Faculty Profiles: Dr. Zeina Kanafani

Dr. Zeina Kanafani

The Internal Medicine Department at AUBMC welcomed Dr. Zeina Kanafani as an assistant professor to its faculty in September 2007. No stranger to the medical center, she had earlier been counseled in the study of infectious diseases during her residency at the University, and it was only a matter of time before she became a full member of the AUB staff.

Kanafani first joined AUB in 1992 as a biology student of biology, with the intention of getting into gastroenterology. "I did not go abroad to complete my studies, because I knew the program offered at AUB was very good," explained Kanafani, who completed her medical degree in 1999 and did her residency at the AUB Medical Center. She enjoyed working in internal medicine a great deal during her training, and says it shed light on her future career path. After completing her residency in 2002, Kanafani obtained a master's degree in epidemiology at AUB in 2004, during which time she also worked on various clinical research projects in infectious diseases.

During her three-year fellowship in infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center (2004-07), Kanafani worked at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, where she gained experience in designing and conducting clinical research trials and was involved in many different trials on novel antimicrobial agents. She also acquired training in infection control and hospital epidemiology at Duke University and in the Duke Infection Control Outreach network.

Dr. Kanafani is extensively published (forty articles) in international and local journals and is certified by the Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology. As well as teaching medical students and residents, she coordinates fourth-year medical students, takes care of patients, and controls the spread of infectious diseases as the hospital's epidemiologist.

Kanafani is working on initiating a research project on antimicrobial resistance at AUB. Her plan is to establish a network for research by collaboration with other hospitals and research centers in the region, so that AUB will be positioned on the map of clinical research around the world as a major repository for medical research data.