Ms Luma Bashmi

Luma Bashmi, MA is in her second year of doctoral candidacy in the Department of Psychiatry and Cambridge Public Health at the University of Cambridge. She is focusing on mental health and wellbeing among Syrian refugees in Lebanon by applying the IC-ADAPT framework, and looking more widely at mental health in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.

Luma is a lecturer in psychology in Bahrain, Fulbright Scholar, and the co-founder and director of a mental health support non-profit foundation in Lebanon, “Elaa Beirut”. Elaa Beirut was founded in response to the 2020 Beirut port explosion, socioeconomic crisis, and pandemic-related mental health and psychosocial distress. With an international network of 30 mental healthcare providers, the non-profit foundation provided over 200 therapy and training sessions to 44 individuals and NGOs. She was the former Chairperson of the Institutional Review Board and Head of Scientific Research & Development at King Hamad University Hospital (Bahrain).