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At the time of the QE Scholarship, Dima was a PhD student in the Health Policy PhD program at Â鶹ÊÓƵ University under the supervision of Dr. Meredith Vanstone. Dima explored individual health decisions of pregnant people during the COVID-19 pandemic, how decision-making may differ by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as the health outcomes associated with such decisions.

Prior to joining Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Dima worked for five years as a senior research assistant at the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon. Her research has appeared in several top tier journals across disciplines. Most of the research she contributed to aimed at identifying recommendations to reduce health inequalities, revising quality care, and improving patient satisfaction/safety.

Dima holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition from the Lebanese American University, Lebanon. Dima also holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom, where she graduated with commendation, and ranked 2nd overall in her class. As part of her Master’s program, Dima did a student placement at Nottingham City Council where she supported with the development of a Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Health Needs Assessment, which was developed to identify the needs of Nottingham’s BME populations, identify a range of recommendations to tackle health inequalities and to improve the health and wellbeing for Nottingham’s BME populations. Dima’s work was used to inform the strategy development and commissioning decisions.

Dima is a recipient of a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship in Strengthening Health and Social Systems. She aimed to maximize her experience at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ to enrich her understanding of the factors that influence evidence-informed policy making which will allow her to make deeper and stronger contributions to the field.