The President of the American University of Beirut (AUB), Dr. Fadlo Khuri, issued a message to the AUB community in which he announced the appointment of Dr. Raymond Sawaya as Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs, effective October 1, 2021.
Dr. Sawaya’s appointment follows an international search by a committee representing AUB trustees, faculty, staff, and alumni community, co-chaired by Trustees William Zoghbi and Viviane Tabar. “We thank the committee for their outstanding selection of a renowned and visionary academic and medical leader, determined to serve the AUB community at a time of unprecedented challenges in Lebanon and the region,” said Khuri.
He added, “Dr. Sawaya’s appointment comes at a critical time for medical education, biomedical research, and clinical care in Lebanon and the region. He brings a wealth of experience as a principled leader with a remarkable track record of mentoring and empowering individuals and building world class teams. Ray has often been described as a servant leader of the highest caliber, one whose effortless grace under pressure, and treatment of patients and colleagues with respect, compassion, and integrity, mark him as a role model for generations of physicians to follow.”
Raymond Sawaya earned his MD from Université Saint-Joseph in 1974, receiving mentorship from AUB’s preeminent neurosurgeon Dr. Fouad Haddad, before he traveled to the US for postgraduate training. Dr. Sawaya joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and rose in the ranks until 1990, when the call came to establish the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Over the next 28 years, Dr. Sawaya developed what is now the premier neurosurgical oncology unit in the world—described by then MD Anderson President Ronald DePinho as “MD Anderson’s crown jewel” among many great departments. For ten of those years, he concurrently chaired the Department of Neurosurgery at the Baylor College of Medicine, helping simultaneously establish the culture of excellence that characterizes that stellar department today. The field of cancer neurosurgery has been transformed in large part thanks to Dr. Sawaya’s world-leading team of surgeons, clinicians, and scientists treating some of the most complex and difficult cancer cases and he has made his own groundbreaking contributions to enhancing the accessibility and safety of brain tumor surgery, with more than 380 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, 45 book chapters, 11 books, and 27,000 scholarly citations to his name.
A member of AUB’s International Advisory Council, Dr. Sawaya has received many major awards, including the Joseph P. Evans Award in Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati, the Charles Wilson Award from the National Brain Tumor Society, and the Charles LeMaistre Outstanding Achievement Award in Cancer from MD Anderson Cancer Center. He sits on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals and is frequently requested as a national and international lecturer. He is currently holder of the Anne C. Brooks & Anthony D. Bullock III Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Khuri ended his message by saying, “the provision of world-class medical education and state-of-the-art health care to the people of this region has been a keystone of AUB’s sacred mission since its foundation 155 years ago, providing guidance, comfort, hope, and healing to generations of the best and brightest students and most vulnerable patients. Dr. Raymond Sawaya brings unmatched accomplishments and steadfast determination critical to lead the Faculty of Medicine’s vital educational, research, and healthcare enterprises. There are few men or women anywhere that have Ray’s enormous sense of purpose and generosity, and even fewer who are admired and respected more. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Dr. Sawaya on his appointment and wishing him every success as he embarks on this new chapter of his distinguished career.”
Source: National News Agency