Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

In memoriam: Ahmad S. Teebi, 1949-2010

2011; Wiley; Volume: 155; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/ajmg.a.34069

1552-4833

Vazken M. Der Kaloustian,

BRCA gene mutations in cancer

Dr. Ahmad Teebi was an outstanding clinical geneticist and a most affable human being. Even though he departed relatively early, he left a long-lasting impact, both professional and personal, spread beyond many frontiers. Dr. Teebi was born on July 22, 1949 in Beirut, Lebanon, in a family of Palestinian origin. He passed away on his birthday, on July 22, 2010 at Trillium Hospital in Mississauga, ON, Canada, from the complications of a cancer. He was the pride of his family and is survived by his wife Amal Qudsi, his sons Saeed and Basel, his daughters Asil and Asma, his brothers and sisters, and their families. After getting his early education in Lebanon and Kuwait, Ahmad Teebi obtained his medical degree in 1973, in Egypt, from Cairo University. He then had a period of training in Pediatrics in Kuwait. In 1976 and 1977 he studied at the University College of Dublin, Ireland, from which he graduated in 1977 with a DCH. In 1983 he obtained a DHCG from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the University of London, UK. I met Ahmad for the first time in 1980, in Kuwait, where I was invited by the WHO, to give a few talks. At that time he had just started his training at the Kuwait Medical Genetics Center. He later completed it in Medical Genetics and Pediatrics in Canada, at the University of British Columbia (1986) and in the United States at Yale University (1990–1993). Experiencing multiple transfers in his lifetime, a characteristic of many Middle Eastern youth, Ahmad pursued excellence with perseverance and determination. Ahmad had an encyclopedic knowledge in the field of Medical Genetics, particularly Dysmorphology. This impressed both his colleagues and trainees, during case discussions and bedside rounds. The disclosure and expression of his knowledge came gently, in a very natural and unassuming manner. Unfortunately for us, in 1998, he elected to leave Montreal and McGill, and moved to Toronto for personal reasons. He stayed there until 2006, as Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, in the Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children and in the Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. Our common colleague, Dr. David Chitayat, who was already at the University of Toronto at that time, has witnessed the impact of Ahmad Teebi as a mentor for a whole generation of medical geneticists who have currently important functions in various institutions around the world and who were also impressed by the love and dedication that Ahmad has shown to patients and their families. In 2006, Ahmad Teebi moved to the Departments of Pediatrics and Genetic Medicine at Weil Medical College of Cornell University in New York. As of 2008, he became vice-chairman of the same department. At the same time he kept his interest in the advancement of medical genetics in the Middle East, and in 2008, he was also appointed Professor and Director of the Pediatrics Service of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Over the years, in spite of the distances, the friendship and academic links with Ahmad persisted, through our telephone interactions and our encounters in various professional meetings. As a result of his critical approach and thorough analysis of the pathogenetic mechanisms in different conditions, he not only accumulated additional information about known disorders, but also discovered new ones. Many of the syndromes that he studied and published were ultimately named after him. The broad clinical experience and deep scientific knowledge of Dysmorphology that Ahmad Teebi mastered are reflected in his articles that exceed 200 in number. He also has more than 25 chapters published in some of the important books in the field. The experience and information that he had accumulated during his years in Kuwait and in other Arab countries where he had been in contact with patients affected with very rare conditions, led him to one of his most outstanding academic achievements: the publication, in 1997, of the book on Genetic Disorders Among Arab Populations, by Oxford University Press, with T.I. Farag as co-editor and with a foreword by Victor McKusick. The success of this landmark book was remarkable and stimulated Ahmad Teebi to prepare the second edition, published posthumously by Springer in October 2010, with a foreword by Charles Scriver. This volume is quite unique, by the general description of genetic conditions and their frequency in Arab populations. However, more importantly, it directs our attention to the effects of the geographical, historical, socio-economic, cultural and religious backgrounds on the incidence, prevalence and characteristics of certain genetic conditions, thus emphasizing their relationship to particular human contexts. Beyond his publications, Ahmad Teebi had also a great influence on the progress and promotion of Clinical Genetics on the international scene, particularly in Arab and Middle Eastern countries. He was one of the founders of the Middle East Genetic Association in the United States (MEGA) and its first president from 1997 to 1999. His input in the organization of important congresses in Human and Medical Genetics in various cities of the Arab world, as the Joint Symposium of the Institut Pasteur de Tunis and MEGA in 1997, has been significant. Moreover, he has played a crucial role in the establishment and progress of genetic programs in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, where he founded the Genetic Counseling Program at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh. For many years, Dr. Teebi was on the editorial boards of internationally respectable medical and scientific journals. In particular, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Medical Genetics (2004–2010), Clinical Genetics (2005–2010), and a Founding and Editorial Board member of Clinical Dysmorphology (1991–1995). Still on the international scene, Ahmad Teebi was a member of prestigious scientific societies and study groups, as the HUGO mutation database initiative, and an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences. He has been the recipient of many awards and medals, such as the Kuwait Prize in Basic Science (Genetics), of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science (KFAS), for his important contribution in Clinical and Human Genetics in the Arab World (1989), and the Euroscience Foundation's Rammal Award for scientific achievements and commitment to the cause of Mediterranean cooperation (2001). However, beyond all his achievements as a clinician scientist, Ahmad Teebi was a remarkable human being. He was kind, interactive, and warm-hearted. He confronted adversity at various times in his life, with courage and determination. He had a strong sense of dignity and respect for human values. He will be missed not only by his loving family, but also by all of us, his colleagues and friends, as well as his patients and their families.