Issam Awad was born on September 23, 1956 in Beirut, Lebanon. His father Abdullah, Director General of Mail and Telecomunication was from Hasroun, and his mother was from Jbeil. Issam was raised in Achrafieh, Beirut. He received his basic education at the College Sagesse, run by the Maronite monks, and one of the most illustrious national colleges of Beirut. After completing his secondary studies he decided to move to the USA where he would receive the quality medical training he aspired to. One of his aunts lived in California, so that was where that he headed to attend the Loma Linda University in 1974.

There he received a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in 1976 (Summa Cum Laude). He was enrolled in a combined Masters-MD program so he received a Master of Science degree in 1979 and his MD degree in 1980, graduating Valedictorian of his class and receiving the “Student Investigator of the Year Award” and The Griggs Medical Scholarship Award. He was also elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. While in medical school he was involved in a laboratory project on brain ischemia. During this project, he was fascinated by the brain and its vascular anatomy and physiology, that he decided to go into Neurosurgery.

He joined the Neurosurgery training program at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (OH) and graduated in June 1985. During his residency he spent some time as a Honorary Registrar at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland (1983) in their Head and Spinal Injury Unit. He spent the year following his graduation in Phoenix, AZ doing a fellowship with Dr. Spetzler in cerebrovascular surgery. He was the second fellow to be selected by Spetzler after Neil Martin.

After finishing his fellowship, Dr. Awad began his professional career in CA. He held an appointment with the faculty at the University of Stanford, CA from 1986-87. In 1987 he was hired by Dr. Little and returned to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. There he served as Head of the Section on Epilepsy Surgery (1988-92), Head of the Section on Cerebrovascular Surgery and Surgical Director of the Cerebrovascular Center (1990-93), and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery (1991-93).

In 1993, Dr. Awad moved to Yale University where he was appointed Director of the Neurovascular Surgery Program. In 1994 he was promoted to Professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery) with continuing appointment. He has received an Honorary Masters of arts degree from Yale University where he also serves on the Board of Permanent Officers of the School of Medicine. In July 1996 he was appointed the Nixdorf-German Professor of Neurosurgery.

He has authored over 200 scientific papers and book chapters, and he has edited 11 books dealing with cerebrovascular surgery and other aspects of Neurosurgery. He has presented over 300 papers and lectures at major and international meetings and symposia, and has been a Visiting Professor at numerous institutions.

Dr. Awad is active in the leadership of numerous professional and educational societies. He was on the Publications Committee with the AANS (American Association of Neurological Surgeons) from 1988-1993, when the Neurosurgical Topics Series was started. He edited 7 books in that series. He became involved with the CNS (Congress of Neurological Surgeons) in 1987 through the Sargeant at Arms activities, and since 1989 has became involved with the Scientific Program Committee, which he chaired in 1998. He was elected to the Executive Committee of the CNS in 1992, and served as a member of the Education Committee from 1995 to 1998, when the neurosurgical curriculum for medical schools was developed. His involvement with the CNS culminated in his election as President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in 1999. He is now on the Board of the American College of Surgeons, on the Executive Committee of the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association. He is also the recipient of two NIH grants for the study of the biology of vascular malformations of the brain.

His fundamental contributions to medicine include the characterization of subcortical ischemic lesions in the aged, advances in understanding the natural history and biological behavior of cerebral vascular malformations, numerous technical advances in neurovascular and epilepsy surgery, and the compilation of the first scholarly treatise on philosophy of neurosurgery. His main interests lie in the study of the biology of cerebrovascular malformations, the scientific assessment of technology, and the development of International Neurosurgery.

Dr. Awad has made also enormous contributions to WALN. The WALN owes Dr. Awad more than to anybody else. Issam was the founding President in 1992 when Drs. Haddad and Mohasseb entrusted him with the task of establishing WALN. It was during that period that he took upon himself the arduous task of collecting the names of prospective WALN members and gathering everybody in this unique organization. It was during his Presidency that WALN had its growth spurt. He was and is still extremely committed to WALN; always present at all the meetings, trying to bring together all members, and working hard to have WALN prosper.

Issam Awad is an eloquent, firm speaker with a charismatic personality. He is respected by his peers. Some of his close colleagues say that he can convince you of anything if he wants to. Always relying on reason, he has his own way of presenting the most complex issues in a simple rational manner and reaching sound convincing conclusions. He is a good educator and an excellent clinician. I had the opportunity to watch him discuss the management of difficult neurosurgical cases from A to Z, in a clear and concise fashion which you do not see frequently with other speakers. He has a good sense of humor: you can always count on him for a few jokes to spice the atmosphere. He also has a hidden poet in him as we recently found out in Beirut (WALN Newsletter Issue 11). His love of Lebanon and the Lebanese is unequivocal. He has helped throughout the years many compatriots to achieve their goals and still continues today. He is proud of his Lebanese heritage: it is with WALN members that he celebrated his election to the Presidency of CNS.

Dr. Awad is married to Kathreen Ampart. They met when he was a resident and she was a critical care nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. They have a 10 year old son, Armand and live in the suburbs of New Haven, CT. His hobbies include bicycling and family travel.

Dr. Awad is a source of pride for all of us at WALN. He has truly accomplished a lot for Neurosurgery and Lebanon.

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