Speakers

Samia Khoury

Place of Birth : Lebanon
Position : Director of the Abu Haidar Neuroscience Institute and Director of American University of Beirut Medical Center, Professor of Neurology, American University of Beirut
Field of study : Multiple sclerosis and other acquired demyelinating diseases

Prof. Samia Khoury is the Director of the Abu Haidar Neuroscience Institute, and the Director of the new AUBMC Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center at AUBMC in Beirut, the first MS center in the region. She is a professor of Neurology and Immunology at the American University of Beirut. Until 2013, she was the Jack, Sadie, and David Breakstone professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and served as the co-Director of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center, Boston. In 2007, Dr. Khoury was awarded the prestigious Kuwait Prize for Sciences by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences for her work in immunology. In 2022, she received the King Salman Prize for disability research.

Dr. Khoury received her Medical Diploma from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, in 1984, having been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society in 1983. She completed her neurology residency at the Case Western Reserve University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and her fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Neurologic Diseases.

Dr. Khoury is recognized as a world leader in MS, a disease that affects individuals in their prime that can lead to severe disability. She has published over 300 scholarly articles, reviews, and book chapters. Dr. Khoury’s research is focused on understanding the pathogenesis and mechanism of immune regulation/tolerance in multiple sclerosis. She is also involved in MS clinical trials and the investigation of MS biomarkers.

Experiences

• 1991-1994;  Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School
• 1994-1998;  Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
• 1998-2007; Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
• 2007-2009;  Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
• 2009-2011; Visiting Professor of Neurology at American University of Beirut
• 2009-2013;  Jack, Sadie, and David Breakstone at Harvard Medical School
• 2011; Professor of Neurology and Immunology    American University of Beirut
• 2011; Director, Multiple Sclerosis Center   American University of Beirut
• 2011; Director, Abu Haidar Neuroscience Institute, American University of Beirut
• 2012-2021;  Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, American University of Beirut
• 2012; Member, Academic Committee, American University of Beirut
• 2012-2021;  Chair, Research Committee, American University of Beirut
• 2013-2015; Visiting Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
• 2015; Senior Lecturer, Harvard Medical School
• 2017; Tenured Professor of Neurology and Immunology, American University of Beirut