Dr Taghreed El Hajj

Post-doctoral Research Associate

Taghreed is a public health professional and an early career researcher. She holds a PhD degree in Sociology from the University of Leicester and a Master degree of Public Health, with a focus on health promotion and community health, from the American University of Beirut. Her doctorate research focused on understanding the social risks of sexual behaviour among university students in Beirut and investigating the strategies they utilise to manage these risks. She draws on more than twelve years of research and programmatic experience. Before she joined LSTM in January 2018, Taghreed worked as a freelance consultant with Watipa Community Interest Company on sexual health issues relating to HIV, stigma and discrimination, gender and sexuality. She also worked as an ‘HIV officer on stigma’ at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in London on sexual health and HIV-related issues, between Oct 2011 and Nov 2015. Before that, she worked in academia for more than six years as a ‘Research Assistant’ and a ‘Senior Research Assistant’ at the American University of Beirut, department of Health Promotion and Community Health.

Her research interests revolve around sociological and public health related issues in terms of health promotion, disease/illness prevention and policy change. More specifically, she is interested in sexual and reproductive health research; social and health risks (including risk behaviours); gender-related issues; youth mental health; as well as research capacity strengthening.

Taghreed is a member of the Early Career Researchers group at LSTM.

She is also a member of the ‘Reproductive Health Working Group’, a multidisciplinary capacity-building network, focusing on women’s health-related research in the Arab countries and Turkey.

Selected publications

    • El Hajj, T., Gregorius, S., Pulford, J., & Bates, I. (2020). Strengthening capacity for natural sciences research: A qualitative assessment to identify good practices, capacity gaps and investment priorities in African research institutions. PloS one15(1), e0228261. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228261
    • Nakkash, R., Torossian, L., El Hajj, T., Khalil, J., & Afifi, R. (2018). The passage of tobacco control law 174 in Lebanon: reflections on the problem, policies, and politics. Health policy and planning, 33 (5), 633–644. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czy023
    • El Hajj, T. (2016). The social risks of premarital sex among university students in Beirut: strategies and negotiations (Doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology). http://hdl.handle.net/2381/38038