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Anti Microbial Resistance

Prof. Ghassan M. Matar

Chairperson for the Specialty Committee of Anti Microbial Resistance

Prof. Matar is currently a Professor & Chairperson in the Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology & Microbiology, Associate Director & Laboratory Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), and Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference & Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Faculty of Medicine at the American University Of Beirut

Professor Matar is a resource advisor in the WHO-Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Agents (AGISAR), Geneva and participates in its internationally organized meetings. He also serves as member of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC). He established in 2009 PulseNet Lebanon within PulseNet International/Middle East in collaboration with the MoPH under the sponsorship of CDC and WHO. He participates and contributes in MoPH/WHO/CDC sponsored PulseNet and WHONET workshops locally, regionally, and internationally. He also served as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Ambassador to Lebanon and Chair of the ASM Ambassador Leadership Circle (2011-2017)

Prof. Matar’s main research interest deals with investigating molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and combatting it by antimicrobial combination therapeutic options and beta-lactamase inhibitors among Gram-negative bacteria including Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter. He also investigates the genetics of Biofilm formation in Pseudomonas/ Acinetobacter and its inhibition by antifungal and antibacterial agents. He also investigates mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in other bacterial species and role of virulence their factors on severity of disease. He is recipient of funding from multiple extramural sources, including US Department of Defense (DOD, USA), WHO-AGISAR (Switzerland), Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC, USA), European Research Council (ERC, Europe), International Pharmaceutical Companies and others.

To present Prof. Matar teaches Basic and Medical Bacteriology to medical, graduate, and undergraduate students and served and still serving as an academic advisor to a significant number of graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows. He published an extensive number of articles in reputable refereed international journals, 4 e-books in Frontiers in Microbiology (Switzerland) and 1 book in ELSEVIER (UK). He has been invited as a speaker to numerous international, regional, and local conferences. He also serves as reviewer and editor in prestigious international journals like Frontiers in Microbiology, BMC in Infectious Diseases, Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Lancet, and others. He is a Top-Moderator in ProMED-AMR and ProMED-MENA, a program administered by the International Society of Infectious Diseases, USA. Prof. Matar can actively contribute in terms of reference and research on mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, its spread, prevention, and control. This is done within the context of the WHO for reference and research on bacterial pathogens serving EMR and globally, that Prof. Matar serves as Director.

Specialty Committees Members

Dr. Asem Shehabi

Dr. Asem Shehabi

Asem Shehabi

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Dr. Manal Younus

Dr. Manal Younus
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Dr. Salma Afifi

Dr. Salma Afifi

Dr. Salma is the senior medical epidemiologist and public health consultant for Egypt Ministry of Health and Population and World Health Organization, Egypt country Office. She is a former employee of the US Naval Medical Research Unit No.3. and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has Bachelor of Medicine from Cairo University, master’s degree of Epidemiology, Diploma of Occupational Health from Ain-Shams University in Cairo and FETP certificate from CDC, USA. She has participated in establishing FETPs at EMR, implementing surveillance systems and Rapid Response Teams in 10 countries in EMR. Her research focuses on respiratory infections, meningitis, viral hepatitis, healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, surveillance of communicable diseases and community-based interventions. She has published more than 20 articles in international journals and serving as associate editor for BMC Public Health Journal and a reviewer for many international peer reviewed journals.

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Prof. Rima Moghnieh

Prof. Rima Moghnieh

Prof. Rima Moghnieh, an infectious disease specialist and researcher, has been practicing medicine in Lebanon since 1996. She has assumed leadership positions in Infection Prevention and Control and in Antimicrobial Stewardship in several tertiary care hospitals in Lebanon. Dr. Moghnieh is the head of COVID-19 Unit and COVID-19 Vaccination Center at Makassed General Hospital in Beirut. She is the former president of the Lebanese Society for Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (LSIDCM). Dr. Moghnieh is an active member of the LSIDCM COVID-19 Taskforce. Since 2018, she has been appointed by the World Health Organization as a part-time consultant to develop the National Action Plan for the control of antimicrobial resistance in several Middle Eastern countries including Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Libya, Tunisia and Somalia. Dr. Moghnieh has co-authored over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Among her scholarly work is her leadership in publishing national clinical guidelines with the LSIDCM members for management of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia in adults, febrile neutropenia in the context of antimicrobial resistance, urinary tract infections and complicated intra-abdominal infections. Dr. Moghnieh is a principal co-author of the interim treatment guidelines for SARS-CoV-2 infection proposed by the LSIDCM COVID-19 Taskforce. Dr. Moghnieh's research interest is multidisciplinary where she has principally co-authored several papers in various fields of Infectious Diseases, Infection Prevention and Control in hospitals, Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Stewardship.

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