Monday, August 17, 2020
AUB and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have a long relationship dating back to at least 1965 – especially in the fields of medicine, nursing, and public health. In October 2017, JHU President Ronald J. Daniels visited the AUB campus where he met with President Fadlo R. Khuri and senior AUB colleagues.
Many AUB graduates are now working at Johns Hopkins including Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine Jamil Bayram, MD, who spearheaded an initiative to rally AUB alumni and friends at JHU in support of AUB and Beirut. Associate Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science Nagi Khouri, MD, worked closely with Bayram. They were both among the 11 “proud Hopkins faculty members of Lebanese heritage” who signed an email to Daniels and Dean Paul Rothman on August 6 asking if they could circulate an email to all JHU faculty members seeking support for the AUBMC Disaster Response to the August 4 Beirut Explosion. “All of us at Johns Hopkins have received many requests from colleagues at Johns Hopkins asking how they can help AUB and Lebanon,” said Khouri. “It has been deeply touching.” Rothman responded within two hours to the email from AUB alumni expressing JHU’s strong support for the initiative. “I am profoundly grateful to President Daniels and to all of our friends at Johns Hopkins for their strong support at this critical time,” said AUB President Fadlo Khuri.
In an email they sent to Johns Hopkins Medicine faculty and staff later the same day, Rothman and Kevin W. Sowers, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and EVP of Johns Hopkins Medicine, invited colleagues to support AUBMC. They also expressed their commitment “to stand in support of the people of Beirut during this challenging time.”