Speech title:
The changing role of psychologists when working with refugees

Dr. Khoury is an associate professor and a licensed clinical psychologist at the Psychiatry Department at the Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut. She is the director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program as well as the Director of the Arab Regional Center for Research and Training in Mental Health. Her main activities revolve around her clinical work in providing psychotherapy to patients, teaching medical students, supervising psychology graduate students in their clinical training and conducting research.  Her research interests focus on issues related to sexuality and reproductive health, diagnostic and classification processes, and comparing psychology across international settings.

She is a member on the advisory group for the revision of the International Classification of Diseases with WHO-Geneva and the regional coordinator for the field studies in the Arab region. She is a consultant for several NGOs and UN bodies such as UNFPA, UNHCR, International Medical Corps and Medecins sans Frontieres. She has been working on Syrian refugees’ issues since 2011.

Dr. Khoury got her doctorate at Palo Alto University in California, and did her clinical training at Stanford University in California, where she is licensed to practice and  a member of the licensing committee.

She is the founding president of the Lebanese Psychological Association and a current board member. She was instrumental in collaborating with the Ministry of Health in drafting practice laws to regulate the profession of psychology in Lebanon.

Dr. Khoury is well published internationally, and a member of several international psychology organizations such as the American Psychological Association, where she is the current president of Division 52 (International Division). She is also the vice president of the Arab Union for Psychological Science, and an Executive Member on the board of the International Union of Psychological Science.