The American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center (AUBMC) have been the major lifeline for the local population and foreign community in the Middle East during local, regional, and international crises.

The Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine has been providing life-saving medical care since 1958 – even during the worst and most tragic years in Lebanon. As stated by its former legendary chair Dr. Anis Baraka, “Our department’s main mission is [important] during peace but is even more important during tragic situations.” While the whole world was watching, AUBMC anesthesiologists have discharged their duties again and again, impartially and without prejudice, during the Lebanese Civil War, the 1982 Lebanon War, and the 2006 Lebanon War.

During these tragic times, hospital supplies arrived infrequently. Even with personnel and supply deficiencies, anesthesiologists still managed to provide high-quality services. They even used compressors to feed room air into anesthesia machines to save patients. They also got accustomed to using anesthetic techniques seen more often in field hospitals than in academic hospitals. AUBMC anesthesiologists proudly point to the fact that at no time was any patient denied anesthesia because of a shortage of resources.

In addition to our state-of-the-art clinical services, we are also recognized regionally as a center of excellence for physician training. The anesthesiology residency training program was introduced in 1954. Since then, 327 residents have graduated from the program. 2016 was an important turning point for our residency program because it was in July of that year that it was accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education - International (ACGME-I). The goal of this accreditation was not only to retain local graduates in their home country and improve clinical care, but, most importantly, to provide our graduates with a solid clinical pathway to attain subspecialty training in the US. Since the 2016 accreditation, more than 90 percent of our graduates have been able to join top renowned institutions in the US for anesthesiology subspecialty training.

It is of extreme importance for us to be able to continue to provide gold-standard patient care and train the best anesthesiologists in the region. Because of the political and financial hardships that have swept our country since 2019, our education, research, and clinical services have been affected at multiple levels. No one could have imagined how our challenges would mushroom. While still in the grip of a global COVID-19 pandemic, Lebanon is also facing its local currency halving and halving again in value, a national bankruptcy, poverty and unemployment spiraling upwards, shocking levels of inflation, and the destruction and trauma of the August 4 mega-explosion. There is no “rulebook” that delineates how to perfectly adjust to a situation such as this one. We have attempted to restructure many of our existing practices to address these very harsh and turbulent circumstances.

We are writing to ask for your support of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine “Fund for the Future” . Unfortunately, we are running short of anesthesia equipment and medical supplies, are dealing with very limited resources while supporting the education and professional development activities of our residents and being pushed to put many of our clinical trials on hold due to limited financial resources and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donations of any amount to the Department of Anesthesiology are welcome – and will enable our innovative work to thrive and flourish. Here are just some of the many initiatives that will benefit through your support for this critically important department:

1. Residency and Fellowship Program: to support trainees through their four years of residency training. Our residents have shown tremendous capacity and commitment to serve the medical needs of our community and region. Residents’ education and professional development have been adversely affected though by funding constraints. Your donations will enable us to provide our residents with subscriptions to important electronic educational resources and question banks, purchase the annual Anesthesiology Knowledge Test keys, sponsor the fees of residents’ USMLE exams and international elective rotations, support travel to conferences, grow their simulation training and e-learning, and nurture their scholarship opportunities.

2. Research Opportunities: to support research and other academic projects that allow the program to advance, evolve, and remain at the forefront of medical education and care.
3. Quality of Clinical Services: to enable us to purchase specialty equipment and medical supplies, and to sustain the delivery of outstanding care to patients from all walks of life.

We thank you for your support for the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine “Fund for the Future”, , our Medical Center, and Lebanon, at one of the most critical times for our country. Please click on one of the tabs above to support our program either through online donation, wire transfer, or by check.

To learn more about the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, check our website, or follow our social media pages: Facebook and Instagram.