A pediatrician, public health expert, and director of the Palestinian Happy Child Center, Dr. Jumana Odeh is an acknowledged health leader in the Palestinian Occupied Territory. Odeh began her medical service to the Palestinian people in 1981 as a hospital pediatrician at Augusta Victoria Hospital – Jerusalem and as a project manager volunteer for Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, followed by a stint as a team leader at Caritas Baby Hospital – Bethlehem. She has worked with UNICEF, participating in their national programming to improve the quality of medical care given to Palestinian children, and held a series of consultancies with Save the Children/USA, Swiss Development Cooperation, Australian Red Cross, OXFAM, Norwegian People’s Aid and International Development Research Center/Canada. In 2000, she joined the faculty of Medical School – Al Quds University. Between 2001 and 2004 she was a senior child health advisor for MARAM, a health project funded by USAID. Since 2004 she has been a child health advisor to the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health – UK. She was a founding member and served as president of UPMRC, PHCC & Physicians for Human Rights/Palestine. She has participated as an expert at more than 100 international workshops, conferences and in numerous evidence-based studies. She is a frequent writer for the IHT, Ha’aretz, and has appeared as a health expert on Al-Jazeera, Abu Dhabi TV, CNN, BBC and Ted Koppel’s “Nightline.” Odeh was the 2008 winner of the prestigious World of Children’s “Nobel Prize for Children” award.
