SCEHSC Seminar Series with Wael Al-Delaimy, PhD

Guest Speaker: Wael Al-Delaimy, PhD

Title: The public health transition from the # 1 preventable risk factor to the # 1 non preventable risk factor

Date: February 3rd 2023

Dr. Al-Delaimy is a multidisciplinary epidemiologist focused on health of vulnerable populations locally and globally. Between 1991 and 1995 he practiced medicine in his native Iraq and then in Jordan before deciding to be dedicated to public health and finishing his PhD in epidemiology from Otago University in New Zealand in 2000. He was a Research Fellow and Research Associate at Harvard School of Public Health between 2000-2004, a scientist with the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2003, and a faculty member at UCSD since 2004 as an Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor. His global research activities are in non-communicable diseases, including mental health; climate change; tobacco; ethics and human rights; and refugee health. He is also involved in academic and research development in the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. His work involves the engagement of indigenous populations, refugees and immigrants, minorities, and populations in low and middle-income countries.

Global environmental health, and especially climate change, is a focus of Al-Delaimy where he leads two large NIH Fogarty International Center Programs: The Geohealth Hub on Climate Change Health Impacts in the Middle East and North Africa and the Global Center on Climate Change and Health-Energy-Food-Health Systems involves 11 universities and more than 75 faculty and researchers are developing evidence-based research solutions and capacity building to support solutions for adaptation to climate change health impacts. These programs funded by NIH makes Al-Delaimy a global leader in this area of work. He co-led the highly downloaded Springer Nature e-book Health of People, Health of Planet, and Our Responsibility (see websites tab for a link to the book), and he introduced Climate Change to Health Sciences as part of the UCSD Strategic Initiative in 2014 (see featured video tab) which led to the hiring of new faculty in this discipline and a focus of the UCSD Institute for Public Health, which later on became the school of public health.

Research on chronic diseases and health of refugees in San Diego and Jordan has been developed by Al-Delaimy and local and international collaborators with a focus on mental health, resiliency, and coping mechanisms, as well as capacity building and training among health care providers through the Global Mental Health Initiative (see website tab). His work provides new insight into cultural aspects of resilience and how mental illnesses can be prevented among high risk and vulnerable populations impacted by trauma, war, and climate change. He Leads the Concentration on Public Mental Health within the Masters of Public Health at UCSD.

He is the Director of the NIH Fogarty International Center Training Program, Director of the California American Indian Tobacco Initiative Evaluation, and Director of the HRSA-funded Community Health Workers Program for Advancing Public Health (see website tab for details about each program).