18-5-2016-The Pan Arab Congenital Heart Disease Association (PACHDA) elected Dr. Fadi Bitar, Professor and Director of AUBMC Children’s Heart Center (CHC) and Associate Dean for EMA as its President in May 2016. The PACHDA is a scientific non-profit-making organization, founded in 2002, in Alexandria, Egypt. It aims at promoting the study of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) in the Arab World and encompasses under its umbrella cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, intensivists, anesthesiologist, researchers and others whose primary interest is in the practice or research in CHD.
Professor Bitar will spearhead the organization and reform its infrastructure with a plan that aims to introduce new educational programs, establish regional and international networking/collaborations/awareness programs, promote charitable activities and support research in the field of pediatric cardiology throughout the Arab World. The plan will also promote establishment of relations between workers in the field of congenital heart disease in the 22 Arab countries and all over the world.
The election of Dr. Bitar at the helm of the PACHDA attests to the leading role of AUBMC Children’s Heart Center in the region. Dr. Bitar heads a multidisciplinary team of leading pediatric cardiologists, pediatric surgeons, intensivists and anesthesiologists at the Children’s Heart Center. AUBMC CHC team introduced new modalities and techniques for treatment of heart disease, including procedures that were first of their kind in the world. In addition, the center’s team reported worldwide discoveries of novel genes responsible for CHD and earned several research grants including the prestigious Harvard-Dubai Research Foundation Grant.
AUBMC Children’s Heart Center is supported by the charitable organization, Brave Heart Fund, whom Dr. Bitar is one of its co-founders. Brave Heart Fund, was established to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to needy families suffering from CHD. It will also collaborate through the PACHDA with the various charitable organizations that aim to support children with CHD in the Arab World.
