MEAMS Middle East Annals of Medical Sciences - Saint Joseph University of Beirut
2ND NATIONAL RESEARCH DAY LEBANESE MEDICAL SCHOOLS
Introduction
Editorial Note from the Vice-Rector for Research at USJIt is with great joy and deep academic conviction that we present the first issue of the Middle Eastern Annals of Medical Sciences (MEAMS), a scientific journal led by the Faculty of Medicine at Saint Joseph University of Beirut.
The creation of MEAMS is part of our university’s strategic vision: to strengthen the visibility and impact of research, to encourage scientific excellence, and to contribute actively to the major health challenges of our region and the world. Through this journal, we affirm our commitment to open, inclusive, and accessible science in the service of medical progress and health equity.
MEAMS aspires to become a leading scientific platform for the Middle East region while fully engaging in international academic dialogue. Its multidisciplinary scope ranging from clinical medicine to fundamental biomedical sciences, from public health to health policy, from biotechnology to digital health reflects our conviction that contemporary health challenges require cross-cutting approaches that integrate basic research, technological innovation, and clinical application.
In a regional context marked by complex epidemiological transitions, humanitarian crises, persistent inequalities, and rapid changes in health systems, MEAMS seeks to serve as a space for rigorous reflection and responsible innovation.
Beyond scientific production, MEAMS also aims to support early-career researchers, foster interdisciplinary and international collaborations, and promote high standards of integrity, transparency, and methodological quality. The rigor of the peer-review process will ensure the credibility of the published work.
MEAMS is also intended to be an open and unifying journal. Although initiated by the Faculty of Medicine at USJ, it is open to all faculties of medicine, schools of public health, and health institutions in Lebanon. We hope it will become a national space for scientific convergence, fostering interuniversity synergies and strengthening the collective visibility of Lebanese medical research on the international stage.
This inaugural issue marks the beginning of a collective ambition by including the abstracts presented at the National Research Day (NRD), organized by USJ on May 3, 2025, as well as those from FRON (Forum de Recherche en ONcologie), presented on September 13, 2026. It bears witness to the academic vitality of the faculties of medicine in Lebanon and to the ability of our scientific community to propose evidence-based solutions that are adapted to local realities and relevant on a global scale.
I warmly thank the editorial board and all the collaborators who contributed to the launch of this journal. Their commitment reflects the spirit of service, rigor, and innovation that characterizes our university.
We sincerely hope that MEAMS will become a dynamic scientific crossroads, fostering the sharing of knowledge, dialogue among disciplines, and the building of sustainable health for all.
Prof. Richard Maroun
Vice-Rector for Research
Saint Joseph University of Beirut
Editorial Note from the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at USJ
Some initiatives go beyond the mere launch of a journal. They reflect a collective decision: not to passively endure the times, but to understand them, shed light on them, and respond through science.
With this inaugural issue of the Middle Eastern Annals of Medical Sciences (MEAMS), the Faculty of Medicine at Saint Joseph University of Beirut takes a founding step and affirms a clear and powerful intention: to make scientific writing a culture, to firmly anchor medicine in thought, and thought in action. For our mission is not only to heal, nor only to teach, but to connect these two imperatives through a third pillar: to produce, organize, and transmit knowledge that is built, revisited, and shared.
In our lecture halls, our departments, our laboratories, and our hospitals, we know that progress is never automatic. It arises from a discipline: observing with precision, questioning with honesty, comparing, documenting, and then sharing. Publishing means, on the one hand, accepting accountability, and on the other, transforming experience into argument, a result into a point of reference, and an intuition into a question. Publication also teaches us humility: the humility of allowing facts to speak before convictions.
I hope that MEAMS will become a place of both rigor and momentum: a journal that values clarity, relevance, and the strength of its messages. A science that does not merely accumulate pages, but illuminates medical decision-making and improves practice.
Yet MEAMS is not intended to be an isolated voice. From the outset, it is an invitation. An invitation to other faculties of medicine, institutes and schools of health sciences, hospital teams, and research units to make this journal a shared space, where perspectives intersect, where ideas are discussed with respect, and where collaboration becomes a method. For the challenges we face in education, care, research, and public health call for responses built together.
To our students, our physicians, and our fellow health professionals, MEAMS also conveys a message: research is not a territory reserved for a select few; it is a mindset. It teaches us to question methodically, to argue rigorously, and to serve patients with greater accuracy and fairness.
This first issue opens a trajectory. May we inscribe in it, issue after issue, the same ambition: to write in order to heal better, to share in order to educate better, and to build together a more just medicine because it is better thought through.
Prof. Elie Nemer, MD
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Saint Joseph University of Beirut
