Myriam Mrad
Co-Founder & Executive Directormyriam.mrad@hera-me.org
● Dr. Myriam Mrad is an environmental health expert, assistant professor, and chairperson of the Public
Health Department at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Balamand. Between 2008 and 2016,
she lectured and conducted research on the health impact of air pollution at the Faculty of Sciences at
Saint Joseph University and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).
Around that same time, Dr. Mrad led the Research and Development (R&D) unit at “arcenciel,” a
Lebanese non-governmental organization whose mission is to participate in the sustainable
development of society by supporting fragile groups and integrating marginalized persons. Her main
work related to infectious healthcare waste management, hazardous waste, and, more specifically,
cytotoxic waste management, and their impact on health and the environment. She oversaw the
medical and hazardous waste management training program for medical staff at Lebanese hospitals. She
has experience in several types of industries as a Health, Quality, Safety and Environment consultant.
● Her ongoing studies deal with the effects of ambient air pollution and indoor air pollution on
respiratory, cardiovascular, and skin allergic diseases in urban settings, especially in Beirut, Lebanon;
waste management in urban and rural settings; and healthcare waste management in Lebanon and
several Arab countries in the region. Recently, she was granted a World Health Organization (WHO) fund
to study environmental exposures in Lebanese infants. Dr. Mrad is collaborating with several national
and international institutions to evaluate the health effects of air pollution in Eastern Mediterranean
cities. Dr. Mrad is an active member of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE)’s
Eastern Mediterranean Chapter. Recently, she was elected Chair of the Eastern Mediterranean Chapter
for a period of two years.
● She has several international peer-reviewed articles and other publications on waste management and
environmental health. Dr. Mrad has also given many lectures and presentations at various national and
international scientific conferences. In regard to “GeoHealth Hub Climate Change and Health in the
Middle East and North Africa,” she will be leading, as a primary investigator, the Lebanese component of
the project.