Â鶹ÊÓƵ

At the time of the QE Scholarship, Amal was a graduate student in the Master of Science Global Health program at Â鶹ÊÓƵ University, with a specialization in Implementing Innovations on a Global Scale completed at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science with Life Sciences from the University of Windsor. As a Canadian and, more significantly, as a Jordanian-Lebanese, Amal spent her summers in Jordan and Lebanon. She realized the effects of post-war Lebanon extended beyond physical casualties. Instead, structural violence, such as limited healthcare, food, clean water, and jobs, constrained the country's recovery path. In particular, refugees face substantial barriers when it comes to healthcare access, barriers as a result of sociocultural and political issues.

As an outbound Queen Elizabeth Scholar in Strengthening Health Systems, Amal travelled to Beirut, Lebanon, to work with the Knowledge to Policy Centre (K2P) at the American University of Beirut. Amal was interested in refugee health, exploring how policies affect healthcare access for migrant populations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, focusing on Lebanon. She hoped to explore areas of collaboration and improvements to strengthen Lebanon's health system. During her internship, Amal hoped to gain greater insight into initiatives that improve the quality of healthcare access and delivery by bridging the gap between research, policy, and politics for evidence-informed policymaking.