Ahmad Teebi

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This article is about the Palestinian Canadian geneticist. For the Israeli politician, see Ahmad Tibi.

Ahmad Teebi has served as a Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto since 1998, when he moved to Toronto from McGill University. He heads the Section of Clinical Genetics & Dysmorphology at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) in Toronto.

Dr. Teebi is considered a pioneer in the field Arab genetic disorders and is the Head of Arab Genetics Consortium. He is also the curator of the Arab Genetic Disease Database (www.agddb.org), created by him at the HSC.

Dr. Teebi is internationally renowned in the field of dysmorphology--in particular, craniofacial genetics. He is a curbstone consultant in dysmorphology at the American Society of Human Genetic Meetings.

[edit] Publications

He has published more than 200 peer reviewed articles that include the delineation and characterizations of more than 35 new disorders and syndromes, the majority of which were characterized within Arab and Middle Eastern populations. He has at least 80 entries in the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man created by McKusick. He was/is a member of editorial boards of several specialized journals including Clinical Dysmorphology, American Journal of Medical Genetics and Clinical Genetics.

Teebi has authored and edited more than 25 book chapters and books that include his textbook Genetic Disorders Among Arab Populations, published in 1997 by Oxford University Press.

[edit] Initiatives

In 1985, he founded the first Arab neonatal screening program in Kuwait. He was also a co-founder of the Kuwait Medical Genetic center in 1981. He has contributed widely in the field of medical genetics and has actively participated in the establishment of genetic services in several Middle Eastern countries, including the Persian Gulf countries, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Most recently, he spent eight months in Saudi Arabia to develop medical genetics services, including the foundation of clinical genetics training programs and genetic counseling programs--the first of its kind in the Middle East.

While serving as an Instructor in Genetics and Paediatrics at Yale University, he founded the “Middle East Genetic Association of North America” - which has held a number of conferences in the Middle East on topics of said interest. The mandate of MEGA was to bring together geneticists and scientists from the Middle East regardless of their political or religious affiliations.

[edit] Honors and awards

Dr. Teebi has received several awards, including:

  • Kuwait Prize in 1989 given for outstanding contribution in clinical and human genetics in the Arab world.
  • Rammal Euroscience Award 2001, given for recognition of both scientific achievements and commitment to the cause of Mediterranean cooperation.

In 2002 he was elected as a member of European Academy of Science.