Community Engagement in Global Health Research: Eastern Mediterranean Region
Date: 29–30 September 2026
Join this two-day virtual training to explore practical approaches to community engagement in health research across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Participants will learn how to build meaningful partnerships with communities in culturally diverse, humanitarian, and resource-limited settings through real-world examples and interactive learning.
Training Programme
Day 1 – 29 September 2026
- Introduction to Community Engagement in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Community Engagement Across the Research Cycle — Reem El Sayed
- Approaches to Community Engagement in Health Research — Fouad M. Fouad
Day 2 – 30 September 2026
- Case Studies from Countries and Organisations in the Eastern Mediterranean Region — Marina Sous
- Ethics in Community Engagement — Aisha Abdullah Ghori
- Monitoring and Evaluation of Community Engagement Activities — Sarah Al Kandari
A certificate of participation will be awarded to participants who complete the full two-day training.
Speaker Bios
Reem El Sayed
DPhil Researcher in Translational Health Sciences, University of Oxford
Reem El Sayed is a pharmacist and global health specialist with more than six years of experience in health policy research and health systems strengthening. She is currently pursuing a DPhil in Translational Health Sciences at the University of Oxford as a Sean Johnson Memorial Scholar. She also serves as the North Africa and Diaspora Regional Lead on the AfOx Alumni Steering Committee (2025–2027), where she contributes to strategic planning, alumni engagement, and regional collaboration.
Reem holds an MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine from the University of Oxford, supported by the AfOx–Mastercard Foundation Scholarship (2024–2025). She also holds an MA in Development Studies from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, funded by the MRF Scholarship.
Previously, Reem worked with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO EMRO), where she led a scoping review on climate-resilient health facilities across 22 countries. She also spent four years supporting universal health coverage reforms in Egypt, with a focus on health policy, research, and health service management.
Reem represented North Africa on the Africa CDC Youth Advisory Team for Health, contributing to the development of youth-led strategies and advising on the continental strategy for youth engagement in health.
Fouad M. Fouad
Professor of Social Sciences and Global Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Fouad M. Fouad is Professor of Social Sciences and Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Beirut. His research focuses on migration and health, with particular interests in multidisciplinary approaches to forced displacement, health systems in humanitarian settings, and the political economy of health in protracted crises.
He was a member of the 2018 University College London–The Lancet Commission on Migration and Health and currently serves as a member of the The Lancet Commission on Health, Conflict and Forced Displacement (2026).
Dr Marina Sous
Director of the Population Health Unit, Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation
Dr Marina Sous is Director of the Population Health Unit and a member of the senior management team at the Research and Innovation Centre of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation in Egypt. She leads the Ballana Heart Study, the first longitudinal cohort study of cardiovascular disease in Egypt.
She holds a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University and has extensive experience in population health and community engagement, with a particular focus on translating research findings into sustainable improvements in health outcomes.
Dr Sous also represents Egypt in the global May Measurement Month campaign, which raises awareness of hypertension and promotes blood pressure screening.
Dr Aisha Abdullah Ghori
Public Health and Implementation Science Specialist
Dr Aisha Abdullah Ghori is a public health and implementation science specialist from Somalia with experience in community health, maternal and child health, immunisation, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and neglected tropical diseases.
She recently completed a Master of Public Health in Implementation Science at IIHMR University, India.
Her work focuses on community engagement, implementation research, health systems strengthening, and evidence-informed policymaking to improve health outcomes in fragile and humanitarian settings.
Sarah Al Kandari
DPhil Researcher in Global Health, University of Oxford
Sarah Al Kandari is an early-career DPhil researcher in Global Health at the University of Oxford. Her academic background combines laboratory sciences with health policy.
Her current research examines health systems development in the Middle East as a reflection of broader trends across the Global South. She explores how external knowledge is adapted, how historical power dynamics shape health systems, and the implications for strengthening local capacity.
Sarah is committed to advancing equitable international partnerships. She leads the development of the Oxford Summer Academy on the Social Sciences of Health Innovation and contributes to building strategic partnerships with the Gates Foundation and institutions across the Middle East.