Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute Opens

Right: Munir Abu-Haidar and his wife unveil the plaque to inaugurate the institute

AUB has now added the practice, research, and teaching of neuroscience to its list of specialized academic interests.

On October 4 in a ceremony held at Issam Fares Hall, the Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute (AHNI) opened its doors. Among those attending the dedication event were members of the Abu-Haidar family, AUB trustees, faculty, AUBMC staff, AUB Board of Trustees chair Thomas Morris, and Lebanese Minister of State Karam Karam.

Included among the inaugural speakers were the director of the institute, Dr. Rose-Mary Bustany; Mr. Munir Abu-Haidar; Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Nadim Cortas; and President John Waterbury. All spoke of the promising prospects such an institute will offer to research and teaching at AUB, saying that Abu-Haidar's contribution in starting the institute "made the dream of establishing a multidisciplinary neuroscience institute at AUB a reality."

Dr. Bustany gave a brief history of the Abu-Haidar family, especially about the life of Dr. Najib Abu-Haidar, after whom the institute was named and dedicated by Munir Abu-Haidar to mark the sixth anniversary of his brother's death.

Munir Abu-Haidar recounted some of his memories about his father, Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Haidar (BA 1900, MD 1904), who had motivated him to study at AUB. He expressed his deep faith in the University, saying: "AUB is the American institution that has produced philosophers, politicians, scientists, diplomats, and professors who have been instrumental in the promotion of liberal progress, democracy, and social improvement in the Arab world, including the drafting of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights… AUB has consistently been at the center of Arab nationalist movements to promote liberty, democracy, and social progress."

President Waterbury, in thanking Abu-Haidar for his generous contribution to the University, emphasized the importance of having a neuroscience institute at AUB, since "neuroscience will be the leading science and area of research in the years to come."

Dean Cortas commended Munir Abu-Haidar for his accomplishments and emphasized, "he has taught us it is easier to accomplish the impossible than the difficult." Dean Cortas looked forward to the day when the institute, "under the leadership of Dr. Rose-Mary Boustany, a highly accomplished neuroscientist and with the support of our highly specialized basic and clinical neuroscientists, will develop its group practice model and become an interdisciplinary disease-oriented patient focused service that will grow and exceed all expectations."

The institute's new outpatient neuroscience clinics are already in use and next month the contractors will start building the inpatient unit and the Neuro Intensive Care Unit on the fourth floor of the hospital.

The late Dr. Najib Abu-Haidar (MD '48), who was a distinguished endocrinologist and clinical teacher at AUB, also served as Lebanese Minister of Education and Fine Arts. His brother, Munir Abu-Haidar (BA '49), is an established businessman, whose main accomplishment was the founding of the Trans Mediterranean Airlines, which became one of the largest airfreight cargo companies in the region.

The institute is located on the third floor of Building 56 of the Medical Center complex on the AUB campus. It houses a psychiatry wing that includes ambulatory services and an inpatient psychiatry ward.

The fourth floor of the main hospital houses the Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Pediatric Neurology divisions. A fully equipped clinical neurophysiology laboratory is located with easy access for inpatients and outpatients.

Teaching and research are top priorities for the Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute , which will also house the Raymond D. Adams and Maria Salam-Adams Library and offer specialty training positions in pediatric neurology, adult neurology, and neurosurgery.