The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer

Ms. Lara Kahale, the coordinator of the Clinical Epidemiological Unit at the Clinical Research Institute, contributed to the second panel meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH guidelines) that developed recommendations for the management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer. Ms. Kahale and the AUB team coordinated the work related to evidence synthesis and evidence presentation for that guideline. The meeting took place in the ASH headquarters in Washington D.C. on March 1 and 2, 2017 and included meetings for expert panels of an additional two of the ten guidelines being developed as part of this project.

Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for chronic non cancer pain

Dr. Elie Akl, the director of the AUB GRADE center, participated as a panelist in the
Canadian Guideline for Safe and Effective Use of Opioids for chronic non cancer pain guideline panel meeting. The guidelines project is funded by Health Canada and took place in Hamilton, Ontario on the 5th and 6th of January 2017.

RARE- Best practices conference: use of GRADE in rare diseases

Dr. Andrea Darzi, the assistant director of the AUB GRADE center was invited to present on the "sickle cell disease pilot guidelines" at a conference in Rome, Italy on the 24th of November 2016. The RARE- Best practices project, funded by the European Union, organised the conference to disseminate its findings and offer a forum for discussing how this work could contribute to delivering better health decision-making and health policies for rare diseases. Dr. Darzi highlighted how the GRADE methodology can be used to develop and adapt guidelines for rare diseases. The AUB GRADE center took the lead in coordinating the "sickle cell disease pilot guidelines".

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on management of venous thromboembolism

Dr. Andrea Darzi, the assistant director of the AUB GRADE center, contributed to the first panel meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH guidelines) project addressing the management of venous thromboembolism guideline effort. The meeting took place in the ASH headquarters in Washington D.C. from November 14 to 18, 2016 and included meetings for expert panels of five of the ten guidelines being developed as part of this project. 

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.