Maissa Khatib

Maissa Khatib, PhD is a social scientist and Research Scholar in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University and an Adjunct Research Associate at Valleywise Health. She holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and brings over two decades of academic experience focused on addressing health disparities among marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Her work advances health equity at the intersections of climate change, migration, and gender, with a focus on refugee, immigrant, Urban Indigenous, and other underserved populations. Khatib’s research and practice are grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR), citizen science, and design thinking—including the Design Studios for Health framework—to co-create community-informed interventions, strengthen academic–community partnerships, and translate evidence into practice. She collaborates with clinicians, public health agencies, and community organizations to design patient-centered solutions that address food insecurity, health disparities, and climate-related risks.

She is currently Co-Principal Investigator of HeatMind, an NSF-funded AI-powered, sensor-based platform co-designed with firefighter-serving organizations to mitigate heat-related risks. Her portfolio includes federally supported projects funded by the NIH, NASA, ONR, and NSA, as well as international collaborations across the U.S. and the MENA region. With extensive teaching and mentorship experience, she develops interdisciplinary courses and leads community cohorts that anchor multi-study initiatives across Arizona.

Her recent publications include Bridging the Divide: Barriers and Facilitators to Equitable Community–Academic Partnerships in Health Research (Frontiers in Public Health, 2025); Empowerment and Integration of Refugee Women: A Transdisciplinary Approach (Nature-Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 2024); and Evaluating the Effects of Corn Flour on Cardiometabolic Outcomes and the Gut Microbiome (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2024). She has also authored works in International Journal of Welfare and Social Work Policies and multiple edited volumes, with forthcoming contributions such as Building Resilience Through Inclusive Interventions: Gender, Migration, and STEM in Climate Adaptation (Springer, in press) and Refugee Women and Entrepreneurship (Sage Encyclopedia of Refugee Studies, in press).

Driven by a strong commitment to health equity, Khatib leverages interdisciplinary approaches and sustainable community partnerships to address the complex intersections of health, climate change, migration, and gender—prioritizing inclusivity, cultural relevance, contextual responsiveness, and community voice in all aspects of her work.