did it. I was not going to give up," she said, and that pretty much typifies her attitude.