Rana Abdel Malak, RN, MSc, PhD, CGNC, NEA-BC, FAAPM

Dr. Rana Abdel Malak has dedicated her career to driving transformational change in healthcare with a relentless pursuit and deep commitment to excellence and patient outcomes. She distinguished herself as a healthcare executive with a multifaceted career spanning consulting, academia, and acute care practice. Her extensive expertise encompasses executive leadership and healthcare consulting, with a particular focus on acute care evaluation at both institutional and project levels. Dr. Abdel Malak has earned acclaim for her comprehensive experience in spearheading the implementation of tier-one international designations and accreditations. Her initiatives have significantly propelled healthcare excellence across the Middle East.

Her expertise extends beyond acute care professional practice; she is also an appraiser for continuing education programs with the American Nurses Credentialing Center. As the first international appointee outside the USA, she contributed since over a decade to evaluating educational programs that empower healthcare professionals to deliver exceptional care.

Holding a PhD from the University of Texas, USA, her research delves into healthcare leadership and management, with a significant emphasis on research that addresses critical point-of-care issues and social determinants of health. Dr. Abdel Malak's academic credentials are complemented by three prestigious professional certifications. She stands out as the first regionally American Board-certified advanced-level nurse executive and holds a Global Nurse Consultant certification (specialty leadership) from the International Council of Nurses, in addition to being a Fellow of the American Academy of Project Management. More recently, she was granted the Certified Patient Experience Professional candidacy – a step before formal certification - highlighting her commitment to incorporating the patient's voice into care delivery. These cumulative credentials have been instrumental for her in navigating the complexities of healthcare and driving meaningful change in patient care in the area she serves.

Dr. Abdel Malak's contributions to professional capacity building, education and quality learning standards in healthcare are noteworthy. Her intellectual portfolio includes a suite of professionally accredited programs and courses that focus on patient-centered care, leadership and management, informatics, and quality improvement, marking her as an innovator in healthcare education.

She has proven successes in organizational change development, strategic and operational management, and quality of care improvement, systems and patient centered initiative development, and workforce planning. Having a diversified consultancy portfolio with both governmental and non-governmental entities including projects and solutions in areas of human resources, capacity building, practice evaluation, and scientific reporting with humanitarian organizations.

Dr. Abdel Malak's excellence in her field is recognized through numerous awards and featured as a speaker at national, regional, and international forums.

Through her multifaceted roles, and her advanced healthcare credentials and expertise in Lebanon and the GCC area, Dr. Abdel Malak gained a holistic perspective of the challenges and opportunities facing healthcare in the region making her well-positioned to guide healthcare organizations towards excellence, ensuring that the patient's voice remains at the core of healthcare delivery.