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Hassan Fawal Professor

Director's Message

  1. Academics
  2. Departments
  3. Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology
  4. Director's Message

Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology (I-GHHE) was founded in 2018 on a foundation of disciplinary and human diversity, equity and inclusion. This was predicated on the pragmatism that health is not the unique purview of a single discipline or profession, nor is human ecology, the interplay between human activity and diverse ecosystems, the mandate of a single entity. Unlike a department within a school with a disciplinary focus, regardless of sub-disciplines, the Institute was established with the vision of empowering transdisciplinary intra- and inter-institutional collaboration towards sustainable solutions to the challenges confronting contemporary societies in health and sustainability.

Espousing a philosophy of implementation sciences, it capitalizes on talents and resources across The American University in Cairo (AUC), such as the Biomedical Sciences, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, and Engineering within the School of Sciences and Engineering (SSE), the community insights of the Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the economic and entrepreneurial expertise of the School of Business, and the practical know-how of public policy and administration in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. 

Facilitating the Institute’s world-class educational and research mission in Global Health, Sustainability, and research on several interrelated UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the challenges of climate change, the Institute houses the state-of-the-art Biomarkers, Environmental Assessment of Risks and Toxics on Health (EARTH) and Central Neuromics and Sequencing (CNS) Laboratories, as well as the community-engaging Center for Applied Research on the Environment and Sustainability (CARES). I-GHHE seeks to foster a holistic approach to education that allows for innovation, cultivation, harvesting and dissemination of diverse expertise and seeding solutions for future generations.   

The central I-GHHE ethos is one of community engagement and implementation

“from the university to the community”

Hassan El-Fawal
Professor, Director and Chair
Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology