Diana Rayes, PhD, MHS

Postdoctoral Associate in the Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service 

Diana Rayes conducts research on global mental health, with a focus on refugee and migrant populations. Her dissertation explored mental health service utilization among Arabic-speaking refugees in Sweden, providing critical insights into the challenges of accessing care in these settings.

Her research contributes to understanding how health systems and policies can better support refugee mental health, with a focus on the impact of conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises on global mental health, particularly for refugees and migrants. 

Diana’s work has been published in leading journals such as The Lancet, Journal of Migration and Health, and Conflict and Health, and her research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Scandinavian Foundation, and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Her publications also extend to think tanks, including the Newlines Institute and the Migration Policy Institute. 

In addition to her academic contributions, Diana chairs the Syria Public Health Network, leading research and policy dissemination on the public health impact of the Syrian crisis. Her professional background includes affiliations with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, the World Health Organization, the Syrian American Medical Society, and the Lancet Commission on Syria. She also consults for UNICEF's Mental Health Leadership team, supporting global initiatives to scale up mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for children and adolescents.

Diana holds a B.S. in Psychology from Arizona State University and both an M.H.S. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was a Fulbright fellow in Berlin, Germany, and has been recognized by New America as a Middle Eastern and North African American National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader.

Featured Publications: 

• “Actually, the psychological wounds are more difficult than physical injuries:” a qualitative analysis of the impacts of attacks on health on the personal and professional lives of health workers in the Syrian conflict  in Conflict and health,

• Ukrainian Refugees in Turkey: Displacement Impact on Mental Health in Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. 

• Faith-based coping among Arabic-speaking refugees seeking mental health services in Berlin, Germany: an exploratory qualitative study  in Frontiers in psychiatry