After 15 years in the medical field as a general practitioner and radiologist, Dr. Wael ElRayes currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Services Administration and Policy at the College of Public Health. His teaching portfolio includes global health systems, global health architecture and health security. Dr. ElRayes also serves as the Director of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region at the Global Center for Health Security (GCHS) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Under these roles, he is leading strategic partnerships and collaborations with various MENA countries across the realms of health security, refugees, and internally displaced populations health in Egypt, Bangladesh, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco. As the Project Manager for the Training, Simulation & Quarantine Center (TSQC), he oversaw the establishment of the first National Quarantine Unit and the first biocontainment National Training Center, key elements in advancing the US readiness for highly communicable infectious diseases.
Dr. ElRayes has extensive experience participating in and leading a variety of multimillion dollar projects funded by the World Bank, the European Union, the Italian Government, the Kuwaiti Development Fund, the African Development Bank, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and the US Department of State. Dr. ElRayes remains the first and only UNMC faculty who is funded by the Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) under the Bureau of Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) at US Department of State to enhance the health security domains in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.
Wael also serves as the UNMC’s Fulbright Scholar Liaison and the President of the Nebraska Fulbright Chapter’s Board of Directors where he works on promoting international education opportunities and fostering educational efforts between the US and other countries.