The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Balamand, since its inception in 2000, has been providing excellence in education in preclinical and clinical training. Today our medical school has earned national and international acclaim through its performance in the fields of education, research and clinical care.

The medical education program at the Faculty of Medicine has successfully addressed the demands and the challenges of our times by producing physicians that are knowledgeable, skilled, and communicate effectively with patients. Nowadays, students are facing increasing base of knowledge with advances in diagnosis and treatment options more than ever before. As such, a modern and efficient educational system became our utmost goal. Students need not only pass their courses but excel in various competencies. In order to meet these objectives, the curriculum has been redesigned in such a way as to maximize the effectiveness of education. Basic and clinical knowledge have been integrated following evidence-based education practices. The new strategy is to follow a systematic problem solving model in every teaching module: Analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate. Our qualified diverse local and international faculty should be able to implement this new curriculum and help the students acquire the needed proficiencies. The world has changed and the medical field is witnessing rapid evolutions. Artificial Intelligence has become fundamentally more important in medicine an data has become part of fabric of our knowledge. Accordingly, one of our main novel teaching objectives is to embrace the progress in this field while being analytical in dealing with the flow of data. Over the years and upon graduation, our students were easily able to pursue various residency and fellowship training either in Lebanon or in the USA (with excellent matching rate), Canada or Europe. Today, with the newly established Balamand Health Network of affiliated hospitals, the intention is to offer our postgraduate trainees a variety of experience that is comparable to most premiere medical centers in the world.

Fostering research remains one of priorities of The Faculty of Medicine. It has traditionally accomplished cutting-edge clinical and translational research and it continues to do so despite the various obstacles we are facing in Lebanon. In order to expand the medical science department, recruiting many faculty members was accomplished. It covered the fields of physiology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, biostatistics, immunology pharmacology and microbiology. Another major focus is to substantially attract more grants and financial research support through internal funding and extramural sources. A new special six-year combined Masters in Science and Medical Degree (MS-MD) program was started. It is intended to prepare students to become physician-scientists and serve as a backbone for the research productivity in a deeply-rooted academic environment.

At the clinical front, through the reputable affiliated hospitals and training sites, our faculty members have always provided superior patient care that is well acclaimed in the whole region. This has always been a source of great fulfillment to our medical school. With our recently established “International Advisory Board” , our faculty, students and trainees will get updates, share experience and have teaching rounds with competent renowned faculty from the USA and Europe.

Finally, my intention to students and trainees is to shape their mind and sculpt them to become skilled physicians and researchers. My advice to them is to master their career while enjoying the medical journey. I promise them my utmost academic and professional support.

Sami T. Azar MD
Professor of Medicine
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Science