The American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) inaugurated, on March 1, 2018, the “Professor Samir E. Alam Heart Failure Unit”, the first of its kind in Lebanon to offer cutting-edge medical care for patients with advanced heart failure. The new unit will take a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to diagnosing and treating this condition. This sophisticated unit will provide hospitalized heart failure patients with highly coordinated, interdisciplinary care focused on enhancing quality of life and reducing future hospitalizations.

Dr. Fadlo Khuri, AUB President, said: “This unit will be the go-to referring center for the treatment of advanced heart failure through Lebanon and the whole region, implementing new protocols and therapeutic approaches with an enhanced time of world-class specialists. This kind of engaged philanthropy will ensure our mission of research, teaching, and service for many years and decades to come.”

Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. Although there’s no cure for heart failure but patients can lead a healthy life when the condition is managed with adequate medications and healthy lifestyle changes. The newly established unit will therefore provide individually tailored therapy, including state-of-the-art medications, innovative technologies and intensive heart-health education.

Dr. Mohamed H. Sayegh, Executive Vice President for Medicine and Global Strategy and the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine said: “The unit sets a great example of how society works where a physician gets recognized by his patients for the great care they received by facilitating the provision of better care to the community through their donations.”

The new unit will be part of the Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Division and will assemble under one roof all the technology and therapeutic interventions as well as the designed protocols to improve patient care and increase intervention success. The dedicated inpatient advanced heart failure unit is driven by a team approach with a well-trained team to provide specialized care in coordination with multiple specialties.

Professor Samir E. Alam, Chief of Staff and Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at AUB said, “Heart failure represents a major clinical and global health challenge. Despite the dramatic advances in many aspects of cardiology, heart failure has lagged behind, elusive and frustrating, leading to excessive mortality and economic burden. The new unit will brace for immense progress in the treatment of this treacherous condition.”

“Although heart failure affects thousands of patients in Lebanon, up to date there was no specialized center to offer a holistic approach,” said Dr. Hadi Skouri, Director of Cardiac Care Unit Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation. “Several milestones in the heart failure field in the region have been initiated at AUBMC, especially with the first implantation of left ventricular assist device in Lebanon and the region for treating advanced refractory heart failure in August 2009.”

The new cutting edge technologies to be soon implemented at this unit offer greater hope for heart failure patients in Lebanon and the region. The Professor Samir E. Alam Heart Failure Unit aims at becoming the leading center of excellence in Lebanon and the region as it represents a key milestone in AUBMC’s comprehensive mission to serve patients and the community, in concordance with the international standards.