Announcing the 2025 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation awardees in inclusive health

March 03, 2025

Five exceptional women scientists from the Global South are awarded for their contributions to advancing SDG3: inclusive health

Five women researchers have been awarded the 2025 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World for their contributions to research in inclusive health, advancing UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being.

The research conducted by this year's winners spans a diverse range of critical health issues, from innovative approaches to maternal and child health, sustainable pharmaceutical analysis, environmental health interventions, and advancements in mental health care. Their work not only addresses some of the most pressing health challenges in their respective regions, but also serves as a beacon of leadership, mentoring and community engagement.

This year's winners are:

• Manal Badrasawi (Palestine) - Al Najah National University: Health sciences, clinical nutrition
• Reem Obaydo (Syria) - Ebla Private University: green chemistry, public health impact of hazardous chemicals, environmental pollution reduction
• Alejandra Paniagua-Avila (Guatemala) - Columbia University, USA: mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, systems science
• Sarmila Tandukar (Nepal) - Organization for Public Health and Environment Management: environmental health, medical microbiology, waterborne diseases
• Halima Sumayya Twabi (Malawi) - University of Malawi: causal inference for maternal and child health and behavioural studies; longitudinal and survival analysis for health research

Read on to learn more about each Award winner.

For information on previous award winners, see: https://owsd.net/awards/past-awardees

The 2025 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awardees 

Manal Badrasawi, Palestine – Associate Professor, An-Najah National University

Manal Badrasawi is a clinical nutrition scientist from Palestine whose expertise lies in clinical nutrition, women’s health, geriatric nutrition, and public health. As a prolific researcher, she has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, covering topics such as dietary behaviors, nutritional epidemiology, chronic disease management, and the psychosocial aspects of health. Her work frequently integrates innovative approaches, such as machine learning, to analyze complex nutritional and health data. Dr. Badrasawi has been instrumental in advancing research on food insecurity, aging, and nutritional health in Palestine. She has led and participated in several funded projects, including the Pal-Age Project, which focuses on aging populations, and the development of the Palestinian Food Atlas, a tool for improving nutrition assessment and education. Her commitment to community-oriented research is further exemplified by her role as the principal investigator in studies addressing food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable populations. In addition to her academic and research contributions, Dr. Badrasawi has developed educational resources, including illustrated food exchange lists, nutritional modules for specific patient populations, and a photographic food atlas. These tools are widely recognized for their cultural relevance and practical application in clinical practice and public health interventions.

Reem Obaydo, Syria - Head of Analytical and Food Chemistry Department, Ebla Private University

Reem Obaydo is a Syrian pharmaceutical analytical chemist and educator who, despite the hardships of war, economic constraints, and a lack of research infrastructure, remains committed to advancing scientific knowledge and mentoring young researchers, particularly women. Her research focuses on green analytical chemistry, where she develops sustainable, eco-friendly methods for pharmaceutical analysis. By reducing the use of hazardous chemicals in drug testing, her work ensures the safety and efficacy of medicines while minimizing environmental and health risks. She also integrates sustainability assessment tools to evaluate the environmental and health impact of her analytical methods, ensuring they adhere to green chemistry principles. Dr. Obaydo’s research plays a vital role in improving public health by reducing exposure to harmful substances in pharmaceuticals. By developing greener quality control techniques, she enhances drug safety and prevents the introduction of toxic residues into the environment. Her work also fosters safer laboratory environments by reducing researchers' exposure to hazardous chemicals. Beyond pharmaceutical sustainability, Dr. Obaydo has supported Syrian women in conflict-affected areas by providing digital guidance on mental health management, ensuring accessible care for those in need. She has fostered international collaborations with researchers from Egypt, Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Kingdom. Due to travel restrictions imposed on Syrian scholars, she has participated in international conferences online to promote green analytical chemistry, advocating for sustainable scientific research and safer practices in pharmaceutical laboratories worldwide.

Alejandra Paniagua-Avila, Guatemala – Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University (USA); President and Co-founder, Asociación para la Salud Mental Saqirsán

Alejandra Paniagua-Avila is a Guatemalan medical doctor and early career scientist dedicated to advancing access to recovery-oriented mental health services for all. She has a particular interest in addressing the health and social needs of people living with serious mental conditions associated with psychosis, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Her research is done in partnership with Maya Indigenous populations and other populations that experience health disparities due to historical discrimination and social exclusion. Her work draws from participatory qualitative approaches, epidemiology, and implementation research to design, implement and evaluate mental health interventions in rural Guatemala and other under-resourced settings. Dr. Paniagua-Avila has published more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and presented research findings at multiple scientific conferences. Her work has been published in high-impact journals, including The Lancet – Regional Health Americas. She is a steering committee member of RedeAmericas, a network of mental health researchers and practitioners across Latin America. She is also a co-founder of Asociación para la Salud Mental, a recently established nonprofit that promotes the recovery of people living with serious mental illnesses in Guatemala through research, capacity strengthening, and program development. She is committed to strengthening research capacity for mental health in Guatemala and has mentored more than 10 students and trainees, many of whom have pursued public health and research careers. 

Sarmila Tandukar, Nepal – Research Fellow, Policy Research Institute

Sarmila Tandukar is an environmental engineer from Nepal whose research bridges the gap between environmental microbiology and public health and helps to improve infectious disease preparedness, build public health infrastructure, and advance global health security. Her research mostly focuses on environmental monitoring, wastewater surveillance, and public health microbiology, with a particular focus on detecting and identifying pathogens in water systems. She tracks disease-causing microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes to identify emerging health threats in wastewater, sewage, river water, and drinking water sources, using molecular techniques like genomics, metagenomics, and qPCR-based detection methods. Her work is highly interdisciplinary, bridging microbiology, environmental science, epidemiology, and public health to provide critical insights into disease transmission dynamics and waterborne health risks. Her work ensures early detection of emerging infectious diseases and mitigation techniques to reduce disease burden by producing high-resolution epidemiological data, which enables evidence-based decision-making for public health actions. Furthermore, her research provides scientific evidence for policymakers, contributing to the development of water safety regulations, wastewater treatment guidelines, and disease control strategies at both national and global levels.

Halima Sumayya Twabi, Malawi - Associate Professor, University of Malawi

Halima Twabi is a biostatistician from Malawi who employs advanced statistical methodologies and data-driven approaches to understand health issues. Through these approaches, her work identifies factors contributing to health disparities among vulnerable populations such as women and children and assesses intervention effectiveness, especially those affected by HIV infection, in socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Her previous work has examined the effects of maternal HIV on adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as low birth weight and perinatal mortality. Her research has also utilized innovative statistical methods to investigate the influence of unhealthy food consumption on childhood overweight, a growing challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, she was named a Young Affiliate of The World Academy of Sciences and received the 2020 L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Award for Sub-Saharan Africa. She is a fellow of the DELTAS Sub-Saharan Africa Consortium on the Advancement of Biostatistics (SSACAB) program and a founding member of the Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (Gi-STEAM) network. She currently serves as the Treasurer for both the International Biometric Society's Sub-Saharan Africa Network (IBS-SUSAN) and its Malawi region. She is currently collaborating on a project 'Strengthening Women's Research Network and Capacity to Address Women's Health in Sub-Saharan Africa' project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Grand Challenges as a country lead for Malawi.