Dr Ekzayez is a Health System Expert at the Centre for Conflict and Health Research at King's College London. He is a Co-Investigator of an NIHR funded project, Research for Health System Strengthening in Northern Syria (R4HSSS). His prior experience includes various academic and consultancy roles with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, American University of Beirut, Chatham House, Chemonics International, and Integrity Global. He has also led major humanitarian health programmes for Save the Children International and Expertise France, with involvement in polio eradication programmes, Primary Health Care, health information systems and health governance initiatives. He specialises in Health Systems Strengthening, Humanitarian Health, Health Security, Epidemiology, the public health impacts of conflict and building health research capacity in conflict settings. His medical background includes clinical experience in neurosurgery, gleaned from his medical training program between 2010 and 2013 and his work in field hospitals providing war-related trauma care in Northwest Syria.

Dr Ekzayez has authored over 30 academic journal articles and contributed to four chapter books on topics related to health and conflict. He is the General Secretary of the Syrian British Medical Society, Deputy Chair of the Syria Public Health Network, Board Member of the Syrian British Consortium, Trustee at Shafak Syria and Amna (Refugee Healing Network). He was awarded his MD from Aleppo University and his MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and his PhD on health systems and conflict at King's College London.

Research

• Conflict and health
• Health Systems Strengthening in conflict settings
• Violence against healthcare in conflict settings
• Health governance
• Research capacity strengthening
• Humanitarian response and aid system.

Publications

Jabbour S, Abbara A, Ekzayez A, Fouad FM, Katoub M, Nasser R. (2023) The catastrophic response to the earthquake in Syria: the need for corrective actions and accountability. Lancet. Mar 11 ;401(10379):802–5. Available from: http://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140673623004403/fulltext

Ekzayez, A. (2021). Attacks on healthcare in the Syrian conflict: Drawing lessons from Syria to improve global reporting systems. London: Chatham House. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/11/attacks-healthcare-syrian-conflict.

Ekzayez, A., Alhaj Ahmad, Y., Alhaleb, H., & Checchi, F. (2021). The impact of armed conflict on utilisation of health services in north-west Syria: an observational study. Conflict and health, 15(1), [91]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-021-00429-7

Ekzayez, A., Olabi, A., Douedari, Y., et al. (2021). Health research in the Syrian conflict: opportunities for equitable and multidisciplinary collaboration. Journal Of Public Health. http://doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdab160

Abbara, A., & Ekzayez, A. (2021). Healthcare leadership in Syria during armed conflict and the pandemic. BMJ Global Health, 6(5), e005697. http://doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005697

Ekzayez, A., & Sabouni, A. (2020). Targeting Healthcare in Syria. Journal Of Humanitarian Affairs, 2(2), 3-12. http://doi:10.7227/jha.038

Ekzayez, A., al-Khalil, M., Jasiem, M., Al Saleh, R., Alzoubi, Z., Meagher, K., & Patel, P. (2020). COVID-19 response in northwest Syria: innovation and community engagement in a complex conflict. Journal of Public Health, 42(3), 504–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdaa068

Ekzayez, Abdulkarim. 2020. "Partnerships With Local Organisations Are Vital For Conducting Health Research In Syria—Personal Reflections". Journal Of International Humanitarian Action 5 (1). http://doi:10.1186/s41018-020-00079-z

Meagher, K., Patel, P., El Achi, N., Ekzayez, A., Sullivan, R., & Bowsher, G. (2020). “Having more women humanitarian leaders will help transform the humanitarian system”: challenges and opportunities for women leaders in conflict and humanitarian health. Conflict and health, 14(1), [84]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-020-00330-9

Abbara, A., Ekzayez, A., Tarakji, A., Khalil, M., & Sullivan, R. (2020). Sanctions on Syria. The Lancet Global Health, 8(11), [e1369]. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30363-6

El Achi, N., Honein-Abouhaidar, G., Rizk, A., Kobeissi, E., Papamichail, A., Meagher, K., Ekzayez, A., Abu-Sittah, G. S., & Patel, P. (2020). Assessing the capacity for conflict and health research in Lebanon: A qualitative study. Conflict and health, 14(1), [59]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-020-00304-x

Aggarwal A, Patel P, Lewison G, Ekzayez A, Coutts A, Fouad FM et al. The Profile of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Analyzing the NCD burden, research outputs and international research collaboration. PLoS ONE. 2020 Apr 1;15(4). e0232077. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232077

Ekzayez, A., Flecknoe, D., Lillywhite, L., Patel, P., Papamichail, A., Elbahtimy, H. (2019). The public health impact of chemical weapons: current knowledge and critical gaps. In progress of publication in a special supplement of the International Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdz145

El Achi, N., Papamichail, A., Rizk, A., Lindsay, H., Menassa, M., Abdul-Khalek, R., Ekzayez, A., Dewachi, O., Patel, P., . A conceptual framework for capacity strengthening of health research in conflict: the case of the Middle East and North Africa region. Global Health 15, 81 (2019) http://doi:10.1186/s12992-019-0525-3

Bowsher, G., Papamichail, A., El Achi, N., Ekzayez, A., Roberts, B., Sullivan, R., & Patel, P. (2019). A narrative review of health research capacity strengthening in low and middle-income countries: lessons for conflict-affected areas. Globalization and health, 15(1), 23. http://doi:10.1186/s12992-019-0465-y

Duclos, D., Ekzayez, A., Ghaddar, F., Checchi, F., & Blanchet, K. (2019). Localisation and cross-border assistance to deliver humanitarian health services in North-West Syria: A qualitative inquiry for the Lancet-AUB Commission on Syria. Conflict and Health, 13(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-019-0207-z

Diggle, E., Welsch, W., Sullivan, R., Alkema, G., Warsame, A., Wafai, M., Jasem, M., Ekzayez, A., Cummings, R. and Patel, P. (2017). The role of public health information in assistance to populations living in opposition and contested areas of Syria, 2012–2014. Conflict and Health, 11(1).

Teaching

• Conflict and Health module at KCL.

Further details

See Abdulkarim's research profile