Faculty Profiles: Dr. Chantal Farra

Dr. Chantal Farra

In October 2007, Dr. Chantal Farra became an assistant professor and at the same time was also named the director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory at the AUB Medical Center. Pleased to be involved in working with medical students, she says the experience is gratifying and that the students are "respectful, hard-working, well-rounded and generally doing a great job."

Farra earned her MD from Saint Joseph University in Beirut (1996), went on to obtain her postgraduate training in clinical and molecular genetics at the University of Aix-Marseilles, in France (1997-2000), and also completed a one-year fellowship in developmental genome anatomy at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School. She finished her training in France in genetics and clinical and molecular genetics at Gustave Roussy Institute and Necker Children's Hospital in Paris (2001-03).

When she returned to Lebanon in 2003, Farra became the director of the molecular genetics laboratories at the AUB Chronic Care Center, where she set up a cytogenetics unit equipped with the latest technology. She was also appointed as a clinical associate in the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at AUBMC.

Though the mother of three children, Farra finds time to pursue her interest in the rapidly growing field of clinical and molecular genetics and introduced preimplantation genetic diagnosis testing in Lebanon. She is the author of several publications and a recipient of the UNESCO award for the top ten young women scientists (2001). Farra also took part in the Human Genome Project and contributed to the sequencing of the human chromosome 7.

Farra says she chose to work in the field of genetics, because it involves probing into the smallest, most intricate details of existence, where there is more chance of studying the roots of human nature and development. She intends to use her extensive experience to conduct research on population genetics. In addition to seeing pediatric patients and couples with genetic disorders in her clinic at AUBMC, Farra teaches genetics to second-year medical students and says they are ideal recipients of such knowledge.