GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Welcome to the GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the MENA region. This program is an international consortium focused on the health impacts of climate change.
Funded by the National Institutes for Health, this program is one of seven Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) hubs dedicated to high priority health research, data management, curriculum and material development, training activities, and policy support. Efforts of the GeoHealth hub in the Middle East and North Africa are concentrated in areas where some of the most vulnerable populations live. The project aims to better understand and address human health impacts of climate change through two complementary approaches: research and training. Interdisciplinary partners include university researchers from the United States, Jordan, Morocco and Lebanon, as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization’s Regional Centre for Environmental Health Action.
Upcoming Conference
Building on the success of the inaugural conference, the second conference on Climate Change and Health in the Arab Region (CCHAR-II) will be held Aug. 25-26, 2026 in Amman, Jordan under the theme “Policy Translation and Implementation.” The conference aims to move beyond evidence generation toward actionable solutions, focusing on translating climate-health research into effective policies, programs and on-the-ground implementation across the Arab region.
Our Team
Jordan
Fayez Abdullah, PhD
Overall Co-Lead Principal Investigator
Professor and Director of the Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology (QRACEST), Department of Civil Engineering
Jordan University of Science and Technology
United States
Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD
Overall Co-Lead Principal Investigator
Professor, UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science
Marc Weisskopf, PhD
Consortium Principal Investigator
Professor, Harvard University, T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Justin Remais, PhD
Consortium Principal Investigator
Professor and Chair of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
Morocco
Kenza Khomsi, PhD
Consortium and Country Principal Investigator
Affiliated Associate Professor
Mohammed VI University for Health Sciences
Lebanon
Myriam Mrad, PhD
Consortium and Country Principal Investigator
Associate Professor, University of Balamand
GeoHub Partners
Middle East and North Africa
Jordan University of Science and Technology
University of Balamand
Mohammed VI University for Health Sciences
WHO Regional Centre for Environmental Health Action
United States
University of California San Diego
University of California Berkeley
Harvard University
Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Cancer Institute
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
News and Events
PRIM&R Service Award Recipient
Principal Investigator Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, was awarded the 2025 PRIM&R Service Award, honoring his exceptional leadership, mentorship and pioneering contributions to bioethics, research integrity and public health. Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the highest ethical standards in research since 1974.
Wael Al-Delaimy, MD, PhD, (center) received the 2025 PRIM&R Service Award during a presentation with PRIM&R Executive Director Ivy R. Tillman, EdD, CIP, (right) and PRIM&R Board Chair Gianna McMillan, MA, DBe (left). The presentation took place at PRIM&Rʼs annual conference in Baltimore.
Scientific Awareness Day
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Awareness lectures for parents and teachers on environmental impacts and ways to enhance children’s cognitive abilities.
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A specialized lecture about the improvement of the mental health and cognition for the schoolchildren, was held by Dr. Fedaa Al-Momani.
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A specialized lecture on the influence of the built environment on mental health and cognition was held by Arch. Emad Hailat.
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Each class had a workshop with activities to enhance schoolchildren's cognitive abilities, held by JUST students.
The awareness day was a significant step toward addressing the challenges revealed by our research and promoting solutions to improve the cognitive well-being of affected children.
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 Center on Climate Change. 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.
Research and Publications
Primary climate relevant areas of focus include heat waves, precipitation and water quality, air pollution, and desert dust pollution.
Training
The goal of this component is to build individual and institutional capacity. This is achieved through the addition of tracks in environmental health to existing masters and doctoral programs, mentored one-on-one research training, summer courses, workshops, United States visits and virtual webinars.
Graduate students from Jordan, Morocco or Lebanon interested in participating may inquire by emailing Elham.Walid90@gmail.com. Please include a resume, two references and a one-page description of your idea and why you want to be involved.
Testimonials
Jowy Abi Hanna, a student at the University of Balamand in Lebanon, discusses the experience with the GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the MENA region.
Ihssane El Marouani, student at the Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, provides a testimonial of the experience with the GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the MENA region.
Yazan Al-Wadi, a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses the experience with the GeoHealth Hub on Climate Change and Health in the MENA region while he was doing his M.Sc. at Jordan University of Science and Technology in Jordan.
Past Events
Geo Hub for Climate and Health in the MENA 2022-2023 Webinar Series
December 20, 2023
Water Pollution by Nitrate
Mutawakil Obeidat, PhD, Professor on Hydrochemistry and Isotope Hydrology, Faculty Member and Head of Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities at Jordan University of Science and Technology
November 20, 2023
Climate Impacts on Food System Destabilization and the Consequential Impacts on Human Nutrition
Christopher Golden, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Planetary Health, Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
October 25, 2023
Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health in View of Climate Crisis
Ziad Al-Ghazawi, PhD, Faculty Member, Civil Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and Technology
September 23, 2023
Setting Climate Change and Health Research Priorities in MENA Geohub Countries
Mazen Malkawi, MSc, Advisor on Environmental Health Exposure at World Health Organization (WHO), Jordan
July 26, 2023
Communicating Climate Change Information to Policy Makers and the Public with Dashboards and StoryMaps
Jessica Saliba, PhD, Assistant Professor, Public Health Department, University of Balamand (UoB), Lebanon
April 27, 2023
Smoking Research: Paving the Way for Policy-Making
Jessica Saliba, PhD, Assistant Professor, Public Health Department, University of Balamand
March 22, 2023
Conducting Public Health Research in a Limited Resource Setting: Challenges and Opportunities
Myriam Mrad, PhD, Chair, Public Health Department, University of Balamand
February 8, 2023
Environmental Health in Action: Building Resilience to Extreme Heat: Strategies for Adapting to a Warming World
Greg Wellenius, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health, Director of the BUSPH Center for Climate and Health, Boston University
Contacts
United States universities contact
Debbie Loomis, D1Loomis@health.ucsd.edu
MENA universities contact
Hindya Maqableh, HindyaMaqableh94@gmail.com
GeoHealth on Social Media
Instagram: @geohubmena
X: @GEOHubMENA