The Health & Environment Exchange (HEX) is a new student-driven initiative launched by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE)’s Eastern Mediterranean Chapter. Through an alternating series of workshops and journal club meetings, HEX aims to strengthen research literacy, critical appraisal skills, and scientific communication among students and early-career researchers. HEX creates a collaborative, student-centered space for learning how to read, interpret, and critique environmental epidemiology research, with a focus on the unique environmental health challenges of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR).

HEX’s specific objectives are to:

• Enhance students’ ability to read, interpret, and critically appraise environmental epidemiology research, with emphasis on EMR-relevant topics
• Build practical methodological skills that introduce students to emerging analytical approaches and techniques in environmental epidemiology
• Strengthen research communication skills, including policy translation, data visualization, and presentation of scientific critiques
• Create a regional community of learners which regularly meets to exchange ideas, discuss evidence, and collaborate across countries and institutions

Target Audience

HEX is designed primarily for, but not restricted to:

• Undergraduate and graduate students (Master's, MPH, and doctoral candidates) in environmental epidemiology, environmental health, public health, and related disciplines, based in EMR institutions.
• Early-career researchers and postdoctoral fellows within five years of their terminal degree.
• Medical and public health residents with research interests in environmental determinants of health.
• Regional faculty mentors and researchers, who are encouraged to attend and contribute as discussants and speakers.

Pedagogical Approach

HEX is built around adult-learning principles and a competency-based progression rather than a passive lecture series. Each workshop introduces a concept or skill, and the journal club meeting that follows applies it to a published paper. Each cycle, therefore, moves participants from knowing about a subject to knowing how to discuss it and critique it. The sessions favor active engagement. Critical-appraisal frameworks are introduced progressively, so participants accumulate a working toolkit, and every session is regionally grounded through its choice of readings, speakers, and policy contexts.

Program Structure

In its first edition, HEX will consist of an alternating sequence of 6 workshops and 6 journal club sessions. Each session focuses on key competencies in environmental epidemiology while grounding discussions in the environmental health realities of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. 

Session A1: Workshop

Theme:

How To Read an Environmental Epidemiology Paper

Objectives: 

1. Define the scope of environmental epidemiology and how it differs from adjacent disciplines
2. Identify the structural components of an empirical paper (IMRaD) and the role of each
3. Locate the study question, design, exposure, outcome, and key analytic choices within a paper.
4. Apply a simple checklist to deconstruct a paper from start to finish

Presenter: Emile Whaibeh

September 17, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A2: Journal Club

Theme:

How To Read an Environmental Epidemiology Paper

Discussant: Hira Tariq

October 1, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Session A3: Workshop

Theme:

How to Approach Review Articles in Environmental Epidemiology? 

Objectives: 

1. Distinguish between narrative, scoping, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses
2. Describe how review articles synthesize evidence and where each type is appropriate
3. Evaluate the transparency and reproducibility of a review (PRISMA, PROSPERO, search strategies)
4. Recognize common biases in evidence synthesis (publication, selection, language)

Presenter: Sarah Yozzo

October 15, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A4: Journal Club

Theme:

How to Approach Review Articles in Environmental Epidemiology? 

Discussant: Aziza Menouni

October 29, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Session A5: Workshop

Theme:

Qualitative Research Methods in Environmental Epidemiology 

Objectives: 

1. Appreciate the role of qualitative approaches
2. Learn about considerations for the design and implementation of qualitative studies
3. Integrate qualitative and quantitative data

Presenter: Kali Rubaii

November 12, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A6: Journal Club

Theme:

Qualitative Research Methods in Environmental Epidemiology 

Discussant: Tamara Bou Ghader

November 26, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Session A7: Workshop

Theme:

How to Apply Machine Learning in Environmental Epidemiology 

Objectives: 

1. Introduce core machine learning concepts (supervised vs unsupervised, training/validation/test/overfitting)
2. Survey algorithms most used in environmental epidemiology (random forests, gradient boosting, neural networks)
3. Discuss strengths and limitations of ML relative to traditional regression-based approaches
4. Connect ML applications to EMR-relevant problems (exposure prediction, hotspot detection, climate-health forecasting)

Presenter: Anass Houdou

December 10, 2026

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A8: Journal Club

Theme:

How to Apply Machine Learning in Environmental Epidemiology 

Discussant: Ghada Balaw

January 7, 2027

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Session A9: Workshop

Theme:

How to Spot Common Pitfalls in Data Visualization  

Objectives: 

1. To recognize pitfalls in data visualization
2. Learn to read tables critically
3. Learn tips to improve your own visualization skills

Presenter: Amira Aker

January 21, 2027

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A10: Journal Club

Them:

How to Spot Common Pitfalls in Data Visualization  

Discussant: Emile Whaibeh

February 4, 2027

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Session A11: Workshop

Theme:

How to Translate Research into Policy and Public Communication  

Objectives: 

1. Define knowledge translation and the evidence-to-policy pathway in environmental health
2.  Introduce the elements of a policy brief
3. Introduce how to adapt scientific findings for non-expert audiences (policy briefs, infographics, etc.)

Presenter: Elie Matta

February 18, 2027

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC

Session A12: Journal Club

Theme:

How to Translate Research into Policy and Public Communication

Discussant: Sarah Yozzo

March 4, 2027

6:00 PM Beirut Time/3 PM UTC 

Learn, Critique, Connect: Register for the Health & Environment Exchange

The Eastern Mediterranean Region Chapter established was during the 2016 Annual Conference in Rome. The chapter is inclusive of the 21 member countries of the WHO designated Eastern Mediterranean Region (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen). ISEE is interested in expanding the reach to epidemiologists in these countries and actively recruiting any potential member from these 21 countries. Visit the Eastern Mediterranean Chapter website.