With a truly impressive research record, Dr. Ali Taher is ranked in the top 0.1% of scholars worldwide studying anemia. Born in Lebanon, he received his bachelor’s and Medical Doctor qualifications at the American University of Beirut in 1982 and 1986 respectively. He then completed his internal medicine training and hematology and oncology fellowships in Lebanon and later the UK, at the Royal Free Hospital – where his clinical and research interest in thalassemia started. He then received his doctorate from Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2012.
Taher’s research interests ultimately led him back to the American University of Beirut, where he is now a Tenured Professor of Medicine within the Hematology and Oncology Division at the Department of Internal Medicine, Associate Vice President for Medical Advancement and Communications, and Director of the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute.
Over the years, Taher has been instrumental in developing state of the art programs for the management and prevention of thalassemia; an inherited blood disorder that results in lower-than-normal levels of the protein hemoglobin within red blood cells. Hemoglobin is essential for transporting oxygen around our bodies. Thalassemia is thus characterized by anemia, the need of regular lifelong transfusion therapy and subsequent iron overload development. Being anemic, these patients will suffer from extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and weakness. Thalassemia is a common health condition in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Mediterranean countries including Italy, Turkey and Greece.
A true believer in collaborative science, Taher has contributed a vast amount of knowledge to the study of this disease, helping to improve the quality of life of people with thalassemia. Over the last year alone, he has contributed to the publication of 30 papers in a wide range of world-leading publications with a total publication record nearing 500.
As a result of his impressive research record, Taher is not only ranked in the top 0.1% of scholars worldwide studying anemia but is also among the top researchers in the world publishing in the field of thalassemia and iron chelation therapy and has been ranked in the world’s top two percent of researchers in his field, and in the top 100 of the world’s most productive authors in Hematology. He is also in the top five of the most published authors in the Arab world, calculated from 2012 to present.
His research currently focuses on novel therapies designed to decrease the number of transfusions required by patients, while also helping to increase levels of hemoglobin in the blood. One of his recent articles, published in October 2022, evaluates the efficacy and safety of an oral medication for adult patients with non-transfusion – dependent – thalassemia or – thalassemia. Another explores the development of a Thalassemia International Prognostic Scoring System designed to differentiate – thalassemia patients into three different risk categories.
في أكتوبر 2022، حصل طاهر على جائزة الكويت 2021 المرموقة (في مجال العلوم التطبيقية — العلوم الطبية التطبيقية) التي تمنحها Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences عن أبحاثه التي أجراها على الثلاسيميا بيتا.
The recipient of multiple awards and honors throughout his career, Taher mentions that those from the Middle East hold particular significance to him. “To receive an award from Kuwait is a prestigious and meaningful moment in my career,” he said. “Awards such as this help to move ourselves toward establishing a central position within global research efforts.”
In addition to KFAS, Taher is grateful to all of the patients who took part in his research and worked with him and his team to help deliver results, as well as Professors Victor Hoffbrand and Maria Dominica Cappellini, who both supported his journey from the start. “They took a chance on a physician from a country with limited resources, and encouraged me to think big,” he said. He also extends his thanks to the American University of Beirut Medical Center.
As one of Taher’s main passions is mentoring the next generation of academics, it comes as no surprise that he is also keen to mention the students that he works with. “I believe that the most important thing is to prime the minds of our younger generations” he said. “Through mentoring, I am privileged to empower students, my future colleagues, to cultivate their passions and move our research forward at the same time.”
Taher is an example of how collaboration throughout the scientific community can promote our understanding of specific conditions. He has created a number of local and regional groups and associations that promote partnership across countries. “Science has no geographic boundaries and that shows that we can think big; beyond national and regional frontiers,” he said.
These partnerships, particularly those between the Middle East and Italy, have led to an increased understanding of non-transfusion dependent thalassemia (NTDT) and had a significant impact on management guidelines published by the Thalassemia International Federation (TIF).
As Taher continues his research into treatment strategies to help those with thalassemia; scientists, students, and patients can all be grateful for his exceptional depth of knowledge, and his willingness to share his expertise so generously.
By Ute Eberle
