Cohort 
2017

Tala Al-Rousan, MD, MPH

Epidemiologist

We need a shift in the way we think, view and act about displacement to bold and long standing investments in public health research.

Current Work

Tala is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego and a Bernard Lown fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She is investigating how the stress resulting from war and displacement affects rates of dementia in a group of refugees in the Middle East.

Personal Hero

Nelson Mandela, King Hussein

Words of Strength

"Advocacy", "Networking", "Mentoring", "Motivational speaker"

Vision

Today, 1% of the world's population is forcibly displaced, and this number is expected to rise. Tala believes we need a shift in the way we think, view and act about displacement to bold and long standing investments in public health research.

Strategy

Tala is studying the impact of living in a refugee camp on cognitive function and trying to understand mental health risk factors. She hopes her work can inform policies and interventions to shed light on or prevent dementia in refugees.

Impact

Tala has had the privilege to interact with some of the most amazing leaders, mentors and fellows. Their dedication to health equity, lived experiences and wisdom have been instrumental in the way she envisions her contribution to science and advocacy.

Motivation

Tala focuses on studying the cognitive aging process of refugees. In her home country of Jordan, which hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world, displacement affects the cognitive function of refugees as well as vulnerable Jordanians.