About aahna
About AAHNA
AAHNA (Arab American Health Network Alliance) includes patients, clinicians, researchers, and community organizations. AAHNA was started by Dr. Nadia Abuelezam whose extensive work and research with the Arab American community consistently highlighted the lack of proper engagement that the health research sector has with the Arab American population.
Through AAHNA, Arab American patients contribute to the development of priorities and a research engagement guide for clinical effectiveness research. AAHNA’s core value directly addresses the current need for engagement with patients in this vulnerable group and advances research in this area equitably and in an empowering way to the community.
It also allows Arab American patients, who are normally invisible in the systems they utilize, to have a voice and feel empowered to be seen and heard. AAHNA utilizes the strength of the project leadership, stakeholders, and environments to contribute to its important engagement work and advance the Arab American health research agenda.
AAHNA’s Mission
AAHNA seeks to address the lack of engagement with the Arab American population by jointly developing a set of national research priorities on Arab American health with prominent Arab American community organizations. AAHNA’s ultimate goal is to conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research to improve the health of this minoritized population in the U.S.
AAHNA will carry out its mission through three main objectives:
1) To create a sustainable community of patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers to facilitate PCOR/CER serving Arab American communities.
2) To develop priorities in Arab American health research that include input from Arab American patients.
3) To develop patient-centered research priorities and a research engagement guide that respects the unique sociopolitical and cultural needs of Arab American patients when engaging with researchers in person or online.
AAHNA’s Vision
AAHNA’s vision is to establish a patient centered outcomes research/clinical effectiveness research program among Arab American populations that is responsive to their needs, experiences, and the socio-political context.