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.
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.
Nelson Mandela, King Hussein
"Advocacy", "Networking", "Mentoring", "Motivational speaker"
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tala Al-Rousan received her medical degree from Cairo University, Egypt and her master’s degree in public health from the University of Iowa, USA. Her postdoctoral training included a global health fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an HIV disparities fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. After completing her training, she joined the faculty at the new Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity at the University of California San Diego as an Assistant Professor.
Tala is a recipient of two awards from the Aging section of the American Public Health Association as well as the prestigious National Institute of Health K23 Mentored Patient-oriented Research Career Development Award.
Tala
a Note