Jawad Youssef Fares (; born 1991 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain) is a Lebanese

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

. He was selected for the

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

list in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

for his contribution to solving healthcare problems in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

. He also featured twice in the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Middle East 30 Under 30, and was selected as one of the top 10 young scientists in the world by ''Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News''. In 2019, Fares was elected as a Fellow of The World Academy of Medical Sciences, and in 2021 was one of the Young Physician Leaders selected by the InterAcademy Partnership .

Early life

Fares was born in Spain and raised in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, the eldest of four siblings of

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...

Youssef Fares and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

Aida Hoteit. He credits his upbringing for his thirst for knowledge and medical discovery. Fares earned a B.S. degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

, where he also attended

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

to acquire his

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

degree. He, concurrently, attained an

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

degree in

Neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

from the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU; ) is the only state-funded public university in Lebanon. It was established in 1951. The university's main campus was originally located in Beirut, but a few satellite campuses were opened due to travel restriction ...

Neuroscience Research Center. In 2018, Fares moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to pursue postdoctoral research in

Neuro-oncology Neuro-oncology is the study of brain and spinal cord neoplasms, many of which are (at least eventually) very dangerous and life-threatening (astrocytoma, glioma, glioblastoma multiforme, ependymoma, pontine glioma, and brain stem tumors are a ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He further completed a postgraduate medical program in

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Biology and Therapeutics at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyfares/

Career

Fares served in several positions, as Senior Researcher at the

Neuroscience Research Center, Research Fellow at the

Medical Center, and Visiting Researcher at the

Montreal Neurological Institute The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospital system i ...

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. , he is a postdoctoral fellow in neurological surgery at

, where he conducts translational research on advanced

brain tumors A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

in the laboratory of Maciej Lesniak.

Research

Fares's research entails

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...

, conflict medicine and

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

. In

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, he explored injuries resulting from

cluster munitions A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...

, which are bombs that release many smaller

submunitions A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy veh ...

, to highlight the effects of these weapons on humanitarian and ecological levels. During the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

, it was estimated that 4.6 million submunitions were released over Lebanese soil, and almost one million of which remained unexploded. These unexploded bombs continued to injure and kill civilians after the war ended. Fares studied cases of amputations and injuries involving multiple regions of the body due to blast explosions. These injuries often led to

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...

, and significant social and

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

problems. His research led to the "

Fares Scale of Injuries due to Cluster Munitions The Fares Scale of Injuries due to Cluster Munitions is an anatomical and neuropsychological classification method to identify and describe injury scales for victims of cluster munitions. It was published in 2013 by Lebanese physicians, Jawad F ...

" that assesses injuries based on functional impairment. The scale helped better classify the wounds of victims and determine the best possible treatment. At the

, Fares worked with

Rolando Del Maestro Rolando Fausto Del Maestro (born 1949) is an Italian-born Canadian neurosurgeon, the William Feindel Professor Emeritus in neuro-oncology and director of the Neurosurgical Simulation Research Center at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hos ...

on NeuroVR (previously NeuroTouch), a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

neurosurgical

simulator A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

that provides a platform for training, planning and evaluating systems for patient-specific neurosurgical oncology and other advanced surgical procedures. Their work led to the validation of multiple neurosurgical scenarios on the NeuroVR.

Honors

Europe list in Science & Healthcare, 2018 *

Middle East – Arab 30 Under 30, 2018 * Top 10 Under 40, ''Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News'', 2018 * “Arab Youth Pioneer,”

World Government Summit The World Governments Summit is an annual event since 2013, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It brings together leaders in government for a global dialogue with a focus on issues of futurism, technology and innovation. The summit acts as a ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, 2018 * The Distinguished Pioneer Award,

, “''for his outstanding scientific achievements'',” 2018 * Award of Honor,

Faculty of Medicine, “''for his outstanding achievement in impactful humanitarian research'',” 2018 * The NRC Medal of Honor,

Neuroscience Research Center, “''for his contribution to science and medicine'',” 2018 * Elected Fellow, The World Academy of Medical Sciences, “''for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences'',” 2019 *

Middle East 30 Under 30, 2019

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fares, Jawad 1991 births Living people Scientists from Madrid Lebanese scientists American University of Beirut alumni Lebanese University alumni Northwestern University alumni Harvard University alumni Academic staff of McGill University Cancer researchers Lebanese diaspora