On September 7, 2015, the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) held a naming ceremony for the Ahmad and Jamila Bizri Neuro Outpatient Center. In attendance were the Bizri family, a number of dignitaries, and members of AUBMC community, including Chairman Philip Khoury and other members of the Board of Trustees. Also present were President Fadlo Khuri, Executive VP for Medical Affairs and Global Strategy and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Mohammad H. Sayegh, and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research and Director of the Abu-Haidar Neuroscience Institute (AHNI) and the Nehme and Therese Tohme Multiple Sclerosis Center, Dr. Samia Khoury.
Dr. Khoury thanked the Bizri family on behalf of AUBMC and AHNI for their generous gift. “It is only through benevolent donations like yours that we can meet our goal and attain our AUBMC 2020 Vision,” she said. “Your donation will contribute to the expansion of AUBMC and support the education of future doctors through scholarships.”
President Fadlo Khuri echoed the importance of the gift and added, “The AUB Medical Center is among the finest in the region and indeed the world. It serves the most severely injured and ill with state-of-the-art expertise and world-class compassion. This generous gift … helps the University make progress toward our goal of developing and supporting a just society.”
Representing the Bizri family, Mr. Wajih Bizri remarked that AUBMC was the obvious choice for the family’s gift, due to the world-class medical training and high-quality healthcare it offers. “My siblings and I carefully considered the various institutions we felt would best reflect our parents’ philanthropic spirit. Ahmad and Jamila Bizri were avid promoters of community initiatives, and we hope that the donation will bring quality care and innovative medical treatments to those in need,” he said.
The Ahmad and Jamila Bizri Neuro Outpatient Center is a state-of-the-art, three-story comprehensive multidisciplinary center which aims to combine AUBMC’s neurology and neurosurgery services under one roof. It comprises neurology and neurosurgery clinics, a diagnostic neurophysiology lab, and sub-specialized clinics, including the well-established Epilepsy Program. The Center will also be home to a Headache Clinic, an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Clinic, and a Movement Disorders Program that addresses diseases of balance, motor coordination, and tremor, such as Parkinson’s disease and dystonia.
The Ahmad and Jamila Bizri Neuro Outpatient Center is a significant leap for AUBMC in achieving its strategic objectives, bringing the medical center a major step closer to realizing the 2020 Vision.
