A New Anesthesiology Chair at AUBMC

Dr. Ghassan Kanazi

As of October 1, 2007, Dr. Ghassan Kanazi will become chair of the Department of Anesthesiology of the AUB Medical Center.

Dr. Kanazi received his MD from AUB in 1984. Following graduation, he completed his residency training in anesthesiology and a fellowship in pain management at Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He also completed a one- year fellowship in critical care medicine at the Mayo Clinic Foundation. In 1992, Dr. Kanazi was appointed assistant professor and co-director of the Pain Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska and chief of anesthesiology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Nebraska.

Four years later, he joined the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Rochester as assistant professor and as the director of its pain center in 1995. Developing an interest in neuroscience, Dr. Kanazi received a grant from the American Cancer Society for the development of animal models on neuropathic pain. He was also involved in the development of a clinical trial center that conducted phase two and phase three clinical trials for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

Dr. Kanazi's expertise in pain crossed over with regional anesthesia. As a result, he was involved in providing anesthesia for orthopedic, urology, and plastic surgical cases and was involved in the training of residents in regional blocks.

Dr. Kanazi was appointed as associate professor and director of the Pain Clinic at the Department of Anesthesia at the American University of Beirut in 2001. He has served as the director of the Acute Pain Service since 2005. He was greatly involved in regional, orthopedic, and neuroanesthesia and kidney transplantation. He chaired a number of task force committees on pain assessment and management and implemented a pain assessment tool throughout AUBMC. He is currently the treasurer of the Lebanese Society for Treatment of Pain and the secretary of the Lebanese chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

At the same time, the Faculty of Medicine and the Medical Center wishes to extend sincerest thanks and appreciation to Dr. Anis Baraka for his outstanding leadership as chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology since 1976. Despite great challenges, Dr. Baraka sustained and enhanced the department's prominence locally and globally. He was one of the pillars that kept AUBMC strong during its worst days. Many of the anesthesiologists in Lebanon are graduates of his program.