Refugees and Biology
3/27/20262 min read
Trauma and biology My research has focused on studying the impact of trauma across time on the human body from multiple perspectives including mental health, physiology and biomarkers and epigenetics among vulnerable communities across different ages. In my research I create teams across disciplines and geographies to ensure high quality science and most importantly I include scientists from the targeted communities to better serve and enrich the communities studied. I collaborate with INGOs such as Mercy Corps and local NGOs such as We Love Reading to study the impact of their programs on vulnerable communities through randomized control research designs and longitudinal studies. I have data bases of these different cohorts and studies that we share and collaborate with other scientists across disciplines and globally. We also work with stakeholders such as governments, UN agencies and INGOs to influence policy makers to do better for humanity based on the rigorous scientific evidence we produce. Through my work I have challenged how we partner with local collaborators and stakeholders, how we design research projects, what measurement tools to we employ and how we analyze data collected to be more true to the people we serve. Our work has spanned multiple geographies. We are able to ask the difficult questions within hard to reach communities. A documentary was made “Terror and Hope” about my work that won multiple film awards.
Select publications:
Sharma N, Dajani R, Tofail F, Black C, Tutlam N, Bhutta Z A et al. Long term effects of childhood exposure to violence in fragile and conflict affected settings BMJ 2026; 392 :e086040 doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-086040
Catherine Panter-Brick, J. Eggerman , Philip Jefferies, Lina Qtaishat, Rana Dajani, Praveen Kumar Does volunteering impact refugee women’s life satisfaction, empowerment, and wellbeing? Experimental evidence, local knowledge, and causal reasoning March 2024 Social Science & Medicine DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116735
Panter-Brick C, Wiley K, Sancilio A, Dajani R, Hadfield K. (2019). C-reactive protein, Epstein-Barr virus, and cortisol trajectories in refugee and non-refugee youth: Links with stress, mental health, and cognitive function during a randomized controlled trial. Brain Behav Immun, pii: S0889-1591(18):30341-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.02.015. [Epub ahead of print]
Dajani R, Hadfield, K, van Uum S, Greff M, Panter-Brick C. (2017). Hair cortisol concentrations in war-affected adolescents: A prospective intervention trial. Psyconeuroendocrinology, 89:138-146. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.12.012
Panter-Brick C, Dajani R, et al. (2017). Insecurity, distress and mental health: experimental and randomized controlled trials of a psychosocial intervention for youth affected by the Syrian crisis. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 59(5):523-541. PMCID: PMC5972454 doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12832
Panter-Brick C, Hadfield K, Dajani R, et al. (2017). Resilience in context: A brief and culturally grounded measure for Syrian refugee and Jordanian host-community adolescents. Child Dev, 89(5):1803-1820. PMCID: PMC6208286 doi: 10.1111/cdev.12868