Las Vegas National Chapter
Minutes of meeting

Photos from Conference |  Lunch |  Dinner

The American Lebanese Medical Association held its yearly national meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada in February 24-26, 2006. The meeting was very well attended and all present were a part of a very successful meeting.

The meeting took off on Friday February 24, 2006 with a reception hosted by Dr and Mrs. Paul and Connie Wakim. The reception started at 6PM and lasted  well after 9PM. The guests came from all over the United States. It was an occasion to see old friends and an occasion to make new ones. It was a pleasure to meet face to face with a lot of the guests after talking to them on the phone or contacting them by e mail for well over a year.

Saturday, February 25 started with the medical meeting at 8PM.

The general theme of the lecturers was “Preventative Medicine”. The schedule of the lecturers was as follows:

• Prevention of breast cancer through Genetic and Clinical studies.
     Antoine Mansour, MD.

• Prevention  of Heart and cardiovascular Diseases.
     Bassam Omari, MD.

• Prevention of Eye Diseases and Glaucoma
     Hanna Shammas, MD.

• Prevention of Strokes and Complications
     Mike Kreidie, MD.

• Prevention of Diabetes & Complications
     Wael Salameh, MD.

• Prevention of Gastrointestinal Cancer
     Philip Salem, MD.

• Prevention of Osteoporosis
     Emile Wakim, MD.

• Prevention of heart disease through stem research
     Michel Nassar, MD.

Also on Saturday the elections of the new board members took place. The proxy votes mailed weeks before the annual meeting were added to the votes collected during the meeting and a new executive committee and new board members were formed. The newly elected Executive committee is:

• Paul Wakim, MD. National President; Huntington Beach, CA

• Imad Asmar, MD. National Vice President; Los Angeles, CA

• Joseph Hasrouni, RPh. National Treasurer; Anaheim, CA

The new Board members were also elected (Click Here for previous ALMA Board members) :

Founders and past Presidents are also members of the board:

Joe Jabre, MD. Boston, MA                         
Elie Ayoub, MD. Los Angeles, CA
Nabil Feghali, MD. Los Angeles, CA    

Congratulations to all the new executive committee and to all the board members. As of the ALMA bylaws these officers will serve a term of two years.

Lunch was served around 1:30PM. During lunch, Mr. Joseph Hasrouni, RPh. Introduced the new executive committee and board members to the ALMA members at large,  and to all the participants and their guests. Dr. Elie Ayoub, founder and past national president, took the occasion to thank all the participants, and specially to congratulate the executive committee for a job well done. He thanked Dr. Paul Wakim for taking ALMA to another height.“ Today ALMA has more chapters through out the United States than any other time in its young history”, said Dr Ayoub.

After a mid afternoon break it was time for the dinner banquet honoring two of Lebanon’s two famous sons: Dr Michael Debakey and Dr Philip Salem. Although Dr Michael Debakey was unable to attend the meeting due last minute health problem, but his presence was felt  in the room by all the guests present. Dr Philip Salem talking about Dr Debakey said: Dr Debakey does not need an introduction in America and particularly not to an audience of Medical professionals. ALMA gave Dr Debakey the title “Doctor of the Century” and indeed he was the  “Surgeon of the Century” and what a source of pride to be a contemporary of this man; what an even greater honor, that he is one of us. Dr Philip Salem went on to say: Ladies and Gentlemen; There is a myth that surrounds every great man; and in almost every instance, the myth is bigger than the man, but in the case of Michael Debakey, the man is bigger than the myth.

We also had the honor to listen to Dr Hanna Shammas who presented the introduction of our honoree Dr Philip Salem. Dr Shammas said: It is indeed a pleasure to introduce our honoree, Dr Philip Salem. I am proud to say that I have known Dr Salem for over 30 years, when I started my residency at the American University of Beirut. Dr Salem has 4 major qualities that are essential for any Doctor to be exceptional:

1. He possesses an exquisite knowledge of his specialty

2. He treats his patients not as case numbers but as a person with disease, often becoming their friend and attending to different aspects of their affliction.

3. He never loses hope or give up, even when every one else does.

4. And most of all, he is humane. Although he already had the most famous and the richest clientele in the Middle East, from presidents to emirs to businessmen, he always found the time to treat the poor in the same manner he treated all his patients. 

Dr Philip Salem came to the podium with a standing ovation from all his colleagues, their families and their guests. When he spoke, you could hear and feel the excitement in his voice. After Thanking ALMA, its president and the board members he said:

What is dear to my heart in this honor is the fact that it comes from people who are the descendants of a sacred land, Lebanon….There is no contradiction whatsoever in being a devoted Lebanese and a grateful citizen of the United States of America…One of the big challenges for the American Lebanese Medical Association is to contribute to Lebanon. We should reverse the brain drain and put our talents and our resources in the service of Lebanon, not only in the area of Medicine and medical care, but also in areas that would eventually shape the new Lebanon we aspire for.   

We want to thank all who participated in the meeting. We honor your presence with us and appreciate all you do for the success of ALMA. It was indeed a very successful meeting, not only for all the new idea that was exchanged in the field of Preventative Medicine but also for all the people we socialized with, all the old friendships that were resurrected, for all the new faces and colleagues we had the chance to meet and shake their hands.

Joseph Hasrouni RPH
ALMA National Treasurer