Siham is a public health professional with nearly two decades of experience in international development consulting and biotech research and development. She has led the implementation of global health security and health systems strengthening projects in limited-resource settings, and has extensive experience leading translational projects in public health, effectively advancing product development and the accelerated translation of disease surveillance technologies into applications and interventions that enhance public health impact. 

Siham is the Director for Translation and Public Health Practice with the Biosecurity Strategy and Partnership group at Ginkgo Bioworks, where she leads the design and technical launch of genomic surveillance programs and a portfolio of multilateral engagements including a public private partnership to connect disease surveillance systems to countermeasure development.

Prior to joining Ginkgo, Siham was the program lead for the Sentinel program at the Broad Institute, an international partnership to build an early-warning system to detect viral threats through the development and deployment of advanced genomic surveillance technologies and data analytics and visualization tools. In that capacity, she helped stand-up Sars-Cov-2 diagnostic testing and increased sequencing capacity in program sites in West Africa. She remains an affiliate of the Viral Genomics Group at the Broad Institute where researches the ethical considerations of pathogen genomic data and access and benefit-sharing.

Siham is pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She has a Master’s degree in Bioethics from Harvard Medical School, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Saint Michael’s College. Siham is fluent in Arabic and French, and has conducted field research as well as worked and traveled extensively in various countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Interests: Global health security | Pathogen genomics | Access and benefit-sharing | Bioethics