Abla Mehio SibaiDean of Faculty of Health Sciences at AUB and Winner of the 2020 L’Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science Award for Africa and the Arab States

Abla Mehio Sibai is Professor of Epidemiology and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut (AUB). She is the co-founder of the AUB University for Seniors  program (Jamia’t Al Kibar جامعة الكبار) and the founding Director of the Center for Studies on Ageing, Lebanon. She is also a Board Member of HelpAge International, UK, serves on the WHO Science Council and is a member of the World Economic Forum - Global Future Council on Healthy Ageing and Longevity. She sits on the Board of several NGOs in Lebanon, including Ajialouna and Dar Al Ajaza.

Abla 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. Her interest and passion to the study of ageing dates back to 1990s when she wrote the first national report on Ageing for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Lebanon. Her work and collaborations extend to the region and globally;  she spearheaded the three mapping reviews of policies and programs on Ageing in the Arab region (in 2007, 2012 and 2017) and co-led the development of the ‘National Strategy for Older Persons’ in Lebanon (2020-30), for the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs. In her words, “my  research journey is still expanding and unfolding, with each day bringing a new joy and a new collaboration’.

Abla is the Laureate of the 2020 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for Africa and Arab-States and is the recipient of the Foundation of the State of Kuwait Prize for the Control of Cardiovascular Diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (2019).

Abla has a BSc in Pharmacy and a PhD in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.