Aula Abbara

Dr. Aula Abbara is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London’s Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease, and a Consultant in Infectious Diseases/General Internal Medicine at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust. She teaches on the Global Health BSc course at Imperial College and the Tropical Medicine and International Health (TMIH) program at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Her research focuses on global and humanitarian health, including attacks on healthcare in conflict zones, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in conflict settings, and refugee healthcare workers. She leads major grants such as an MRC-funded Health Systems Research project on governance in Syria’s health system and an R2HC grant assessing the public health impact of attacks on healthcare. She also collaborates on AMR research in conflict-affected regions.

• Humanitarian Work: Co-chair of the Syria Public Health Network, which bridges academia, NGOs, and policymakers to address Syrian public health crises. Led SAMS Hellas’ refugee healthcare project in Greece (2016–2018), providing 30,000+ consultations and earning a Women in Global Health Award.
• Consulting Roles: Advised UN ESCWA, Lebanon Support, Primary Care International, and WHO on Syria’s health system resilience, refugee/migrant health competency standards, and pandemic response in northwest Syria during the 2020 pandemic.

Her awards include the 2020 Emerging Alumni Leaders Award from Imperial College and the Ebola Medal of Service (2015) for Ebola response work in Sierra Leone.

Grants & Leadership: MRC grant on health system governance in Syria, R2HC grant on healthcare attacks’ public health impact, and WHO advisory roles on health workforce migration ethics and competency standards for migrant/refugee health.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Lancet Commission on Syria and chairs Health Professionals for Global Health, advocating for equitable global health policies.