RARE Best Practices Sickle Cell Disease Pilot Guideline

The AUB GRADE center recently coordinated the RARE Best practices sickle cell disease pilot guideline project, which was funded by the European union. Dr. Elie Akl, Dr. Andrea Darzi and Ms. Rana Charide from the AUB GRADE center served as methodologists in the meeting that took place in Freiburg, Germany from the 16th to the 18th of June. Dr. Miguel Abboud, chair of the department of Pediatrics at AUB, and an internationally renowned expert in sickle cell disease served on the expert panel.  The objective of this project was to assess whether the GRADe methodology could be used to develop guidelines for rare diseases. This project took place as part of a collaborative effort between RARE- Best practices, the MacGRADE Centre at McMaster University in Canada, the American University of Beirut (AUB) GRADE Center, and the German GRADE Center. 

The AUB GRADE center organized an Expert Consultation meeting on Adapting the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines

The AUB GRADE center, directed by Dr. Elie Akl, organized an expert consultation meeting on the adaptation of WHO guidelines to the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Two-day meeting took place on AUB campus, on the 30th and 31st of May 2016, and was in collaboration with the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The expert panel included Drs. Kahled Younis and Fadi El- Jardali from AUB, international experts in guideline development as well as representation from WHO EMRO. It was also an opportunity for junior members and trainees at the AUB GRADE center to participate or observe a high level consultative meeting. This meeting built on an earlier expert consultation meeting organized by the WHO EMRO in november 2015 in Cairo, Egypt, and in which the AUB GRADE center was represented . It also took advantage of ongoing methodological work at the AUB GRADE center on the topic of guideline adaptation 

The AUB GRADE center coordinated the Adaptation of Rheumatoid Arthritis Guidelines for the Eastern Mediterranean Region

The AUB GRADE center recently coordinated the Adaptation of Rheumatoid Arthritis Guidelines for the Eastern Mediterranean Region project. Three of the center team members, Dr. Elie Akl, Dr. Andrea Darzi and Ms. Manale Harfouche served as methodologists in the meeting that took place in Qatar from the 27th to the 29th of May 2016. Dr. Imad Uthman from AUB served as a member of the expert panel that included experts from 7 countries from the region, as well as from Canada, Denmark, and the United States. The objective of this project was to adapt the recently published American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) guidelines to the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The project was a collaborative effort between the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar represented by Dr. Thurayya Arayssi, the Middle East Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (MERAC), and the American University of Beirut (AUB) GRADE Center. The project received funding from both the Qatar National Research Fund and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.