The Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center has had a long-lasting tradition of excellence in providing state-of-the-art, medical care to sick children since its inception in the early 1930's. More recently, it has re-established itself as the leading Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in the region with services that rival the best in the world.

The department and its alumni have contributed to the advancement of pediatric medicine in areas of service, teaching, training and research, and many of its graduates and alumni have been world authorities in their fields. The department was also the first in Lebanon to recruit pediatricians with subspecialties and over the past ten years, to re-organize to develop centers of excellence and multidisciplinary programs providing state-of-the-art care in these subspecialties. The rich history of the department has been summarized through the efforts of the 2006-07 chief resident, several department members and staff and is included in this website under "Historical Overview".

The residency training program which was the first of its kind in the region has recently been re-structured according to ACGME requirements and is, thus, consistent with training programs in the United States. Our advisor system and program organization provide mentorship and guidance to help residents discover their personal career paths.

Groundbreaking research, basic and clinical science are now performed by department members and have received national and international recognition in terms of funding and publication in international medical journals.

The challenges of the future include, first and foremost, the ability to provide sick children with personalized and empathic primary care, together with the most advanced tertiary care they need, to train physicians capable of doing so and to contribute to the advancement of the pediatric services. This is a challenge our team in the department has been able to meet and is planning to continue to do so in the future with confidence and dedication.

Mohamad Mikati, MD
Chair, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Director, Adult and Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit