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.
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.
Education & Experience
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.
Awards & Honors
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.
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