Board of Advisors

Nadia Abu-Zahra

Nadia Abu-Zahra is the incumbent of the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. . She is an Associate Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, and a member of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre.

She co-facilitates, with Professor Emily Regan Wills, “Community Mobilization in Crisis”, a project that co-creates open educational resources with community mobilizers around the world in multiple languages, and supports the use of the resources transnationally to build community mobilizations.

Melinda Holmes

A peacebuilding specialist, writer, and strategist focusing on gender and political violence, Holmes is responsible for facilitating collaboration, analysis, advocacy, and outreach on gendered approaches for preventing and responding to violent extremism at ICAN. Previously, Holmes was a 2016-2017 Visiting Fellow at LSE’s Centre for Women, Peace & Security; and worked with The Carter Center, where she advised on the engagement of religious and traditional beliefs, actors, and communities in advancing peace and human rights. Holmes graduated with a Master’s in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, focusing on the gendered and religious dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding.

Qais Ghanem

Qais Ghanem immigrated to Canada in 1970. He graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh.

Specialty training in public health, pediatrics, and neurology took place in Scotland, at Queen’s U, Michigan U, and finally, Ottawa U.
Dr. Qais Ghanem has been a Clinical Professor at U of O, President of, Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists, and Director of Sleep/Neurophysiology Lab, at the Military Hospital, at the Ottawa Hospital, and the Monfort Hospital.”