Elie Akl is a Professor of Medicine at the Department of Internal Medicine; Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, American University of Beirut; Associate Member at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, Canada; Director of Clinical Epidemiology Unit at the Clinical Research Institute, American University of Beirut; and Co-Director of the Center for Systematic Reviews of Health Policy and Systems Research (SPARK).
His research interests include venous thrombosis, clinical trial methodology, systematic review methodology, and guideline development.
Elie is an internist and a clinical epidemiologist. He is an active member of the GRADE working group and serves as a guideline methodologist for a number of medical professional organizations and the World Health Organization.
He holds an MD (1999) from Université Saint Joseph, Lebanon; an MPH (2004) from the State University of New York, USA; and a PhD (2008) from the State University of New York, USA.
Contact Information
Phone: +961 1 350000
Extension: 5490
Selected Publications
1. El-Jardali, F., Akl, E., Fadlallah, R., Oliver, S., Saleh, N., El-Bawab, L., Rizk, R., Farha, A., Hamra, R. Interventions to combat or prevent drug counterfeiting: A systematic review. BMJ Open (in press), 2015
2. Agoritsas T, Heen AF, Brandt L, Alonso-Coello P, Kristiansen A, Akl EA, Neumann I, Tikkinen KA, Weijden Tv, Elwyn G, Montori VM, Guyatt GH, Vandvik PO. Decision aids that really promote shared decision making: the pace quickens. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 2015;350:g7624-g7624.
3. Guyatt GH, Schünemann HJ, Djulbegovic B, Akl EA. Guideline panels should not GRADE good practice statements. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2014.
4. Fares MM, Alkhaled LH, Mroueh SM, Akl EA. Vitamin D supplementation in children with asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Research Notes. 2015;8.
5. Akl EA, Diab B, Iorio A, et al. Impact of missing participant data for dichotomous outcomes on pooled effect estimates in systematic reviews: a protocol for a methodological study. Systematic reviews. 2014;3:137.
6. Akl EA, Ramly EP, Kahale LA, et al. Anticoagulation for people with cancer and central venous catheters. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2014;10:CD006468.
7. Kristiansen A, Holme P, Flem Jacobsen A, et al. Adaptation of trustworthy guidelines developed using the GRADE methodology: a novel five-step process. Chest. 2014;146:727.
8. El-Jardali F, Akl EA, Karroum LB, et al. Systematic reviews addressing identified health policy priorities in Eastern Mediterranean countries: a situational analysis. Health research policy and systems / BioMed Central. 2014;12:48.
9. Alkhaled L, Kahale L, Nass H, Brax H, Fadlallah R, Badr K, Akl EA. Legislative, educational, policy and other interventions targeting physicians' interaction with pharmaceutical companies: a systematic review. BMJ open. 2014;4:e004880.
10. Akl EA, Guyatt GH. In intermediate-risk acute PE, tenecteplase plus heparin reduced hemodynamic decompensation but increased stroke. Ann Intern Med. 2014 Sep 16;161(6):JC8.
11. Akl EA, Guyatt GH. Review: In pulmonary embolism, thrombolytic therapy reduces all-cause mortality but increases major bleeding. Ann Intern Med. 2014 Sep 16;161(6):JC9.
12. Marlene Chakhtoura, Ghada El Hajj Fuleihan, Elie Akl, Asma Arabi, Sara El Ghandour, Khaled Shawwa. Effects of different doses of Vitamin D replacement in Middle Eastern and North African population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PROSPERO 2014:CRD42014010488 Link
14. Elie A. Akl, Johnston Bradley C, Pablo Alonso-Coello, Ignacio Neumann, Shanil Ebrahim, Matthias Briel, Deborah J. Cook, Gordon H Guyatt. Addressing dichotomous data for participants excluded from trial analysis: a guide for systematic reviewers. PLOS ONE 25 Feb 2013
15. Akl EA, Briel M, You JJ, Sun X, Johnston BC, Busse JW, Mulla S, Lamontagne F, Bassler D, Vera C, Alshurafa M, Katsios CM, Zhou Q, Cukierman-Yaffe T, Gangji A, Mills EJ, Walter SD, Cook DJ, Schünemann HJ, Altman DG, Guyatt GH. Potential impact on estimated treatment effects of information lost to follow-up in randomised controlled trials (LOST-IT): systematic review. British Medical Journal. 2012 May 18;344:e2809
16. Akl EA, Schünemann HJ. Routine heparin for patients with cancer? One answer, more questions. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:661-662
17. Guyatt G, Akl EA, Crowther M, Schünemann HJ, Gutterman D, Zelman-Lewis S. Executive Summary. Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th edition: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines. CHEST 2012; 141(2)(Suppl):7S–47S
18. Elie A Akl, Andrew D Oxman, Jeph Herrin, Gunn Elisabeth Vist, Irene Terrenato, Francesca Sperati, Cecilia Costiniuk, Diana Blank, Holger Schünemann. Using alternative statistical formats for presenting risks and risk reductions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;3. CD006776
19. Gordon Guyatt, Elie Akl, Jack Hirsh, Clive Kearon, Mark Crowther MD, David Gutterman, Sandra Zelman Lewis, Roman Jaeschke, Holger Schünemann. The vexing problem of guidelines and conflict of interest: a potential solution. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2010;152 738-741
20. Bassler D, Briel M, Montori VM et al. Stopping randomized trials early for benefit and estimation of treatment effects: Systematic review and meta-regression analysis. JAMA. 2010;303(12):1180-1187
21. Elie A Akl, Swarna Gaddam, Sameer K. Gunukula, Roland Honeine, Philippe Abou Jaoude, Jihad Irani. The effects of waterpipe tobacco smoking on health outcomes: a systematic review. International Journal of Epidemiology; 2010 Mar 4
22. EA Akl, I Terrenato, M Barba, F Sperati, E Sempos, P Muti, DJ Cook, HJ Schünemann. Low molecular weight heparin versus unfractionated heparin for perioperative thromboprophylaxis in patients with cancer: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2008; 168(12):1261-1269.
23. E.A. Akl, N. Maroun, S. Major, C. Afif, B. Chahoud, J. Choucair, M. Sakr, H.J. Schünemann. Why are you draining your brain? Factors underlying decisions of graduating Lebanese medical students to migrate. Social Science and Medicine. 2007;64:1278–1284