Research Summary

Dr. Jess Ghannam is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at UCSF. His research areas include evaluating the long-term health consequences of war on displaced communities and the psychological and psychiatric effects of armed conflict on children. Dr. Ghannam has developed community health clinics in the Middle East that focus on developing community-based treatment programs for families in crisis.

He is also a consultant with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Reprieve and other international NGO's that work with torture survivors. Locally he works to promote and enhance the health and wellness of refugee, displaced, and immigrant populations from the Middle East,North Africa and South Asia and has established a community-based Mental Health Treatment Programs to support these communities.

At UCSF Dr. Ghannam develops culturally competency training programs for staff, students and faculty working with patients from the Middle East. He serves on the Chancellor's Council of Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion and is a member of the UCP, University and Community Partnerships Committee. He works with medical students and residents across disciplines to promote and enhance their clinical and research skills. Dr. Ghannam specializes in working with chronic illness, including chronic pain and cancer. He also works and does research in the area of Global Health and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Ghannam is also a Qualified Medical Examiner (QME) for the State of California.

He is past president of the Arab Cultural and Community Center and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in San Francisco.

UCSF Links

http://cancer.ucsf.edu/people/ghannam_jess.php

http://directory.ucsf.edu/[email protected]

Education

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, A.B., 1979, Psychology
University of California, Berkeley, CA, M.A., 1981, Psychology
University of California, Berkeley, CA, M.S., 1983, Medical Sciences
University of California, Berkeley, CA, Ph.D., 1984, Psychology, Clinical
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, Post-Doc Fellow, 1985, Psychology

Honors & Awards

  • 1975
    Phi Beta Kappa, University of Michigan
  • 1979
    Pillsbury Award for Outstanding Honors Thesis, University of Michigan
  • 1980
    Angell Scholar, University of Michigan
  • 1984
    Sigma XI Scientific Society
  • 1989
    Certificate of Appreciation, San Francisco Police Department, for outstanding contribution to community work with the Psychiatric Liaison Unit
  • 1990
    Certificate of Appreciation, Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center/University of California San Francisco, for outstanding community service contribution

Selected Publications

  1. Steven P Segal, Vicky C Khoury, Ramy Salah, Jess Ghannam. Unattended Mental Health Needs in Primary Care: Lebanon’s Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp. Clinical Medicine Insights Psychiatry. 2020 Jan 1; 11:117955732096252.  View on PubMed
  2. Jess Ghannam, Abdelhamid Afana, Evelyn Y Ho, Abdullatif Al-Khal, Carma L Bylund. The impact of a stress management intervention on medical residents’ stress and burnout. International Journal of Stress Management. 2019 Mar 7.  View on PubMed
  3. Afana AJ, Tremblay J, Ghannam J, Ronsbo H, Veronese G. Coping with trauma and adversity among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip: A qualitative, culture-informed analysis. J Health Psychol. 2020 10; 25(12):2031-2048.  View on PubMed
  4. Segal SP, Khoury VC, Salah R, Ghannam J. Contributors to Screening Positive for Mental Illness in Lebanon's Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2018 Jan; 206(1):46-51.  View on PubMed
  5. Afana A, Ghannam J, Ho EY, Al-Khal A, Al-Arab B, Bylund CL. Burnout and sources of stress among medical residents at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar. East Mediterr Health J. 2017 Feb 21; 23(1):40-45.  View on PubMed
  6. Subbaraman R, Nolan L, Shitole T, Sawant K, Shitole S, Sood K, Nanarkar M, Ghannam J, Betancourt TS, Bloom DE, Patil-Deshmukh A. The psychological toll of slum living in Mumbai, India: a mixed methods study. Soc Sci Med. 2014 Oct; 119:155-69.  View on PubMed
  7. Ramnath Subbaraman, Laura B Nolan, Tejal Shitole, Kiran Sawant, Shrutika Shitole, Kunal Sood, Mahesh Nanarkar, Jess Ghannam, David E Bloom, Anita Patil-Deshmukh. The psychological toll of slum living—an assessment of mental health, disability, and slum-related adversities in Mumbai, India. The Lancet Global Health. 2014 May 1; 2:s26.  View on PubMed
  8. Jess Ghannam. Health and Human Rights in Palestine: The Siege and Invasion of Gaza and the Role of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. Human Rights in the Middle East. 2011 Jan 1; 245-261.  View on PubMed
  9. Bailony MR, Hararah MK, Salhab AR, Ghannam I, Abdeen Z, Ghannam J. Cancer registration and healthcare access in West Bank, Palestine: a GIS analysis of childhood cancer, 1998-2007. Int J Cancer. 2011 Sep 01; 129(5):1180-9.  View on PubMed
  10. Elbedour S, Onwuegbuzie AJ, Ghannam J, Whitcome JA, Abu Hein F. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety among Gaza Strip adolescents in the wake of the second Uprising (Intifada). Child Abuse Negl. 2007 Jul; 31(7):719-29.  View on PubMed
  11. Jess Ghannam. The use of psychoanalytic constructs in the service of empire: Comment on Baruch (2003). Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2005 Jan 1; 22(1):135.  View on PubMed
  12. Lipton R, Ghannam JH, Beinin J. Definitions of terrorism. JAMA. 2003 Nov 05; 290(17):2254; author reply 2254-5.  View on PubMed
  13. Shevrin H, Ghannam JH, Libet B. A neural correlate of consciousness related to repression. Conscious Cogn. 2002 Jun; 11(2):334-41; discussion 342-46.  View on PubMed

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