American University of Beirut

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Steering Committee:

• Mariette Awad, PhD, 
  WiDSAUB co-ambassador, Associate Professor, MSFEA​​

  Prof. Mariette Awad is an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the American University of Beirut. Her book “Efficient Learning Machines: Theories, Concepts and Applications for Engineers and Systems”, published in 2015, is among the most open source downloaded books for Summer 2020 according to Springer Nature. She has more than 100 patents, conferences and journals articles and she is managing multimillions grants and multidisciplinary international collaborations.  She is a founding member of the UN ESCWA Knowledge Hub in Beirut and assists in solving central problems related to the knowledge management and decision support processes in the region. She is a WIDS ambassador and she has lead a hackathon, an AI summer school, and founded WIE affinity student group at AUB and the WIE Lebanon chapter. Prior to her academic position, she was with IBM System and Technology group where she earned management recognition, several business awards, and multiple patents. Her current research interests include machine learning, data analytics and internet of things. ​
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• Lina Daouk-Öyry, PhD                                                                                                                      Associate Professor in Organizational Behavior and HR Management                                  Director of Evidence-based Healthcare Management Unit (EHMU)| AUB OSB                       Beirut, Lebanon                                                                           

  Lina Daouk-Öyry is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB), specializing in employee assessment, development, and retention particularly in the healthcare sector. Lina is interested in exploring personality, competencies, and other individual differences among healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, and hospital middle managers) and how they influence job related variables relevant to today's business context. Lina is also the Founding Director of the Evidence-based Healthcare Management Unit (EHMU), a cross-disciplinary unit based at AUBMC, which promotes the use of data and evidence for improving decision-making and consequently employee experience and service delivery in hospital settings.
  

• ​Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, MD, MPH, FRCP
  ​Professor of Medicine, Founding Director of Calcium Metabolism and Osteoporosis Program, and WHO Collaborating Center for Metabolic Bone Disorders Scholars in Health Research Program at American University of Beirut, Lebanon​

  ​Dr. Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan is Professor of Medicine, Physician-Scientist, at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Beirut, Lebanon. She is founding Director of the Calcium Metabolism and Osteoporosis Program, WHO Collaborating Center for Metabolic Bone Disorders, and of the Scholars in HeAlth Research Program at AUB. Dr. El-Hajj Fuleihan obtained her MD degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB), completed residency and fellowship training at the New England Deaconess and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. She holds a master in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, Clinical Effectiveness concentration. She is the PI/PD on multiple investigator initiated grants, including the NIH D43 capacity-building grant, awarded a 5-year competitive renewal (2020-2025). Dr. El-Hajj Fuleihan’s laboratory focuses on generating evidence on the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of hypovitaminosis D, osteoporosis, and other metabolic bone disorders. She leads a team that conducts clinical trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, and translates findings into prevention and treatment strategies. She closely collaborates with the Ministry of Health officials and international experts to generate evidence-based national and international care pathways. These include guidance and guidelines on metabolic bone diseases, by OSTEOS, ISCD, IOF, ASBMR and the Endocrine Society. She led the IOF Middle East Africa audit, launched FRAX Lebanon, the first fracture risk calculator in the Middle East. She has mentored over 64 postgraduate trainees and junior faculty; several are pursuing careers in clinical translational research, at AUB, or in the US. 
  Dr. El-Hajj Fuleihan has published on her topics of interest in over 190 publications, mostly peer reviewed original investigations, chapters, invited reviews, and penned invited several Editorials, Scientific Position Statements, and commentaries in the New England of Medicine, and Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Nature Reviews Endocrinology. Dr. El-Hajj Fuleihan is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, and recipient of several awards including the 2013 International Society of Clinical Densitometry John P. Bilezikian Global Leadership Award, the 2016 Endocrine Society International Excellence in Endocrinology Laureate Award, and the 2017 Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health Award of Merit. She served as Clinical Science Chair, Endocrine Society’s Annual Meeting 2019; and serves a three year term on its board of directors. She also holds a lifelong appointment as the Bernard Lown Scholar in the Department of Global Health and Population, at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health.

• Lama Moussawi
  

  Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development​, Associate Professor of Management Science, Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, 
  American University of Beirut

Dr. Lama Moussawi is an Associate Professor at the American University of Beirut, conducting research and teaching in the field of Management Science. Dr. Moussawi graduated with a BS in Computer Science from the American University of Beirut, and has an MBA, Master in Supply Chain Management, and a PhD degree in Management Science from the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Moussawi is actively involved in promoting and supporting women in the field of Data Science. She is the founder and Chair of the Women in Data Science conference at AUB, and the founding chair of the AUB Committee on the Lives and Careers of Women at AUB. She is also a co-PI of a $1.5 million funded research project to develop an index on the status of women in the formal economies in the Arab MENA region. She is actively engaged in issues related to women in operations research at the WORMS (Women in Operations Research and Management Science) meetings at the annual international INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Science) conference, as well as the WIEA (Women in Industrial Engineering US-Turkey) workshops. Furthermore, Dr. Moussawi played a key role in developing a Master program in Business Analytics in the Olayan School of Business at AUB. Dr. Moussawi is thrilled to be a WiDS Ambassador, and to host the WiDS conference for the third time at AUB and sees it as a great opportunity to inspire young girls to join the field by showcasing global female leaders in Data Science, and educate the community of students, faculty, and business practitioners about the latest developments in the field.​