Brief History of the AUB Medical Photography Department

Raif E. Nassif, MD

To meet the needs of the School of Medicine for clinical photography (patients and gross pathology) and for photomicrography of both normal and pathological tissues, the "Department of Medical Photography" was set up relatively early in the history of the American University of Beirut Medical Center. As far as could be determined, the first photographer appointed was Mr. Haigaz Artinian who started work on April 15, 1938. He was in charge of the technical side under the administrative supervision of the professor of histology. A committee was also set up to advise on policy and needs. The department was located in the basement of Van Dyck hall, the basic medical sciences building that had been completed a few years earlier. Patients who were able were escorted from the old hospital across Bliss Street to to Van Dyck hall to be photographed, or alternatively, Mr. Artinian would go to the hospital to photograph patients. As the workload increased, Mr. Hagop Chohmelian was appointed as assistant technician on May 14, 1945.

In 1970, the new medical center was completed. This was further away from the Photography Department. It became very inconvenient to escort patients back and forth. For this reason, it was decided to move photography closer to the clinical departments. Thus, space was allocated in the basement of Building 56, where it remained until the fall of 1996, at which time it was moved again to permit installation of the Lithotripsy Department. Thus, the department was moved back to the basic sciences building, but this time the Diana Tamari Sabbagh building.

At first, all photomicrography was done on a Zeiss optical bench that fell into disuse as departments acquired their photomicrography setups. Originally, only work for the medical school was accepted; later, work for the whole university was accepted.

Mr. Artinian emigrated to Canada in May 1958. Mr. Chohmelian replaced him as senior technician, and Mr. Antoine Sarrou' was appointed to assist him in August 1958. In May 1976, Mr. Chohmelian resigned and left the country. Mr. Sarrou' was alone in charge until the appointment in June 1977 of Mr. Kamal Fares as master photographer in charge. Mr. Fares resigned in January 1985 because of the war in Lebanon. Mr. Sarrou' single handedly saw the department through all the difficult years. He retired on May 31, 2003. Mr. Hasan Nisr was appointed in January 1997 to help Mr. Sarrou' particularly with the nascent digital photography. In January 2004, Mr. Mazen Jannoun was appointed to replace Mr. Sarrou' and help with the expanding digital photography.

The department is credited with many "firsts" in Lebanon, whether in equipment or in type of work produced such as the optical bench and photomicrography, development of the color film and production of teaching slides, to mention a few.