Dr. Youssef Fares, MD, Ph.D., FACS, FICS, FWAMS is the Senior Executive Vice-President of The World Academy of Medical Sciences (WAMS), Chairman of The WAMS World Neurosurgery Institution, and Chairman of The WAMS National Council of Lebanon. He has attained the Academy’s Fellowship and Professorship, which are the highest honors granted by the Academy, and is an Academy Faculty. He is also a Member of the WAMS Executive Council, General Council, International Scientific Council, Education and Training Board, International Medical Research Scientific Council, and the International Board of Neurosurgery.

Dr. Fares is a Professor and the Chair of Neurosurgery at the Lebanese University, where he holds the position of Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He is the Founding Director of the Neuroscience Research Center and the Coordinator of the Institutional Review Board at the Lebanese University. He is also the Founding President of the Lebanese Association of Spine Surgery, CEO/Chairman of Al-Zahraa University Hospital, and an Attending Neurosurgeon at multiple university medical centers in Lebanon.

Dr. Fares earned his MD from the University of Granada, Spain. He completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at the Jimenez Diaz Foundation, Conception Clinic, Autonomous University of Madrid and attained his Board Certification as a Specialist in Neurosurgery from the Spanish Society of Neurosurgery, Ministry of Education and Science in 1993. Dr. Fares also finished his PhD in Medicine and Surgery at the Autonomous University of Madrid obtaining highest qualifications (Apto Cum Laude) by unanimous decision. His thesis was titled: “Techniques of Intrathecal Infusion of Baclofen in the Treatment of Spasticity”. He attained multiple Diplomas in Neuroradiology, Physiology of Sports Medicine and Deontology. He also pursued numerous fellowships and training stints in Neuro-Navigation (France), Epileptic Surgery (UK), Stereotactic Neurosurgery (Spain) and Pediatric Neurosurgery (France). He is also certified as a Specialist in Neurosurgery by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health and licensed by the Lebanese Order of Physicians.

As an accomplished neurosurgeon, academic, and research scholar, Dr. Fares served as the Primary Investigator of the Spanish National Group on the “Clinical study of pump infusion of intrathecal Baclofen” in Madrid, Spain. He led the Lebanese Multiple Sclerosis (LeMS) Group that explored the pregnancy outcomes in Lebanese women with multiple sclerosis. In addition, he is the Primary Investigator in a group that studies the neurological, medical, psychological and socioeconomic effects of cluster munitions in Lebanon. Dr. Fares has more than 73 peer-reviewed publications that range from books, original articles, reviews, case reports and conference proceedings. He co-developed the ‘Fares Scale of Injuries due to Cluster Munitions’ to evaluate functional impairment in victims, and the ‘Fares Classification of Multicentric and Multiform Tumors’. He also co-designed the ‘Fares Model in Academic Neurosurgery’ to describe the ideal academic neurosurgeon in the Middle East, and illustrate the neurosurgeon development as a function of age, time and experience.

As a teacher, Dr. Fares has been giving lectures in neural sciences since 1994 at the Faculty of Medicine of the Lebanese University, where he holds the title of Professor; he taught 13 different courses. He is also a guest lecturer at multiple institutions in Lebanon and abroad. Dr. Fares serves as a Jury Member of the Colloquium Committee and as a Member of the Scientific Board of the Lebanese University Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Fares’s ability to build with the singular vision of improving, led him to found, preside and develop a number of centers and associations in Lebanon. He is the Founder and President of the Lebanese Association of Spine Surgery that aims at spreading awareness on spine-health and improving spine surgery in Lebanon. His passion for research driven by his will to improve this field in Lebanon, led him to establish the Neuroscience Research Center (NRC) at the Lebanese University at which he serves as the Founding Director. The NRC is a multidisciplinary research and teaching center with highly qualified scholars that offers graduate and post-graduate opportunities for Lebanese, Arab and International students to promote and encourage research in Lebanon and the region. Under Dr. Fares’s leadership, the NRC was awarded the ‘International World Quality Commitment Award 2017 in the GOLD Category’, in Paris; the award honors an organization’s merits in innovation, quality and excellence. In August 2016, Dr. Fares was appointed the CEO and Chairman of Al-Zahraa University Hospital, after serving as a Member of its Executive Board for a year. Plans for structural and functional development of the hospital are underway.

Dr. Fares is an International Member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, International College of Surgeons, Illustrious Official College of Physicians of Madrid, and the Illustrious Official College of Physicians of Badajoz. He has received numerous honors for his achievements, and was awarded the “International Surgical Passport” by the International College of Surgeons. Dr. Fares is also a member of the World Association of Lebanese Neurosurgeons (WALN), Lebanese Society of Neurosurgery (LSNS), Spanish Society of Neurosurgery and the Société de Neurochirurgie de langue Française.