Shereen El Feki has more than two decades of experience in advancing social and behavioral change in challenging political and cultural contexts, with a focus on global public health, HIV, sexualities and gender equality.

Shereen is the former Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa at UNAIDS, leading the HIV response across 19 countries in the region. Shereen joined UNAIDS from Promundo (now Equimundo), where she served as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. Under the aegis of UN Women, she spearheaded innovative work on men and masculinities, including the International Men and Gender Equality Survey in seven countries across the region.

Shereen is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, and a member of its Commission for Universal Health, as well as the former Vice-Chair of the UN’s Global Commission on HIV and the Law.

In addition to her programmatic experience, Shereen is a prominent advocate for culturally-attuned approaches to global health, through her book Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World, as well as documentaries, TED talks and other media, building on her experience as a healthcare journalist with The Economist and Al Jazeera.

Shereen started her career in biomedicine with a BSc from the University of Toronto and an MPhil and PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Cambridge. She is Egyptian, Canadian, and British, and speaks English, French and Arabic.

Having grown up in Waterloo, Shereen is delighted to return to her roots, and contribute to the ground-breaking work of BSIA.