Abla Sibai, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut, has been appointed on the newly established World Health Organization (WHO) Science Council (April 2021). Abla will serve alongside renowned scientific leaders to provide strategic guidance to the WHO's actions in science, research and innovation and the latest advances in science and technology with a potential for direct or indirect impact on global health. The Council also prioritizes scientific issues that the WHO needs to address and advocates on the knowledge translation to public health impact in furtherance of WHO's mission.
Dr. Sibai work cuts across epidemiology, gerontology, and social demography. She has vast experience in researching health and social wellbeing of older people, with a focus on cardiovascular disease in context of wars and socio-political unrest in low- and middle-income countries.
Dr. Sibai is the Laureate of the 2020 L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for Africa and Arab-States. She is also the recipient of the Foundation of the State of Kuwait Prize for the Control of Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (2019) and the WHO Shousha Award for her 'significant contributions in the field of public health' in the region (2014). She is the co-founder of the AUB University for Seniors Program and the founding Director of the “Center for Studies on Aging" in Lebanon. She is a Board member of HelpAge International, UK and serves on the World Economic Forum - Global Future Council on Healthy Ageing and Longevity.
You can read more on the WHO Science Council here.