Dr Wesam Mansour

Biography

Dr. Wesam Mansour is a health policy and systems researcher with a focus on health system and health workforce resilience, gender equity, and health justice in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS). Her expertise also extends to capacity strengthening and community engagement and involvement, in addition to her background in clinical medicine, healthcare management, service delivery, external evaluation systems and quality improvement. She employs qualitative research methods and participatory action research approaches to strengthen health systems and workforce resilience in crisis-affected contexts.

At LSTM, Dr. Mansour is a Co-Investigator in major research consortia, including ReBUILD for Resilience and the NIHR REACT Programme, where she leads research on health workforce, gender equity, governance, and health system strengthening. Her research has directly contributed to WHO Human Resources for Health policies, national workforce strategies, and local governance initiatives. She was also awarded the LSTM Director’s Catalyst Fund (DCF) in 2022, leading an independent study on workplace sexual harassment in the health sector in Lebanon.

Dr. Mansour also plays a key role as an Advisory Group Member of Health Systems Global (TWG FCAS) and serves as Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Health Planning and Management, shaping global health policy discourse.

Research interests

Health policy and systems research, health systems strengthening, health systems resilience, health workforce, gender, equity and justice, participatory action research

Teaching

Beyond research, Dr. Mansour actively engages in teaching, Master and PhD supervision, and capacity strengthening in health policy and systems research. She is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She holds the role of Module Convenor for the Organisation & Management of Health Services module in the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme at LSTM, where she contributes to curriculum development and delivers research-led teaching on strategic planning and quality assurance.

Selected research publications

Challenging gender norms through participatory action research: A cross-country study of women close-to-community healthcare providers in fragile settings – Journal: SSM – Health Systems – Published: 26th February 2026

Research capacity strengthening in fragile and shock-prone settings: Insights from a research consortium – Journal: SSM – Health Systems – Published: 14th February 2026

Navigating turbulence: analyzing the resilience of Lebanon’s healthcare system in a multi-crisis scenario – Journal: Health Research Policy and Systems – Published: 6th October 2025

Rethinking and advancing the movement of resistance, activism, and advocacy in health in four central arenas of the Middle East Region – Journal: World Medical and Health Policy – Published: 7th August 2024

From PERFORM to PERFORM2Scale: Lessons from scaling-up a health management strengthening intervention to support Universal Health Coverage in three African countries – Journal: Health Policy and Planning – Published: 9th July 2024

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