Dear members of the AUB community:
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Wassim Abou Kheir has received the prestigious Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers for 2025 in the field of medical and health sciences for the topic “the use of stem cells in treating incurable diseases." A professor in the Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Physiological Sciences as well as director of graduate student affairs in the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Abou Kheir was selected for this highly competitive award from among 522 outstanding nominees who were judged based on the originality, quality, and impact of their research.
Established in 1982, the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers recognizes outstanding scientific output whose distribution and dissemination contributes to the advancement of scientific and applied knowledge. It aims to support and highlight scientific research throughout the Arab world and to contribute to the preparation and inspiration of a generation of Arab researchers, experts, and specialists in various scientific fields.
Dr. Abou Kheir is at the forefront of stem cell research and translational medicine in the MENA region. His primary areas of expertise focus on two critical applications of stem cells. The first is the use of neural stem cells to stimulate the growth of new nerve tissue in the brain (neurogenesis) as a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. His other area of expertise is disease modeling using cancer stem cells derived from patients. He has established a groundbreaking platform for isolating and enriching cancer stem cells via 3D cell culture techniques and for disease modeling using patient-derived organoids, which are miniature organ-like structures that mimic the original tumor and have enormous potential for studying cancer progression and for identifying potential therapies.
At AUB, Dr. Abou Kheir has built a multidisciplinary research team and lab (the WAKers) that are performing unique and independent research in the MENA region on stem cells and their potential use in managing diseases. Notably, his lab was the first in this region to link urinary tract infection with reduced hippocampal neurogenesis, providing new insights into the impact of systemic infections on brain function. It is also the only lab in the region to have successfully established patient-derived prostate and colon organoids.
Dr. Abou Kheir is a highly cited researcher who has authored 57 peer-reviewed publications in just the last five years, serving as senior or corresponding author in the majority of them (47). He has secured competitive grant funding in excess of $1 million and has been recognized through prestigious fellowships from the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as well as the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences. His service to the profession includes being associate editor for the journals Frontiers in Cell and Development Biology and PLOS One. Of particular note is Dr. Abou Kheir's dedication to mentoring and training the next generation of researchers, training over 120 students and fellows ranging from undergraduates through postdocs, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry.
A son of Lebanon and AUB, Dr. Abou Kheir received his BS in biology from the Lebanese University, his MS in biology from AUB, and his PhD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US. In 2007, he joined the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2011, he returned to AUB and joined the Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Physiological Sciences.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Abou Kheir on this singular honor and wishing him the best of luck as he continues his trajectory of leadership, service, and research impact.
Best regards,
Fadlo R. Khuri, MD
President