Dr. Wassim Abou-Kheir, a tenured-professor at the American University of Beirut-Faculty of Medicine, specializes in cell biology and cancer research focusing on stem cells and cancer stem cells in solid tumors. He holds degrees from the Lebanese University (BS) and AUB (MS), and completed fellowships at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (PhD) and the NCI/NIH (Post-doc). In 2011, he established The WAKers research group at AUB, which investigates cancer progression, therapeutic targeting of cancer stem cells, disease modeling with patient-derived organoids, and neurogenesis. Dr. Abou-Kheir has mentored over 120 trainees and secured numerous grants and high-impact publications. He actively participates in international scientific communities (AACR, ISSCR, SFN, EACR) and holds key administrative and teaching roles at AUB (teaching and coordinating courses for undergrads, MS and PhD, Med I and Med II students). He is the director of graduate student affairs. His work bridges research, education, and leadership in biomedical science.

Roula M. Abdel-Massih is a Community Educator at Central Michigan University (2022 to present) and former Director of Product Development at GBAC/ISSA (2023 to 2024), where she led programs in hygiene, biosafety and public health. From 2003 to 2021 she was faculty at the University of Balamand, became Full Professor in 2017 and Biology Department chair (2008 to 2011). She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the American University of Beirut and a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow (2001). Her research focuses on natural bioactive compounds (antibacterial and antiproliferative) and the genotoxic effects of environmental pollutants. She has over 50 peer reviewed papers, book chapters and over 50 international talks. Roles include TWAS Young Affiliate (2011 to 2015), Co chair of the TYAN Executive Committee (2021 to present), STS Forum Future Leader (2015) and US National Academies Education Fellow (2015 to 2016). She completed Harvard APLD (2016) and Harvard Global Public Health Leadership Program (2025), holds IFBA Biorisk certification (2019) and ISO 35001 training (2025), received the TCGA grant (Emory, 2019), is an ISC Fellow (2023) and serves on the TWAS Ethics Committee (2025).