ABOUT | Dr Rita Issa

Hi, I’m Rita - a medical doctor, public health academic, and activist for collective health

Dr Rita Issa (MBBS, MPH, DTM&H, MRCGP, FRSA) is a family medicine physician, PhD fellow at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research (UEA), visiting fellow at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights (Harvard School of Public Health), and consultant at the World Health Organisation.

Her PhD research is in the intersection of climate change, mental health and displacement. She is co-editor of BMA book of the year 2022 – the ‘Handbook of Refugee Health’ (Taylor Francis), the upcoming text ‘Resistance, activism and social movements in health and healthcare’ (Oxford University Press), and is a commissioner for the BMJs 'Future of the NHS' commission. She is working with the WHO to synthesise the COP29 report on Climate Change and Health - positioning health as the argument for climate action, through the creation of places and systems in service of human and planetary flourishing.

She is the co-founder of Unexia, a platform to support better funding global health as a public good, and co-initiator of Planet.Health, an 'imagination lab' for translocal envisioning of more flourishing planetary health futures, rooted in indigenous knowledge and applying emergent technologies to support new ways of seeing, across AI, web3, and the arts.

Rita has worked as a humanitarian medic for MSF, Greenpeace, Primary Care International and WHO, and has (co)founded a number of advocacy and activist organisations campaigning on climate change, migrant rights, and health justice and access. Her work has appeared in the Independent, the BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Novara Media, and others. Her contributions to the fields of climate change and health were recognised by London Mayor as “Public Sector Changemaker of the Year 2022”.

A bit more detail about me

I currently divide my time in 4(+) ways:

NHS GP (family medicine physician) working in a highly diverse community in East London, at a holistic practice that centres the social determinants of health in our understanding of health
"Critical Decade for the Climate Leverhulme PhD Fellow" at the University of East Anglia - but currently in Boston at the Harvard School of Public Health, using participatory community-led approaches to explore mental health and transformation in communities on the frontlines of Climate and Environmental breakdown. I continue to hold an honorary Research Fellowship in Climate Change, Migration and Health at Lancet Migration and the UCL Institute for Global Health.
Innovating on Planetary Health futures
Activism, community organising, and supporting communities to shift power

Clinical

I completed my family medicine (GP) training at the Bromley-by-Bow Centre, the birthplace of social prescribing and one of the first in the UK to take a community-led approach to health care, rooted within the social determinants of health. I continue to work there as a GP when I'm in London; while I cover all aspects of primary care, I have a particular interest in mental health.

Humanitarian & global health

In the Spring of 2021, I spent 3-months as the onboard medic for the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the Indian Ocean, reporting on the importance of the oceans for human and planetary health as a columnist for the Independent. As a humanitarian medic, I've worked with Médecins Sans Frontières in the Syrian refugee response, and conceptualised and developed the first home-based chronic disease programme in a refugee camp, still ongoing 5+ years on, and with other organisations including Primary Care International. As a consultant at WHO, I helped develop the first round of climate and health country profiles at COP21 to enable negotiators to use the public health impacts of climate change as a negotiation tool.

Activism

*of note, I use the term activist as a reclamation and a normalisation - at these times, we sh(c)ould all be activists

I have been an activist for over a decade and believe that communities hold the answers to our most pressing challenges; as such, my work is in building community power and amplifying grassroots stories and solutions. Groups I’ve (co-)founded or worked with include Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, Build Back Better, Keep Our NHS Public, Docs Not Cops, UK Uncut, Health Professionals for Global Health, NHS Direct Action, and Medact. Campaigns I’ve contributed to span air pollution, climate change, access to healthcare for migrants, covid-19 communication, tackling vaccine misinformation, the US-UK trade negotiations, and the Green New Deal. My speech at the Enough is Enough rally in October 2022, and subsequent interview, went viral.

Media and knowledge dissemination

I use the media as a tool to flatten knowledge hierarchies and translate complex or inaccessible scientific information into clear, concise messaging for the public. I've appeared on BBC news, BBC R4 'Moral Maze', ITV, Sky News, Al Jazeera and Novara Media, among others, and write when there’s no other outlet for my frustrations. I have given various talks and keynote speeches inc. at the Oxford Blavatnik School of Government, the UK govt's National Climate Change Conference, the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, UNGA and COP side events, MED Fest, Glastonbury's Leftfield Stage, and more.

Innovations and dreamings

I'm the initiator of Planet.Health, an exploratory incubator which applies tools - ranging web3, AI and AR/VR, to indigenous knowledge systems - to support re-imagining planetary health futures. I am a co-founder of Unexia, a web3 platform (pre-launch) that utilises the blockchain to improve governance and financing for the SDGs. Aligned, I sit on the advisory board to the UK government All Party Parliamentary Group on web3 and the metaverse.

Other bits

I'm a trained yoga teacher with an interest in whole food nutrition, jungian psychotherapy, trauma, consciousness and 'the mystery'. I believe science doesn't yet have all the answers for what makes us ill, and how we can live better.

I'm a session musician (violin, guitar and voice among others), perform and record on the semi-regular, and run jam sessions. Bands I've played and recorded with include The Trials of Cato, and United Freedom Collective, both in their early days.

Drawing from nature, I see the many roles that are required for flourishing ecosystems. Those who I admire most seem to have carved their own paths, and the form of innovation I feel I can best contribute to emerges from cross-pollination, collaboration, and transdisciplinarity. My nature is to be a "deep generalist" and my role in ecosystems is to be a pollinator or bridge - between people, ideas and approaches.

Clearly what we've tried so far hasn't worked: we haven't won on health, migrant rights, and definitely not on the climate. So, I'm happy to continue cross-pollinating until we land on something that does.

Want to know more? Head over to my LinkedIn, or let's connect on Twitter.