« Conferences & Seminars

The Nutrition Program, Department of Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences in the Lebanese American University (LAU), would like to invite you to attend a symposium entitled “Nutrition Challenges from an Interprofessional Perspective”. Carefully selected renowned keynote speakers from different areas pertaining to nutrition, such as food science, medicine, pharmacy and clinical nutrition, will give talks on how crucial the interdisciplinary collaboration is to address today’s challenges.

Speakers

Dr. Imad Btaiche, School of Pharmacy, Dean, Lebanese American University

Before joining LAU, Dr. Btaiche was the Nutrition Support team leader at the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers (UMHCC). He is Past-President and member of the Board of Directors at the Michigan Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (MSPEN), and was secretary and treasurer of the Pharmacy Practice Section of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.). Dr. Btaiche is one of the editors of the UMHHC Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Manual eighth and ninth editions, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN) and Nutrition in Clinical Practice (NCP). Dr. Btaiche is the recipient of the Stanley Serlick Award for Safe Practices in Parenteral Nutrition, in addition to the Award of Gratitude for Dedication and Service (MSPEN). His research revolves around the nutrition support in critical care and intestinal failure. In this conference, Dr. Btaiche's talk will be entitled “A Recount of a Clinical Nutrition Collaborative Adventure”.

Zeina Kassaify, PhD, Global Food Safety Lead, Mars Global Chocolate

Dr. Kassaify holds a B.Sc. in Nutrition from the American University of Beirut (AUB), an M.Sc. in International Nutrition & Food Processing from Oxford Brookes University in the UK, and a Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Guelph, Canada. She acted as the Chairperson and Professor of Food microbiology at AUB for several years before joining Mars Chocolate as Global Food Safety Lead in 2014. Having an extensive record of publications in top food science journals and coming from a world-class food industry, Dr. Kassaify will talk about the perspective and commitments of Mars Incorporated towards food security, food safety and population health worldwide. Her talk is entitled “Food Safety and Food Security: Uncommon Collaboration”.

Roula Barake, PhD, Director of Nutrition Department, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait

Dr. Barake holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Human Nutrition from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a B.Sc. in Nutrition and Dietetics and teaching diploma in Health Education from the American University of Beirut (AUB). Additionally, Dr. Barake holds an honorary faculty position from University of Dundee. Dr. Barake’s expertise is in dietary management of chronic diseases with emphasis on diabetes, obesity, vitamin D status and functional foods. Her scope of work offers a diverse array of efforts on raising nutrition awareness through several venues, developing and implementing education programs for health care professionals, and applying a patient-centric approach in management of diabetes. Dr. Barake is currently involved in several research projects, both institutional and through collaborative work with national and international collaborators. She is an author of a book, book chapter and has several peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Barake is on the editorial board of BAOJ nutrition. In this conference, Dr. Barake’s talk is entitled “Building a healthy community- Success stories of nutrition public health collaborations”.