Since 1902, AUBMC has been providing the highest standards of care to patients across Lebanon and the region. It is also the teaching hospital for the Faculty of Medicine at AUB (established in 1867) which has trained generations of medical students and physicians, and its graduates can be found at leading institutions around the world. AUBMC is the only medical institution in the Middle East to have earned the four international accreditations of JCI, Magnet, CAP, and ACGME-I attesting to its superior standards in patient-centered care, nursing, pathology/laboratory services and graduate medical education. Our goal is to provide the highest standards of patient-centered care, quality, and safety, partnered with service excellence. We at AUBMC will continue to focus on quality in an effort to continuously improve the services provided to patients.
When the current medical center was established and built in 1970, it transformed the delivery of health care in Lebanon and the Middle East; the results of which we still feel today, over 40 years later. To continue to maintain its leadership position in Lebanon and the region, AUBMC is committed to an ambitious new vision for the future – the AUBMC 2020 Vision - which will propel the Medical Center and medical care in the region to new levels of excellence and transform the delivery of health care for the next 100 years.
AUBMC's 2020 Vision is to be the leading academic medical center in Lebanon and the region by delivering excellence in patient-centered care, outstanding education, and innovative research. We believe, with a strong conviction, that the plans we have outlined for the coming eight years will allow us to compete with the best academic medical centers in the West. AUBMC is dedicated to plans to provide increased comprehensive medical services in terms of the type of these services, their number, and their availability to the largest possible constituents, both in Lebanon and the region. We are also dedicated to our heritage of strong academics and an unwavering commitment to research. Our new AUBMC 2020 journey will follow six major paths.
- The first path is providing patients with the highest standards of patient-centered care. Over the years, AUBMC has established itself as the most renowned, trusted and respected healthcare provider in Lebanon and the region by pioneering medical services and providing exceptional standards of quality healthcare. As embodied in our slogan "Our Lives are dedicated to yours"; the patient is at the heart of what we do.
- The second path is the recruitment of top-caliber, highly specialized, and accomplished faculty.To meet the demands of the expansion of the physical medical complex and its facilities, AUBMC has expanded its faculty base to meet the increasing patient flow expected with the expansion of services and facilities, opening of new centers, and overall growth. Since 2009, over 152 new faculty members have joined AUBMC from North America, Europe, and other institutions in Lebanon and the region to meet the needs of patients visiting AUBMC; hence, reversing the brain drains. All of the new recruits bring specialized and unique skills, including research, clinical and medical education.
- The third path is the academic innovation through the creation of clinical and research centers of excellence and the provision of outstanding medical education. In light of the regional demand for exceptional medical services and education, AUBMC continues to progress towards becoming a regional hub for clinical practice and research through the establishment of numerous first-of-their-kind research and academic centers, the latest and most ground-breaking of which is the Pillar Genomics Institute of Precision Medicine. This institute will revolutionize the way diseases are treated, linking advanced research and next-generation sequencing in the laboratory to the patient's bedside. In addition, AUBMC constantly assists others in capacity building through increased partnerships and research collaborations. As an academic medical center, AUBMC seeks to standardize and improve the ethical standards of human subject research aligned with the improvement of inter-disciplinary and inter-faculty research initiatives.
- The fourth path is the continued establishment of strategic partnerships and collaborations locally, regionally, and internationally. In order to be the leading medical institution in Lebanon and the region, AUBMC will have to be the institution of choice for partnership and collaboration in the region. In 2011, and for the first time in Lebanon, AUBMC signed an affiliation agreement with Keserwan Medical Center to tie a Lebanese private hospital with a regional leading academic center. On February 3, 2015 AUBMC signed another affiliation and cooperation agreement with Medrar Medical Center, a collaboration that changed healthcare delivery in the south of Lebanon. In addition, AUBMC seeks strategic partnerships that provide training opportunities, foster clinical exchange and collaboration, and improve access to more patients amongst other goals.
- The fifth path is investing in and expanding our facilities to meet the needs of the people in Lebanon and the region. A major initiative of the AUBMC 2020 Vision is the creation and implementation of the AUBMC 2020 New Medical Complex which will expand the medical center from a 350-bed to a 600-bed capacity institution. Throughout the past years, the medical center witnessed the establishment of state-of-the-art buildings including Souad and Wassef Sawwaf Building, the Medical Administration Building (MAB), and the Halim and Aida Academic and Clinical Center (ACC), the first facility in the region to focus on patient care, education, and research all in one place. The ACC is expected to welcome patients in Spring 2017.
In addition, the facility has expanded to include several centers of excellence in oncology, neuroscience, multiple sclerosis, and children cancer, as well as new clinical programs, services, and units.
- The sixth path is supporting the health of local and regional patients in need by ensuring their access to care. AUBMC is committed to improving the health of our entire regional community, particularly those with the most limited resources and means to do so. That includes patients with limited financial resources, as well as those that have been most affected by the turmoil that has plagued our region over the past several years. As a result, AUBMC has been in extensive work towards raising funds to help hundreds of needy patients and several funds such as the Brave Heart Fund, Neonate Fund, Openminds, the Displaced Needy Patients Funds, Social Services Department, the Mamdouha Bobst Mammography Fund and CCCL were established to guarantee the support of underprivileged patients. These funds have spent over 10 million dollars in the year 2015 to ensure the accessibility of sufficient healthcare for needy patients and extend a helping hand to all the people in need irrespective of gender, race, nationality, or religious affiliation.
We have quite an ambitious journey ahead, but with the loyalty and support of AUB leadership, our dedicated faculty and staff, and our community, we know that this can be accomplished. In 2012 and beyond, our commitment to you is that "Our lives are dedicated to yours".
Mohamed H. Sayegh, MD
Raja N. Khuri Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Professor of Medicine and Immunology
Executive Vice President for Medicine and Global Strategy, American University of Beirut
