He attended medical school at AL-Mustansiriya University College of Medicine in Baghdad, Iraq. His residency training was completed at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He then went on to complete a Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Michigan. Dr. Issa is deeply invested into the educational enterprise of surgery and has established multiple educational programs for students, residents, and fellows. Nabil has completed the Surgical Education Research Fellowship (SERF) offered by the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) and is currently enrolled in the Masters in Health Professions Education (MHPE) program at UIC.