Scientific Council

The Scientific Council represents esteemed scholars and professionals dedicated to shaping the academic and research landscape. It includes individuals with recognized expertise, who work to advance knowledge, promote research excellence, and provide guidance on the intellectual direction of the institution. 

Dr. Faris Lami

Chairperson for the Scientific Council

A Public Health Expert working in academia for 30 years. Dr. Lami is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Community and Family Medicine, at the College of Medicine, Baghdad University in Iraq. He is currently serving as a member of the Advisory Committee of COVID-19 at the Iraq Ministry of Health. He was awarded MBChB from the College of Medicine at Baghdad University in 1985 and attained a PhD in Community Medicine from the College of Medicine at Baghdad University in 1997. He is a Fellow Faculty of Public Health (FFPH), at the Royal College of Physicians UK, 2013. Dr. Lami is also a member of the Scientific Council of Community Medicine, and Family Medicine, Iraqi Board of Medical Specialization, and the Director of the Training Center of Baghdad College of Medicine Training Center since 1998

Prof. Abdullatif Husseini

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Public Health

Abdullatif Husseini is a Professor of Public Health, the current director of the Institute of Community and Public Health, and the Master of Community and Public Health program at Birzeit University.

Dr. Husseini research interests are rooted in improving the health of the population by identifying the various determinants of health and targeting modifiable risk factors through evidence-based interventions.  Although his research focus has been on non-communicable diseases and their risk factors especially diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and palliative care, obesity, and smoking, he works occasionally on important communicable diseases including brucellosis and hepatitis.  His work spans across epidemiology, public health practice, program evaluation, and capacity building in public health.

Dr. Husseini is a co-founder of the MPH program at Birzeit University and the main founder of the MPH program at Qatar University. Husseini has authored over sixty scholarly articles, book chapters, encyclopedias entries, and reports.

Dr. Al Moghirah Abdellah

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Health Economics

Dr. Al Moghirah Abdellah is a community medicine specialist who currently serves as the Director of Directorate-General for Population Coverage with Healthcare Services at the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) headquarters in Khartoum. He earned an MBBS from the University of Khartoum in 2001, a postgraduate Diploma in Community Medicine from Gezira University in 2008, and an MSc in Health Economics and Healthcare Management from Chulalongkorn University in 2013. He is also a Board certified in Community physician from the Sudan Medical Specialization board.

Dr. Abdellah has held numerous positions at Sudan's National Health Insurance Fund in Khartoum and Gezira state since 2005. He also taught many community medicine and public health courses at Khartoum University, Gezira University, the Blue Nile National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and the Khartoum Public Health Institute.

Dr. Abdellah 's research area mainly focuses on the efficiency of public, social and national health insurance programs and coverage in Sudan.

Dr. Abdellah has attended numerous training courses, workshops, and conferences, including the International Training Programme on Social Protection for Sustainable Development, the 15th International Conference on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and the World Health Organization's Regional Workshop on Public Finance Management for Health in Africa, among many others.

Dr. Abdellah has a number of prestigious memberships at a number of  organizations and networks from 2017 to the present;  he’s a member of the community WHO Health Financing Technical Network, Executive Board of African Forum for Primary Health Care, the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, and the Consultancy Committee of Community Medicine Specialty Federal Ministry of Health, he’s also been a member of the Research and Research Ethics Committee, the quality council and training council at the Sudan National Health Insurance Fund.

Prof. Ghassan M. Matar

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Anti Microbial Resistance

Prof. Matar is currently a Professor & Chairperson in the Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology & Microbiology, Associate Director & Laboratory Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), and Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference & Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Faculty of Medicine at the American University Of Beirut

Professor Matar is a resource advisor in the WHO-Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Agents (AGISAR), Geneva and participates in its internationally organized meetings. He also serves as member of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC). He established in 2009 PulseNet Lebanon within PulseNet International/Middle East in collaboration with the MoPH under the sponsorship of CDC and WHO. He participates and contributes in MoPH/WHO/CDC sponsored PulseNet and WHONET workshops locally, regionally, and internationally. He also served as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Ambassador to Lebanon and Chair of the ASM Ambassador Leadership Circle (2011-2017)

Prof. Matar’s main research interest deals with investigating molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and combatting it by antimicrobial combination therapeutic options and beta-lactamase inhibitors among Gram-negative bacteria including Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter. He also investigates the genetics of Biofilm formation in Pseudomonas/ Acinetobacter and its inhibition by antifungal and antibacterial agents. He also investigates mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in other bacterial species and role of virulence their factors on severity of disease. He is recipient of funding from multiple extramural sources, including US Department of Defense (DOD, USA), WHO-AGISAR (Switzerland), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC, USA), European Research Council (ERC, Europe), International Pharmaceutical Companies and others.

To present Prof. Matar teaches Basic and Medical Bacteriology to medical, graduate, and undergraduate students and served and still serving as an academic advisor to a significant number of graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows. He published an extensive number of articles in reputable refereed international journals, 4 e-books in Frontiers in Microbiology (Switzerland) and 1 book in ELSEVIER (UK). He has been invited as a speaker to numerous international, regional, and local conferences. He also serves as reviewer and editor in prestigious international journals like Frontiers in Microbiology, BMC in Infectious Diseases, Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Lancet, and others. He is a Top-Moderator in ProMED-AMR and ProMED-MENA, a program administered by the International Society of Infectious Diseases, USA. Prof. Matar can actively contribute in terms of reference and research on mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, its spread, prevention, and control. This is done within the context of the WHO for reference and research on bacterial pathogens serving EMR and globally, that Prof. Matar serves as Director.

Dr. Haitham Bashier

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Public Health Emergency Management

Dr. Haitham Bashier is the Executive Director of the International Academy of Public Health (IAPH). He is a Training and Capacity Building Specialist at GHD/EMPHENT, leading the Workforce Capacity team at GHD| EMPHNET. He is an assistant professor at the School of Medicine, National University in Khartoum. He joined EMPHNET in February 2016. Before joining EMPHNET,

Dr. Bashier worked as the Director of Teaching and Education at the Public Health Institute, Sudan. He worked as the Emergency and Humanitarian Action department director, FMOH, Sudan, till 2010. His work allowed him to be involved in various public health emergency preparedness and response activities. Besides teaching,

Dr. Bashier is working as a research supervisor and external examiner for many universities. He has experience in designing and implementing education and training programs. He has published work is mainly in emergency management, capacity building, and training.

Dr. Bashier holds a Ph.D. in Disaster Management, a Masters’ degree in Public Health, and an MBBS.

Dr. Hanan Abdul Rahim

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Non-communicable Diseases

Dr. Hanan Abdul Rahim is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the College of Health Sciences at Qatar University, the country’s largest national university. She has a PhD in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine from the University of Oslo, Norway (2003); a MSc in Biology from Illinois State University, IL, USA (1994), and a BSc in Biology from Salem College, NC, USA (1992).

Dr. Abdul Rahim has over 20 years of experience in the field of public health and has devoted her career to public health education and research in the region. She was the founding Coordinator of the BSc in Public Health program (2012-2014) at Qatar University, one of the founding faculty members of Qatar’s first Master of Public Health (MPH) program (2015), and the Head of the Department of Public Health between 2017 and 2019. In 2008, Dr. Abdul Rahim became one of the founding members of the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University, the country’s first academic-based survey research organization. As the Associate Director of SESRI, she was instrumental in the planning and execution of a number of large population-based social and health surveys feeding into policy making. Before moving to Qatar, Dr Abdul Rahim was at the Institute of Community and Public Health (ICPH) in Birzeit University, where she coordinated the Diploma in Primary Health Care and Master of Public Health programs. She continues to teach epidemiology and public health courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels and to supervisor student research.

Dr. Abdul Rahim’s research interests are at the intersection of social science and public health, with a special interest in the social determinants of noncommunicable diseases and the health and wellbeing of women. She has participated in a number of funded research studies and has authored a range of research and policy-oriented articles and reports in leading academic journals, including the Lancet, Health Policy, and Health Policy and Planning.

Dr. Abdul Rahim is an active figure in the regional public health community. She has provided training and consultation to a number of international health and development agencies, including UNFPA and EMRO/WHO. At the national level, Dr. Abdul Rahim is a member of the National Public Health Committee and the National Data Observatory Committee in Qatar. In the COVID19 response, she serves as a member of the Scientific Research and Reference Group, a national level multi-stakeholder body providing technical evidence-based advice on COVID19 response and chaired the Epidemiology and Surveillance Working Group.

Prof. Madi Al-Jaghabir

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Occupational Health

Prof. Madi Al Jaghabir is currently the head of Family Health and Community Medicine Department, at the faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan.  He obtained an MBChB from the University of Jordan's faculty of Medicine in 1978, and an M.S in Occupational Health and a D.Sc in Environmental Health from Tulane University in the United States in 1982 and 1984, respectively. He is a board-certified Occupational Health specialist from the Jordan Medical Council board and had a rotating internship at Jordan University Hospital from 1978 to 1979.

From 1985 to the present, Prof. Al Jaghabir has been a distinguished faculty member at Jordanian universities, having taught at the University of Jordan, Hashemite University, and Applied Science University. In his core research area, Prof.  Al Jaghabir focuses on occupational and environmental health. He has been involved in several funded research studies, as well as having authored a number of peer-reviewed articles in prominent academic journals.

Prof. Al Jaghabir is also a member of various international scientific associations and committees, including the Society of Public Health, Jordan Medical Association, Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology Network (WHO), and CEHA/WHO Environmental Health Regional Information Network. He has also been a member of the Jordanian Environmental Protection Society since 1987, the Anti-Smoking Society since 1994, the Arab Society for Public Awareness from Dangerous Drugs and Narcotics since 1996, and the Sustainable Development Society since 1998.

Prof. Al Jaghabir has been involved in training and consulting international and national health organizations including Jordan's Ministry of Health, WHO/UNEP, Jordan's Ministry of Labour, Jordan's Ministry of Industry and Trade, Jordan's Civil Defense, Jordan's Ministry of Water, and Jordan's Ministry of Interior since 1985.

Prof. Mayeh Omar

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Global Health

Prof. Mayeh Omar is an Associate Professor in International Health Systems at the University of Leeds.

Prof. Omar’s professional interests and experiences range from teaching and research in health systems development and strengthening, strategic health planning, human resources and leadership, policy analysis and development, and training of health professionals - to the design and implementation of health reforms in less developed countries.

Prof. Omar is a senior academic and international health systems/health management consultant, specialized in health systems development with over 40 years of low-middle income countries experience, Prof. Omar spent five years at the Istituto Superior di Sanita’ in Rome, Italy, where he was involved in teaching, research and consultancy work in broad areas of health systems development.

Prof. Omar has worked for the Ministry of Health in Somalia for 12 years, as a teacher at Health Training Institutions, Director of Post-basic Health Training Centre, the Head of Co-ordination, and International Relations Division, and later as the Director of the Department of Planning in the Ministry of Health where he was also responsible for the development and implementation of mental health policies and programmes in the country. He has extensively worked in several countries (i.e., Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Peoples Republic of China, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Sultanate of Oman, Somalia, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe) both on long and short assignments.

Prof. Omar is also involved in supervising and examining postgraduate students at Ph.D. and Master levels. He acted as an internal examiner in Leeds and an external examiner in several universities in the UK and overseas. Prof. Omar has served as a consultant to several international organizations, such as British Council, Carter Centre, DFID, European Union, Global Fund, UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank among others. He has dedicated substantial time to establishing and developing the capacity of training institutions in several low-middle income countries for more than four decades. He trained hundreds of graduates and participants with innovative curricula, educational techniques, and technologies, introducing post-graduate problem-based learning and pioneering continuous professional development (CPD) initiatives for doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other health professionals. His scientific production focuses on policy and planning, human resources development, community health and gender issues, mental health systems, and aspects of the interaction between the health service providers and the end-users

Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Communicable Diseases

Dr. Mumtaz Khan is currently the Senior Scientific Officer, Field Epidemiologist in Center for Disease Control (CDC), NIH Islamabad, Pakistan.

Dr. Khan is a medical doctor holding an MPH as well as an MS in Community Health and Nutrition, Public Health, and Field Epidemiology.

Dr. Khan has a number of postgraduate certificates in the field of public health, including a PG. Cert. Field Epidemiology (CDC USA), PG-Cert in Viral Influenza (China), PG-Cert in Viral Hepatitis (JICA Japan), PG-Cert in CoV (INTROM Malaysia), PG-Cert in Global Outbreak Response (GOARN Philippine), PG-Cert in Outbreak Response (WHO Lebanon), PG-Cert in PH Emergency Management (WHO Jordan) and PG-Cert in Polio (WHO Jordan)

Dr. Khan have almost 20 years working experience, initially in the field of clinical Pediatrics and then in Public Health/Field Epidemiology/communicable diseases. For last 10 years, Dr. Khan is working as Field Epidemiologist at Center for Disease Control (CDC), NIH Islamabad, Pakistan.

Dr. Najeeb M. A. Al-Shorbaji

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Health Informatics

Dr Najeeb Al-Shorbaji is from Jordan. He is the President of the Jordan Library and Information Association, President of the eHealth Development Association (Jordan), President of North Africa and Middle East Health Informatics Association, Vice-President of the International Medical Informatics Association for MEDINFO’21 and Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics.  Dr.  Al Shorbaji holds a PhD in Information Science since 1986 from United Kingdom.

Dr Al-Shorbaji has been working as consultant in eHealth (digital health), health information systems, knowledge management, medical librarianship, and electronic publishing since September 2015. He has been an eMarefa Advisor and working as part-time researcher and lecturer at the PLRI Institute of Medical Informatics at TUB, Germany since June 2016, he is a Visiting Professor at Ain Shams University, Egypt, and member of the Scientific Council of the International Academy of Public Health. Immediately before this, he worked as Director of Knowledge, Ethics and Research Department at the World Health Organization (WHO/HQ) between 1st September 2008 to 31st August 2015 as he retired from WHO/HQ.  From 1st February 1988 to 31st August 2008, he worked for WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Amman, Alexandria and Cairo as Information Scientist, Regional Advisor and Coordinator for Knowledge Management and Sharing.

Dr. Al-Shorbaji has published over 210 research papers, book chapters and presentations. He attended, presented and delivered keynote addresses in over 200 professional conferences and seminars at national, regional and international levels. He is the Chief Editor of the Jordanian Journal of Library and Information Sciences, member of editorial boards of others and a peer-reviewer of a number of scientific journals.

Furthermore, Dr. Al-Shorbaji is currently a member of a number of international scientific associations and committees.

Dr. Nihaya Al-sheyab

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Women and Child Health

Dr. Nihaya had graduated from the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, in 2009 majoring in adolescent health behavior modification. Dr. Nihaya main research interest is examining the effect of peer-led education on school students’ lifestyle behaviours including tobacco smoking.

In 2014, Dr. Nihaya had received training from experts in the field and earned the “Tobacco Treatment Certificate” from Jordan. Since graduation, she has collaborated with scholars from different fields including physical therapy, nursing, veterinary medicine, and public health. In 2014, she was appointed as Research Affiliate at Charles Perkins Centre and Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney in recognition to her research work in Sydney schools and immigrant communities. In June 2012, she was also appointed as an Honorary Associate at the Faculty of Health, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), in which she had graduated from to continue her collaboration with her PhD supervisors.

Dr. Nihaya is passionate about teaching undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students and helping them to engage with the community as part teaching experience through using latest evidence-based practice. She was awarded a fellowship in Responsible Conduct of Research.

Dr. Nihaya was appointed as a Vice Dean from 2015-2016 in the faculty of Nursing at JUST. Prior to this position, she was the chairman of the department of Community and Mental Health Nursing at JUST. In 2016, she received a one year RCR (Responsible Conduct of Research) fellowship in bioethics from San Diego University in the US.

Dr. Nisreen Al-Hmoud

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Biosafety in Public Health Laboratories

As a scientist, Dr. Nisreen Al Hmoud is motivated to provide research that focuses on the public good; her research focuses on the preservation of human health and biodiversity. During the last twelve years, she has dedicated her research to the development of scientific capacity in the fields of biosafety, water & food safety and security, and evaluation of environmental risks for scientists, government agencies, local communities and Non-Governmental Organizations in Jordan, the Middle East, and North Africa region. She is actively contributing to Biorisk Management capacity building programs both nationally and regionally.

In November 2020, Dr. Al Hmoud presented the Griffin Lecture Award presentation at the 63rd Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Conference presented by ABSA International. Her presentation focused on “the impact of capacity building activities in the MENA region on enhancing laboratory biosafety and biosecurity”.

Dr. Al Hmoud is particularly interested in effective and sustainable scientific international cooperation. Her research collaborators include international NGOs, US-based scientists, and regional One Health networks. She promotes a holistic approach to research that takes into account microbiology, molecular biology, virology, toxicology and ecology to investigate the most effective methods to reduce health risks associated with naturally occurring infectious diseases and outbreaks. Her research projects have led to a significant number of journal articles, commissioned reports, and book chapters.

Dr. Nour Abdo

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Environmental Health

Dr. Nour Abdo is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the Jordan University of Science and Technology.  She earned a BVMS from Jordan University of Science and Technology in 2006, an MPH with a minor in Occupational and Environmental Health from New Mexico State University in 2009, and a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health in 2014 with official minors in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. she also obtained a Fellowship in Research ethics from the University of San Diego in the USA.

Dr. Abdo has held a variety of teaching and research positions at Jordan University of Science and Technology since 2014. She was also a Research Assistant at the University of North Carolina from 2010 to 2014.

Dr. Abdo has received numerous awards for her achievements throughout her career, including Graduate Student Travel Support from the Society of Toxicology in the United States, Outstanding Teaching Assistantship Award from New Mexico State University in the United States, Koch Travel Award, Gillings Poster Award, and Student Poster Award from the University of North Carolina.

Dr. Abdo has attended numerous professional meetings and conferences both locally and internationally, including the 8th Scientific Medical Conference of the School of Medicine at Jordan University of Science and Technology and the Air and Climate Health Impact in the Mediterranean Eastern and Southern Regions (ARCHIMEDES) meeting in Cyprus.

Dr. Abdo has participated in numerous research studies and systematic reviews, and she has authored a range of articles in a leading academic international journal.

Prof. Yousef Khader

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Health Research and Studies

Dr. Yousef Khader is a professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Faculty of Medicine in Jordan University of Science and Technology and he is currently the Director of the Center of Excellence for Applied Epidemiology. He has master’s degrees in public health (Tulane University), Epidemiology and Biostatistics (JUST), and Medical Education (Maastricht University) and doctoral degree in Biostatistics from Tulane University.

Dr. Khader is a fellow of Faculty of Public Health of the Royal Colleges of physicians of the United Kingdom through distinction. His areas of expertise include advanced epidemiologic and statistical methods, Field Epidemiology, non-communicable diseases, mental health, digital health, and maternal and child health.

Dr Khader has published more than 650 scientific papers in reputable Journals including the Lancet, New England of Journal of Medicine, and Nature; being the highly cited researcher in Jordan. He is an editor and associate editor for some Journals.

Dr. Khader has received numerous awards including distinguished behavioral scientist, Venus International scientific award (2018), Distinguished Professor Award, Jordan University of Science and Technology, November (2017), and Shoman award for young Arab researchers, Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, July (2012).

Dr Khader is well known for his scientific contribution to the Focal Infection Theory and has developed different digital health initiatives including JSANDS and CIMA.

Dr. Mousa Al Ajlouni

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Leadership and Management

Dr. Musa Taha Ajlouni is a part-time consultant and technical advisor in health systems development for WHO/EMRO and other international and local healthcare organizations, and he is a member and senior advisor at the Jordanian Public Health Forum and MENA Health Policy Forum.

He has Ph.D. in Health Management (Alexandria University), Master degree in Public Health/Hospital Management (AUB, Beirut), Master degree in Health Planning (Leeds University, England).

He retired as Major General and senior consultant in health management from the Jordanian Royal Medical Services in 2003.

And he is a former university professor in hospital management for 15 years.