Edward J. Cupler, MD, FAAN is currently the Executive Director of Research Centre (RC)/Research & Innovation (R&I) and Consultant, Neurologist & Neuromuscular Diseases Specialist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC), KSA. He is an Adjunct Professor in the College of Medicine, AlFaisal University.
He is the founder of (SANEM) Saudi Arabian Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine branch of the Saudi Neurology Society (SNS). He earned his undergraduate studies and medical school at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He completed his Internal Medicine internship at Loyola University in Chicago & Neurology Residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston followed by a Neuromuscular Diseases Fellowship at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He initially joined KFSH&RC Riyadh from 1996-2005, where he was actively involved in clinical & basic research and post-graduate education. He then moved to Oregon Health Sciences University where he was the Director of Neuromuscular Diseases Center, Director of MDA Clinic and Co-Director of ALS Center of Oregon & held the Associate Professor of Neurology. He re-joined KFSH&RC Jeddah in 2010 as a Consultant & was appointed Deputy Executive Director. In 2021, he was relocated to Riyadh and was then appointed Executive Director in 2022. He has authored numerous academic publications, book chapters, web-based educational activities & abstracts & has delivered lectures at local & international conferences globally. He has also mentored young neurologists and has conducted research throughout his career.
Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA joined the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer
Center in New York back in 2001. Dr. Abou-Alfa specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and
in
particular, liver cancer. Dr. Abou-Alfa received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut,
Lebanon, and completed his post-doctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his MBA
from Columbia University.
Dr. Abou-Alfa serves as the chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Task Force for Hepatobiliary
Cancers,
the chair of the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) Non-AIDS Defining Malignancies (NADC) Liver/GI Task Force,
and
is the President-Elect for the International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology. Dr. Abou-Alfa has
lectured
worldwide on the subject on gastrointestinal malignancies. He serves as the chair the medical/scientific
board
of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and the Blue Faery Liver Foundation, and also serves on the National
Medical Advisory Committee of the American Liver Foundation.
Dr. Abou-Alfa has also spearheaded many international projects since 2006, and now serves on the
institutional
leadership panel for international healthcare. Dr. Abou-Alfa helped Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
establish a strong relationship with many institutions worldwide, with an ongoing faculty exchange, repeated
video-link conferencing, and class-training courses with China and the Middle East. These joint
collaborations
have led to the development of the first joint tissue bank with a shared database with Memorial
Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center and supported fellowship opportunities for excelling medical graduates. Dr. Abou-Alfa has also
helped promote and enhance the MSKCC international patients' referral base.
Dr. Maan Fares, MD, is a practicing cardiologist in the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of
Cardiovascular
Medicine, and Chairman of Global Patient Services, at the Cleveland Clinic.
The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and
hospital
care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned
physicians
with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and
innovation. The Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass
surgery
and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names the Cleveland
Clinic
as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey.
As a global health care organization with an international reputation for excellence in specialty care
particularly in cardiovascular diseases. The department of Global Patients Services helps in organizing the
care
and management of more than 5,000 patients annually. Patients arrive from all corners of the globe with
immensely diverse backgrounds seeking various health care needs. Their care demands excellence in management
of
complex medical illnesses and special cultural awareness to ensure a better experience and superb outcomes.
Dr. Fares is board-certified in cardiovascular disease, nuclear cardiology/cardiovascular imaging (Level II,
including SPECT and PET) and echocardiographic imaging (Level II) and has completed Level II training in
cardiac
CT angiography. He performs nearly 2,000 nuclear stress tests, 2,000 adult echocardiograms, and more than
2,500
stress tests and EKGs each year.
Dr. Fares earned his medical degree from the University of Damascus, School of Medicine, Syria. He completed
a
residency at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio, and a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at New
England
Medical Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Fares spent time on staff at the Massachusetts General
Hospital,
Boston, as a clinical associate in echocardiography. Prior to his appointment to the Cleveland Clinic
medical
staff in 2013, Dr. Fares was a member of the Ohio Permanent Medical Group/Kaiser Permanente medical staff
and
Chief of Cardiology. Additional positions he held with Kaiser Permanente Ohio include Associate Medical
Director
for Medical Specialties and member of the Board of Directors.
He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, American Society of Echocardiography and the American
Society of Nuclear Cardiology and is a founding member of the Syrian American Medical Society.
