AUB Medical Student to Lead International Association

Melhim Bou Alwan

An AUB medical student was elected as president of an international medical students association that groups more than one million medical students worldwide.

Melhim Bou Alwan, a fourth-year medical student, was voted in March as president of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) for the 2008-09 term. He will assume office in October. Bou Alwan is the first Lebanese and AUB student to be elected to that position at IFMSA.

"It is truly a great honor for the Faculty of Medicine, AUB, and all of Lebanon to have one of our own medical students, Melhim Bou Alwan, as the newly elected president of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations," said Fuad Ziyadeh, associate dean for Academic Affairs at the Faculty of Medicine.

Bou Alwan said he was eager to use the network of contacts he will make among NGOs and international organizations to promote Lebanese public health issues during his term. As president, he will spend a year in Geneva networking with NGOs and international organizations on health awareness projects.

Founded in the Netherlands in May 1951, IFMSA is an independent non-governmental federation that represents more than one million medical students worldwide. Its goal is to raise awareness on public health issues and collaborate with international organizations on medical and health projects.

Bou Alwan is also the president of the Lebanese Medical Students International Committee, which was established in the 1960s by AUB medical doctors and was the first national member organization in IFMSA outside of Europe.