To address climate change health impacts through new approaches and systems science with a diverse multidisciplinary team of scientists and offer scalable solutions for the most vulnerable global communities.

Principal Investigator

Executive Committee

Wael Al-Delaimy, director
Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, is a professor of public health at UC San Diego, and is principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Global Center on Climate Change and Water Energy Food and Health Systems, and developed and co-leads the NIH’s GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and North Africa. He is a multidisciplinary epidemiologist who works across different topics ranging from chronic diseases, to climate change, tobacco, ethics, health policy and mental health, with a focus on vulnerable populations. His work on climate change is focused on policies in adaptation through multidisciplinary capacity building in low-resourced countries and through community engagement. He led the first International Network for Epidemiology in Policy Climate Change Policy Brief while he was chairing the organization and developed the process for creation of policy briefs to engage epidemiologist in supporting evidence-based policies. He led the editing and co-authored with other notable scientists, faith leaders, and policy makers chapters in the book Health of People, Health of Planet, and Our Responsibility by Springer Nature. His work with communities involves immigrants and refugees, and indigenous population globally and locally.

Rabi Mohtar, deputy director
Rabi Mohtar, PhD, leads the Water Energy Food Nexus Group at Texas A&M University as an endowed professor. Academically, he was the dean of the College of Agriculture at the American University in Beirut and the executive director of the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, and he has many other leadership responsibilities in his past and current academic position. He has an exceptional professional leadership track record having served as an advisory panel member for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as part of the International Steering Committee and Board of Governance for the World Water Council, and as vice president, Governance Committee, executive board Member, and chair of the Task Force and Chapters Oversight Committee for the International Water Resources Association. He is a member of the Global Agenda Council on Water Security and member of the Global Agenda on Climate Change of the World Economic Forum. Therefore, his skills as a leader and mentor will support the center and the director with added experience and vision that will span across the different groups and cores.

Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, principal investigator for University of Jordan
Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, PhD, is a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Jordan. He is an expert in the field of energy regulation, a certified energy manager, a certified carbon reduction manager, and has taught an energy regulation course as part of the master’s program of regulation and competition in cooperation with the College of Europe. He was the coordinator at the University of Jordan for “WaSec: Innovations in Water Education Programs: Enhancing Water Security and Socio-economic Development in the Eastern Mediterranean under Climate Change.” Currently, he is the general coordinator for three Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education projects from Europe, and the regional coordinator for three Erasmus+ Vocational Education and Training projects from Europe. He is a member of the Jordanian Government Nexus Committee.

Mohammed Salahat, principal investigator for The Hashemite University
Mohammed Salahat, PhD, is an associate professor of water and land use at Hashemite University in Jordan who has led many international and local projects as a principal investigator or co-investigator. He spent four years in Saudi Arabia as a senior engineer on an irrigation systems project, working with team members from different nationalities and backgrounds. During that time, he gained practical experience in teamwork management and motivating teams to work to their full capacities. At Hashemite University, he is an active member in campus committees, and has held leadership roles, including department chair, and was a member of the Water Resources and Environment Committee of the Jordanian Agricultural Engineering Association.

Christine Kirkpatrick, data core lead
Christine Kirkpatrick leads the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s (SDSC) Research Data Services division, which manages large-scale infrastructure, networking and services for research projects of regional and national scope. Her research is in data-centric AI, working at the intersection of ML and FAIR, with a focus on making AI more efficient to save on power consumption and “time to science.” Kirkpatrick serves as principal investigator of the FAIR in ML, AI Readiness & Reproducibility RCN which focuses on promoting better practices for AI, improving reproducibility and exploring research gaps in data-centric AI. In addition, Kirkpatrick founded the GO FAIR US Office, is principal investigator of the West Big Data Innovation Hub, is on the executive committee for the Open Storage Network. Kirkpatrick serves as a member of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine board on research data and information to improve the stewardship, policy and use of digital data and information for science and the broader society. She serves as the secretary general of the International Science Council's Committee on Data, co-chairs the FAIR Digital Object Forum, is on the advisory board for the Helmholtz Federated IT Services and served on the National Academies of Sciences’ U.S. National Committee for the Committee on Data.

Elham Al-Shurafat, community leader and liaison
Eng. Alham Al-Shurafat holds a Master of Science in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology, currently serving as the program development manager at the Climate Action Network Jordan, leading multiple projects. Her role involves the development and management of projects that address climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) development. Additionally, she works on policy and social norm initiatives to ensure sustainability. With more than eight years of experience in the management of non-governmental organizations, Al-Shurafat possesses a deep understanding of stakeholder dynamics and best practices in these sectors. Her expertise extends to areas such as climate change, WASH, risk assessment, stakeholder management, sustainable development, integrated water resources management, and environmental protection. Al-Shurafat is also an active researcher, focusing on the development of communities resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change. She has contributed to seven publications and has managed multiple projects aimed at climate action.

Collaborative Consortium

Research Core

The Research Core will highlight the interconnectedness of water, energy, food and health sectors (WEFH) through the development of a dynamic decision support tool. The coordination of planning, financing,and governing these sectors in order to achieve sustainable development and promote the well-being of individuals and communities will be a primary focus. The WEFH tool will guide evidence-based actions to improve health resilience under growing climatic, demographic and geopolitical shocks that can be scaled-up regionally and globally.

Community Engagement

The Community Engagement Core will ensure equitable and ethical involvement of local stakeholders in the implementation of proposed interventions. These stakeholders include residents in rural agricultural regions and refugees who suffer from poverty and geopolitical strife. Vulnerable communities around the globe are experiencing drastic impacts on their water resources due to the effects of climate change, and involving local residents in the development of solutions will lead to better success for improving health outcomes. Communities will be partners, rather than just participants.

Data Core

The Data Core will focus on curating and managing online information, building capacity and training our partners in Jordan, offering technical assistance to the Research Core, and facilitating collaboration with activities related to data collection, broad community engagement and policy advancement. This Core will provide data analysis, computational support and visualization to help the health research community make informed decisions about sustainability and model developments in the region.

Triton Leaders Conference
February 2024

Dr. Al-Delaimy participated in a panel forum moderated by Margaret Leinen, PhD, UC San Diego vice chancellor for marine sciences, dean of the School of Marine Sciences and director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The discussion centered around global and local health impacts of climate and air pollution. The well attended-event discussed how UC San Diego is leading the way in advancing the research on climate change health impacts locally, nationally and globally. Dr. Al-Delaimy described his ongoing projects on climate change in the Middle East and North Africa, including the GeoHealth Hub and the Global Climate Change Center. He also addressed questions from the audience about the challenges of climate change in terms of prevention, estimating the risks and protecting the most vulnerable in the population.

Advisory Group on Embedding Ethics in Health and Climate Change Policy
Prinicipal Investigator Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, was selected as one of 12 global experts, and the only one from the United States, to advise the World Health Organization on the ethics of health and climate change policies.

Read more about the role of this advisory group.

Jordan Site Visit
December 2023

The team in discussion with local well owner and famer on implementing the proposed water desalination unit.


Visit to the Zataary Syrian refugee camp solar energy station.