Who’s Who: Dr. Mohammed Alhajji, director of behavioral insights at the Ministry of Health

Dr. Mohammed Alhajji
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Dr. Mohammed Alhajji has been the director of behavioral insights at the Ministry of Health since 2020. He is also a visiting professor at the College of Medicine at Al-Faisal University.

Alhajji has become a well-known figure in the field of behavioral sciences in Saudi Arabia. His contributions have helped this niche science to become mainstream and a topic of discussion among policymakers.

Before assuming his current position, Alhajji served over a year as a scientific adviser at the Misk Foundation in 2020, where he managed research projects, advised teams within the institution, and collaborated with research institutes to increase scientific output.

He served at Temple University twice between 2015 and 2019, as an instructor and researcher. His studies, financed variously by the government and private entities, explored the behavioral and social determinants of health. He also analyzed public views to build educational materials for policy creation.

He was awarded the best research abstract for students in the US in 2020 at the annual meeting of the Behavioral Medicine Association of America. In the same year, he received his second honor, the American Public Health Association’s Award of the Year for exceptional study.

Alhajji is the creator of the viral “Adam” podcast, where he discusses subjects related to psychology and social behaviors such as relationships and coping with feelings of exclusion and neglect.

He was recently granted the National Excellence Award 2023 by the governor of the Qassim region for his efforts to enrich the quality of content on social networking sites.

He earned his Ph.D. in social and behavioral sciences from Temple University, Philadelphia, his master’s degree in public health from the University of South Florida, and his bachelor’s degree in health science from Colorado State University.