Dr. Shadi Saleh

Dr. Shadi Saleh is Founding Director of the Global Health Institute (GHI) at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the first such institute in the Middle East and North Africa region, and a Professor of Health Systems and Financing.

Previously, he served as an Associate Vice President for Health Affairs and as the Chairman of the Department of Health Management and Policy at AUB, and as a Professor of Health Systems at the State University of New York.

Dr. Saleh’s areas of expertise include evidence-based decision-making in health care organizations, health system strengthening and financing, and innovations in health and digital health adoption and evaluation. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and commissioned reports, including publications in The Lancet, the American Journal of Public Health, and Medical Care, among others.

Dr. Saleh served as an elected board member of the Consortium of Universities in Global Health. He is also Head of Delegation with the World Health Summit Academic Alliance.

Dr. Saleh also serves as a healthcare financing policy and health system strengthening advisor to the World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations on health care financing policy and system strengthening projects. He also supports healthcare leaders in navigating transformation, driving innovation, and optimally managing strategic and operational initiatives in increasingly complex environments.

Dr. Saleh is a recipient of the Velji Award for Global Health Leadership. In 2025, he was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust as one of five global thought leaders to reimagine the global health architecture.

Shadi Saleh holds a PhD in Health Policy (with a minor in Health Care Finance) from the University of Iowa and a Master of Public Health (Health Services Administration) and a Bachelor of Science from AUB.