AUB Graduates 55 Medical Residents

Drs. Ziadeh and Cortas award residents their diplomas

The American University of Beirut Medical Center and the Faculty of Medicine graduated 55 medical residents in some 25 specialties in a ceremony that was held on June 15 in Issam Fares Hall.

As the young men and women and their parents gathered to celebrate the results of long years of study and training, Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education Thurayya Arayssi introduced the graduates and their attending guests in these words:

"Our graduates have certainly worked very hard to get here; but they did not get here on their own. Family, spouses, friends, and loved ones helped them along the way. Please join me in thanking them for their sacrifice and the support that has allowed these young doctors to make it to this day."

Provost Peter Heath, representing AUB President John Waterbury in congratulating the graduates, said: "You must serve as an educational model for members of the younger generations who aspire to become physicians... You must still seek new opportunities to expand knowledge... And because service lies at the heart of the medical profession, it will always be a constant part of your daily lives."

Dr. Nadim Cortas, Vice President for Medical Affairs and the Medical Center, encouraged the students to embrace the changes they will be encountering. "Beware of stagnating in your profession," he said. "You should continuously seek to improve and keep abreast of the latest medical advances."

Dr. Cortas also told the graduating class that AUBMC plans to add 15 extra operating rooms to the center and will be upgrading its scientific programs and outpatient services to include new facilities in three Lebanese cities other than Beirut.

Dr. George Aftimos, the president of the Lebanese Order of Physicians, called on the graduates to keep in mind the challenges that the profession is facing, such as the over-saturation of certain medical specialties that pushes many graduating doctors to emigrate. He also criticized the absence of regulations for herbalists in Lebanon, who have been recently filling in for doctors.

Dr. Mohammed Khalifeh, outgoing Minister of Health and a member of the AUBMC faculty, said: "Embrace the new phase you are embarking on...and remember that you are graduates of one of the best and most noble universities."

Dr. Charbel Rameh, who delivered an address on behalf of the graduating class, told them to remember that the medical profession is a way of life that is characterized by caring for others. "If our patients cannot tell how much we care for them, they will not care about how much we know," he said.