She finished her undergraduate studies and a preliminary Master's Degree in Egyptology at Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. Her dissertation is entitled “Cult and Ritual in Persian Period Egypt: An Analysis of the Decoration of the Cult Chapels of the Temple of Hibis at Kharga Oasis. For many seasons, she has been a field member of the annual excavation of The Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Expedition to the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut at South Karnak, and Tomb 92 of Suemniwet on the West Bank, Luxor, Egypt. She has a broad knowledge of and interest in eastern ancient Mediterranean history up to medieval Islam. Her work is highly interdisciplinary and combines early religions, and the history and civilization of North Africa and the Near East. Dr. Ismail has worked on the following exhibitions: Faces of Ancient Arabia The Giraud and Carolyn Foster Collection of South Arabian Art and The Eternal Egypt Exhibition: Treasures from the British Museum, both at the Walter’s Art Museum; and Quest For Immortality: Treasures Of Ancient Egypt at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.  She also served as curator for the exhibition, For Now and Forever: Funerary Artifacts from Ancient Egypt, in the Kohl Gallery of Washington College. Since 2010, she has been teaching courses on “Ancient Cultures” and “Intellectual History of the Middle East” at MICA.