A Home for the Health Sciences
LAU formally inaugurated the state-of-the-art Chagoury Health Sciences Center at the Byblos campus on March 31.
The new building, which opened to students at the beginning of the semester, houses the Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, the Alice Ramez Chagoury School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy. Already a landmark of the Byblos campus, the ultra-modern 15,500 square meter center will serve as a key LAU education and research facility, merging state-of-the-art anatomy and biomedical research laboratories with classrooms, lecture halls, computer labs and student lounges.
The six-story complex is home to one of the Arab world’s finest clinical skills and simulation centers. It has been designed to support opportunities for collaboration among scholars and students from across the health disciplines, complementing the dedication to interprofessional education advanced by the three school curriculums.
The center, which was built in consultation with Partners Harvard Medical International, is named in honor of Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury and his wife Rose-Marie. Chagoury is a distinguished businessman, diplomat and philanthropist of Lebanese-Nigerian nationality. In 1971, he founded the Chagoury Group, one of Africa’s leading industrial conglomerates. The Chagourys’ extraordinary gift of $13.5 million to LAU is the largest single donation in the university’s history.
“We are so happy you are in our midst tonight and that we are dedicating the Gilbert and Rose Marie Chagoury Health Sciences Center in both of your names today,” said LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra.
“Your generosity has opened up opportunities for young Lebanese to get the best medical, nursing and pharmacy education without religious, political or ethnic discrimination. We have full confidence that this health sciences center will become a beacon of excellence raising the name of LAU and Lebanon throughout the world in service of young people and our fellow human beings.”
Addressing the audience, Chagoury noted his pride in being part of LAU’s remarkable expansion into a regional destination for premier health sciences education. “Allow me to quote the great Roman author Cicero, who said that ‘In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health’ to others. Let us be committed to that ideal. I am confident that the success of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing will extend beyond the borders of Lebanon and provide the world community with doctors and nurses with a degree of excellence that is second to none.”
Speaking on behalf of LAU’s three health sciences schools, Dr. Youssef Comair, dean of the Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, said the Chagourys had made an indispensable gift at a crucial time of change in the health professions. “Caring for patients is not only a science but also an art. We at LAU aim to help our students become better than us. We are confident that the center will help prepare better doctors, nurses and pharmacists and continue the tradition of Lebanon as a beacon in providing the best healthcare in the region.”
Prominent officials, politicians and diplomats, including former Minister Nazem Khoury representing President of the Republic of Lebanon General Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Tamam Salam, Randa Berri representing Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and Chagoury’s mother Alice Ramez Chagoury, as well as LAU executive officers, deans and faculty members attended the inauguration. A lead box installation and tour of the premises preceded the ceremony, which began with a short documentary reflecting the development of the center and culminated in the unveiling of the inaugural plaque