September 23, 2026 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
The Fulbright Program has selected health services policy and management (HSPM) associate professor Nabil Natafgi to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a special project during the upcoming academic year. Selection as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar recognizes academic and professional achievement while providing scholars the opportunity to advance research, exchange knowledge and build lasting international partnerships. By investigating the changes experienced by the UAE over the past 20 years, Natafgi’s research will generate data to help inform health policy and strengthen the country’s capacity to provide patient-centered care through its existing health systems.
“The UAE has undergone profound demographic and epidemiological transitions over the past two decades,” Natafgi says. “While life expectancy has increased and healthcare infrastructure has expanded, the country continues to navigate important public health priorities, including the burden of chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity, healthcare costs, and ensuring access to high-quality care across its diverse population.”
The project has two major components. Natafgi will analyze four waves of the Dubai Household Health Survey to examine changes in chronic disease, healthcare utilization, financial protection and patient experience. He will also establish the Population Engagement for Action, Research, and Learning (PEARL) Studio at the University of Sharjah, modeled after USC’s Patient Engagement Studio, where he serves as scientific director. PEARL will create a platform for patients, caregivers and community members to contribute their lived experiences and perspectives to health services research.
Natafgi will be hosted by the University of Sharjah’s Center of Excellence for Public Health, led by assistant professor of public health-health policy and management Wafa Alnakhi. The Center brings together interdisciplinary researchers working across public health, health systems and policy, epidemiology, health economics and other areas to advance research that informs policy and practice in the UAE and the region.
The project builds on partnerships Natafgi has already established with researchers, public officials and health systems leaders in the UAE, including relationships strengthened through previous Executive MHA study visits to the country. He hopes this Fulbright Award will further establish opportunities for student engagement and exchange between USC and partners in the UAE.
“Dr. Natafgi’s successful completion of the project will lead to both immediate policy impacts for stakeholders in the UAE, as well as opportunities for ongoing U.S.-UAE research collaboration and academic partnerships,” says HSPM chair Brad Wright. “More broadly, this will add to the evidence base of best practices for establishing patient engagement studios at other institutions globally.”
“The UAE offers a unique setting for my project while also serving as an ideal partner for linking population-level data to live patient experiences,” Natafgi says. “I am looking forward to leveraging my relationships with established collaborators, the emirate’s data-rich environment, and its multicultural health system to generate findings relevant to not only the UAE but to the broader Gulf and Global South.”
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program. In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.