Najat Aoun Saliba (Arabic: نجاة عون صليبا; Najat Khattar Aoun) is a Professor of Analytical Chemistry and an atmospheric chemist at the American University of Beirut (AUB). She was the Director of AUB's Nature Conservation Center from 2013 till 2020.[1] Saliba is also the co-founder and director of Khaddit Beirut (an initiative launched after Beirut's 2020 explosion) and the founder and director of the Environment Academy (an initiative created with the support of the World Health Organization).[2] She was appointed a laureate of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science program in 2019.[3] In 2022 she was elected to the Lebanese parliament.
Saliba returned to Lebanon after the Civil War, and joined the American University of Beirut in 2001.[11] She helped to establish the Ibsar Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures in 2002, which looked to protect Lebanon's biodiversity.[6] She used to be the Director of Ibsar, which has since been renamed the Nature Conservation Center, at the American University of Beirut.[12] Saliba established the Atmospheric and Analytical Laboratory.[11] In her early career she struggled to get chemicals, as the majority of Western companies would not ship to Lebanon for fear that they would be used to make weapons.[6]
Her research considers ambient pollutants in Lebanon and the Middle East.[13] Saliba investigates the toxic and carcinogenic chemical constituents of electronic cigarettes and hookahs.[13] She was the first to identify compounds such as formaldehyde in hookahs, and went on to show that electronic cigarettes can generate carbon monoxide.[13] She is part of the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products at Virginia Commonwealth University.[14] Saliba is part of a National Institutes of Health project to investigate the impact of smoking shisha.[6] She was part of a $2.8 million grant to develop computer models to analyse tobacco toxicity.[15] Saliba contributed to the World Health Organization Air Quality Expert Meetings.[16] In one of her work , she compared and analyzed air samples specifically related to forest fires from Beirut and Los Angeles where she draws conclusions about the differences and similarities that those countries share in terms of air pollution.[17]
She established the first Lebanese atmospheric pollutants database. She became concerned about the open-air burning of Lebanese waste; and showed that the incineration could increase the amount of carcinogens in the air by 2,300%.[18][19] She showed a variety of toxins are emitted during the burning of waste, and measured their concentration at the top of a four-story apartment building in Beirut. She identified particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as well as lead, cadmium, titanium and arsenic from metal burning. Saliba contributed to the American University of Beirut Guide to Municipal Solid Waste.[20] She established international protocols for the chemical studies of water pipes.[21] Saliba develops innovative materials and methods to study atmospheric pollutants.[22] In 2018 Saliba's American University of Beirut Nature Conservation Center was selected as one of the top influencing organisations in the regeneration movement by Lush.[16]
Saliba also studied the effects of the Beirut Port Explosion on the atmospheric pollutants in the city of Beirut.[23] She also warned against potential hazardous chemicals and pollutants that were dispersed and called on the people of Beirut to take necessary precautions.[24]
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