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Beyond Bliss Streetc l a s s n o t e sRECENTLYHONOREDZaven Messerlian (BA ’59,MA ’64) was recently awardedthe Golden Medal of theMinistry of Education andSciences for the Republicof Armenia. The medal waspresented by the ArmenianAmbassador Ashod Kocharianat the 84 th commencementexercises of the ArmenianEvangelical College of Beirut.Messerlian is an educator, historian,and prolific author. Hehas been the principal of theArmenian Evangelical Collegefor the last 44 years.Nabil T. Nassar (BS ’61,MD ’65), professor of medicinein the Department ofInternal Medicine, Divisionof Infectious Diseases anddirector of the ExecutiveHealth and Travel MedicineProgram at AUB, wasrecently honored at the2011 annual graduation celebrationof the Departmentof Internal Medicine for hislong service to the department.While doing his residencyat AUB, Nassar wasselected for the competitiveAUB/Hopkins exchange programfor fellowship trainingat Johns Hopkins Universitywhere he earned an MPH.He returned to AUB in 1970to teach in the Department ofInternal Medicine and to headUniversity Health Services,better known as “the infirmary,”which he restructured.In 2004, he established theExecutive Health and TravelCenter and has served as itsdirector ever since.Khalil N. Bitar (BS ’68,PhD ’76), AmericanGastroenterology AssociationFellow, is a research professorand the director of theGI Molecular Motors Lab atthe University of MichiganMedical School. His laboratoryhas pioneered researchin neuro-gastroenterologyand motility. Bitar was honoredat the inaugural dinnerfor the League of ResearchExcellence in April 2011 bythe dean of the University ofMichigan Medical School.Bitar’s research, which hasbeen supported by theNational Institutes of Healthfor more than 30 years, focuseson novel approaches usingbiomedical engineering andregenerative medicine to treatneuromuscular diseases ofthe gastrointestinal tract.Marwan Refaat (BS ’99,MD ’03) received theHeart Rhythm SocietyKenneth Rosen Award in cardiacpacing and electrophysiologyand the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology ArabStudents’ OrganizationScience and TechnologyYoung ProfessionalAchievement Award in 2011.At AUB, Refaat earned hismedical degree with distinctionand was a PenroseScholar in 2003. He latercompleted an internal medicineresidency atMassachusetts GeneralHospital, Harvard MedicalSchool, and was a recipientof its Department of MedicineAward in 2007. He completeda fellowship in cardiovascularmedicine at theUniversity of PittsburghMedical Center and receivedthe Pittsburgh YoungInvestigator Award and theDr. Ziady Memorial Award foroutstanding achievement inthe care of cardiac patients in2010. Refaat is a cardiologistspecializing in cardiac electrophysiologyat the Universityof California San FranciscoMedical Center. He’s also ascientist at the GladstoneInstitute of CardiovascularDisease. [rifaatmarwan(at)hotmail.com]64 MainGate Fall 2011 | www.aub.edu.lb/maingate
Kamal Suleiman Salibi wasa cherished member of AUB’sfamily. Of the outpouring ofremembrances we received,here are just a few.Professor Kamal SuleimanSalibi was a great historian ofmodern Lebanon, the Arabworld, and the Bible; and aman of outstanding humanqualities. No words can fullyexpress what Dr. Salibi hasmeant to all of us who cameto know him or know hiswork. He was a courageouscritical historian, always willingto question received wisdomand even to changehis own views in light of hisfindings. To us at AUB, hewas an inspiring teacher whoinfluenced generations ofstudents and colleagues. Wewill always remember himfor his intellectual integrity,passion, humility, and aboveall for the love and care heprovided to his students andfriends.—Ahmad Dallal, AUB ProvostKamal Salibi is best knownfor his interpretive, provocativehistories of Lebanon andthe wider Middle East, butto those of us who knewhim, he was also a delightfulraconteur and always goodfor a glass of whiskey anda cigar. But, when I first methim in 1970, he was… theintellectual guru of the rightistLebanese student leagueon campus. And so whenI appeared in his course,The Arab East, 1516-1920,I expected that I would begetting the Phalangist versionof history, and thatMount Lebanon would bethe center-piece of the storyof the Arab East. Salibi didhave a distinctive slant to hisversion of Arab history, but Ifound the course full of eyeopeningcomparisons that Ihad not anticipated.My most valuable experiencewith Salibi occurredoutside the classroom. Onone Spring break, I ran intohim in central Syria. When Isaw him walkingaround firstin squares andthen in circles,all the whilescribbling notesto himself, Ithought he mustbe loony. I didn’texpect someonewith hisreputed politicalviews to be travelingthere.Eventually,my curiosity gotthe better of meand I went up toask him what he was doing.He didn’t seem surprised tosee me. His response wassimple and to the point andit is one that has remainedwith me all these years. Hesaid that he could not writehistory without first imagininghow the land he waswriting about looked. Hesaid that he was preparinga book on Syria in classicalIslamic times and that heneeded to get a feel for thecountryside and the townsand the distances betweenplaces, and to establishsome reasonable metrics.This is how he spent hisvacations, walking the land.The desire to see and touchthe land, to walk all over it,to imagine how it might havebeen, and thus to render thepast somehow tactile is themost important lesson I tookaway from Kamal Salibi. Ihave tried to apply it to myown scholarship, but neverwith his imagination or success.—Philip S. KhouryChairman of theAUB Board of TrusteesMost people don’t know thatSalibi was a talented musicianas well. Kamal led theAUB Men’s Glee Club whenI was at AUB in the early1960s. He wrote a numberof excellent arrangementsof well-known songs for theGlee Club, including oneof the Lebanese NationalAnthem. Kamal’s late brother,Sami Salibi, who ownedand operated a music schoolnear AUB, conducted usduring concerts.—John Makhoul (BEN ’64)www.aub.edu.lb/maingate | MainGate Fall 2011 65
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Fall 2011 Vol. X, No. 1All in theFa
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All in the FamilyMainGate Fall 2011
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P r e s i d e n t ' s v i e wAmong
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.edu.lbAt AUB, 2,980 studentsreceiv
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Seen and HeardIn the fall of 2011,
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The 1867 leather bound medical manu
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