The department now known as Radiation Oncology was, for many years, part of the department of radiology. In 1979, Dean Raja N. Khuri made the decision to separate radiotherapy from radiology, creating the Department of Radiation Therapy. Dr. Philip Issa served as its founding chair until 1997. In 1998, the department was renamed the Department of Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Issa joined AUBMC in 1953 and served the institution for 46 years. He was recruited by the late Dr. Leonardo Giacci. Dr. Issa had studied medicine at Saint Joseph University and trained in radiation therapy and oncology at the Curie Institute in France. He recalled that when he first joined AUBMC, he did not speak English and had to learn the language through daily practice and experience. He was, in fact, the first Lebanese member of the medical staff who had not been a graduate of the AUB Faculty of Medicine.
During his years at AUBMC, Dr. Issa interacted with several visiting specialists who praised the quality of medical care provided at the institution. Dr. Haagensen, a specialist in breast cancer and soft tissue tumors, spent time at the hospital and contributed to meetings and conferences. He reportedly remarked that, apart from England at the time, AUBMC was among the best hospitals in Europe and the Middle East.
Dr. Issa also reflected on the state of the hospital during the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975. He recalled that the department's only physicist left during the war, requiring him and Dean Raja N. Khuri to identify a replacement. They eventually interviewed Dr. Nagalakshmi in Bombay, India, who was appointed as a physicist and served AUBMC for 11 years. Dr. Nagalakshmi left the institution in 1998.
The first machine used in the department was the “Deep Therapy" machine, a 250 kV X-ray unit. The first high-energy machine was a cobalt unit donated to AUBMC by the Lebanese government in the 1960s, on the condition that AUBMC provide free treatment to a defined number of patients. Two additional cobalt machines were installed in the 1970s and 1980s. The last cobalt machine was taken out of clinical service in 1999.
A major renewal and remodeling of the department took place between 1995 and 1997 under the leadership of Dr. Samir Najjar, then dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, and Dr. Philip Issa, then chair of the department. The project included expanding the department to house two new bunkers for two new linear accelerators, installing a new simulator, and remodeling the physical layout to create additional clinic and office space. In late 1997, Dr. Fady Geara was appointed chair of the department.
Dr. Geara was recruited by Dean Samir Najjar from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and brought with him a modern vision for the clinical and technical development of radiation oncology at AUBMC. Under his leadership, several important changes took place, including the reorganization of the technical staff, the recruitment of two board-certified medical physicists, the creation of a radiation oncology residency program, and the development of several new radiation therapy procedures. The addition of modern equipment marked another turning point in the department's history to accommodate newer and more advanced dosimetry, treatment planning, and shielding laboratory equipment.
These advances included 3D conformal radiation therapy planning and delivery in 2000, high-dose-rate brachytherapy for gynecologic in 2001, and total body irradiation for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in 2004. Other advances were developed through interdepartmental collaboration, including stereotactic radiosurgery with Dr. Youssef Comair in neurosurgery in 1999 for the treatment of deep and surgically inaccessible intracranial lesions and intravascular coronary artery brachytherapy with Dr. Samir Alam in cardiology in 2000 for the treatment of in-stent restenosis after angioplasty. Additional advanced radiation treatment techniques were later adopted at AUBMC, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy and image-guided radiation therapy in 2010, 4-dimensional CT treatment planning and stereotactic body radiation therapy in 2013, respiratory gating with deep inspiration breath-hold in 2015, and prone breast irradiation in 2017.
The department also contributed to the development of radiation oncology services beyond AUBMC. It helped establish clinical service guidelines and quality assurance programs at King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan, in 2004 and at the Syrian Cancer Society in Damascus, Syria, in 2006. More recently, in 2014, AUBMC established an affiliation with Nabatieh Governmental Hospital to provide radiation oncology consultations and care to the community of South Lebanon.
Dr. Geara left AUBMC in 2021 to assume a leadership position in the United Arab Emirates. He was succeeded by Dr. Toufic Eid, who served as interim chair of the department until 2026. Dr. Eid assumed leadership during one of the most turbulent periods in Lebanon's recent history, guiding the department through the COVID-19 pandemic, the national economic collapse, and the 2023–2024 war. Despite these extraordinary challenges, the department maintained uninterrupted radiotherapy services and continued to provide essential cancer care to all patients. This continuity reflected Dr. Eid's steady leadership, the resilience of the faculty and staff, and the department's deep commitment to its patients.