The New Board election for the upcoming term starting 2021- 2024 was undertaken on November 2020. Results of the election were announced on the 27th of December 2020. The new board members are:
1- Dr Ahmed Galal (Egypt) is currently the chairman of the Board of Trustees of MENA
Health Policy Forum. He is also the president and chairman of the board of the Forum
Euroméditerranéen des Instituts des Sciences Économiques (FEMISE) and the former
managing director of the Economic Research Forum (ERF). He is also a member of the
board of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). Dr. Galal was Egypt’s
finance minister from July 2013 to February 2014. Before that, he worked for the World
Bank for 18 years, conducting research and providing policy advice to governments in
several regions.
2- Dr Elsheikh Badr (Sudan) is a public health physician and a health workforce
expert and strategist with over 20 years’ service in senior health systems
and health workforce positions in Sudan and beyond. Dr Badr was the
Deputy D.G. Health Workforce Development at the Federal Ministry of
Health and President of the Academy of Health sciences, a large,
decentralized health professions education institution. He also served as
Secretary General for the Sudan Medical Specialization Board, the prime
postgraduate medical education body in the country. Dr Badr has been
widely involved in national, regional, and global health workforce
initiatives. His role included serving in several WHO expert and advisory
committees in addition to membership of some important regional and
global networks on health systems and health workforce. As a WHO
health workforce consultant, he produced several reports on health
workforce strategies, organizational development, and educational
systems. He also published across health workforce development issues
including migration. Dr Badr recently joined the National Qualifications
Authority in the UAE as advisor and policy expert working on the
development of postgraduate medical education capacity. He has been
involved with MENA HPF since 2009 and was elected first for
membership of its Board of Trustees in 2016 and in 2020 for a second
term.
3- Dr Salwa Najab (Palestine) has over 30 years of expertise in the fields of public health,
reproductive, and women’s health rights. She is currently the Managing Director of Juzoor
for health and social development and the chairperson for the MENA Health Policy Forum.
Dr. Salwa is an expert in women’s health issues and founder of a number of women’s health
and maternal mortality reduction programs, including development of community health
and specialized training programs for nurses and midwives. She has written and adapted
clinical training materials, publications and protocols on a variety of subjects including safe
delivery, family planning, neonatal health and infection control. She founded the first
women’s Health program in PMRS, She also led the effort to establish maternity homes in
Palestine, directing efforts to secure Ministry of Health support for the concept and
designing an effective and comprehensive program. Dr. Najjab has also co-founded a
number of influential grass-roots Palestinian organizations, and has lectured extensively on
women’s health internationally and throughout Palestine.
4- Dr Habiba Ben Roumdhane (Tunisia) is a professor of Preventive Medicine and
director of the Epidemiology and Prevention Research Department of Cardiovascular
Disease (CVD) at the University of Tunis. Dr. Ben Romdhane was the Tunisian Minister of
Health. She has been the Chief Executive Officer for the National Board of Family and
Population. Dr. Ben Romdhane was elected through Distinction as a Fellow in the Faculty of
Public Health at the Royal College of Physicians in the UK. Dr. Ben Romdhane has
coordinated several epidemiological studies on non communicable diseases (NCDs) and
implemented the Healthy Urbanization Project in Tunisia. She led the implementation of
the first Tunisian CVD Registry. She is currently leading several European Union funded
projects such as the Epidemiological Transition & Health Impact in North Africa, TAHINA
and Med CHAMPS and RESCAP-MED projects. She led the implementation of the first
National Observatory on Women (1994) . She is a co-founder and chair of the Tunisian
Society of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine; co-founder and member of the board of
the Maghreb Network on Research on Health System (RESSMA); and cofounder and chair of
the National Observatory of Health Equity. In 2001, she was awarded the Maghreb Medical
Science Society Award for her work on CVD Epidemiology & Prevention.
5- Dr Mohannad Al Nsour (Jordan) is a medical doctor and an internationally recognized
expert in field epidemiology, operational research, and public health systems. Dr. Al-Nsour
assumed several positions such as a notable researcher, advisor, and director during his
career path. He also served as a consultant on several assignments with the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the American
University of Beirut. Dr. Al-Nsour has been leading the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health
Network (EMPHNET) since 2009, by providing strategic assistance and operational
solutions, and guiding the enrichment of Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs)
and public health initiatives in the region. Under Dr. Al-Nsour’s leadership, GHD|EMPHNET
emerged as a prominent collaborative platform to serve the region and support national
efforts to promote public health policies, applied epidemiology, surveillance, International
Health Regulations (IHR), resource mobilization, and public health program development
among others. Dr. Al-Nsour is a lecturer and speaker at regional and international levels
covering public health topics such as leadership, field epidemiology, delivering
evidence-based recommendations, creating new opportunities, and being a catalyst for
change. Some of his areas of expertise are infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases
(NCD), and global health. Dr. Al-Nsour serves on several regional and global initiatives,
association and networks as he is a member of the Steering Committee for the Global
Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET), International Epidemiological
Association, and more. He is currently leading the establishment of the Public Health Forum
and the NCD Alliance in Jordan.
6- Dr Marry Al Deeb (Lebanon) Mary E. Deeb is presently an associate professor at the
Lebanese American University, Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine,
Beirut Lebanon. She is also coordinator of the population health and global medicine
theme. Dr. Deeb graduated with a Ph.D. degree from the Johns Hopkins University,
Department of Population Dynamics, with a strong emphasis in Epidemiology and
Biostatistics. She has also an MPH from the American University of Beirut. Prior to joining
LAU school of Medicine, Dr. Deeb was the chair of the Department of Epidemiology and
Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut. Dr. Deeb has
been closely involved in the implementation of health strategies at the country level
within a long-term goal of development and sectoral policy. She was involved in analyzing
statistical data and reporting on findings for strategic planning for several projects, such
as the National Housing and Population survey undertaken by the Ministry of Social
Affairs and the PAPChild surveys conducted by the Ministry of Health of Lebanon. She also
contributed as part of multidisciplinary expert and task force committees in policy
dialogue at the ministerial level on population issues, health sector reform, chronic
diseases and reproductive health in Lebanon and the region. Dr. Deeb collaborated as a
researcher with international scholars and colleagues in the United States and in Europe,
namely in England and France and in the Arab region. She has authored and co-authored
numerous peer-reviewed articles and the editor of a book on: “Beirut a Health Profile:
1984-1994” published by the American University of Beirut.
7- Lubna Al–Ansary (Saudi Arabia) is a Professor of Family Medicine at the College of Medicine,
King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (KSA). Being recognized for her work in
family medicine, guidelines and evidence-based health care in KSA and the Gulf Countries as
well as her efforts in promoting human rights and family safety, Lubna has become a
member of the Consultative Council (Majlis Al-Shura), which is the ‘Appointed Parliament’,
in KSA. She joined the Council as one of the first women MPs ever (Jan 2013- Nov 2016) and
was selected to represent Saudi women MPs at the Inter-parliamentary Union for the first 2
years. In May 2017, she was seconded to the Ministry of Economy and Planning to be an
advisor to HE the Minister and the Secretary General of the National Population Committee
for 6 months. From Oct 2017 – April 2019, she was selected to be the first Arab woman in
the WHO Leadership team as an Assistant Director General for Health Metrics and
Measurement and was based in Geneva, Switzerland. In May 2019, she returned back to
academic, clinical and research life at KSU and is currently leading the clinical practice
guidelines Committee at King Saud University Medical City. Lubna has always been a strong
advocate for MENA Health Policy Forum and has energetically taken part in its various
activities. She was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees in the previous
term (2016 – 2020) and this is her second term.
