Fadlo Khuri, the 16th President of the American University of Beirut (AUB), has demonstrated remarkable leadership during one of the most challenging periods in Lebanon’s modern history. He has guided the institution through sustained pressures, including a severe national economic collapse, the devastating Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, and the global pandemic.

Since assuming the presidency in 2015, Dr. Khuri has led significant institutional reforms, including negotiating a new faculty contract, restoring tenure, tripling financial assistance for students, and diversifying the student body by attracting outstanding students from across Africa and Asia. He has also built and empowered inclusive leadership teams, with women comprising 50 percent of senior leadership roles.

Dr. Khuri has advanced a values-based, research-intensive strategy at AUB, strengthening healthcare delivery and education. He is leading BOLDLY AUB: The Campaign to Lead, Innovate, and Serve—the largest capital campaign in the MENA region. His initiatives include establishing an independent nursing school, developing the VITAL 2030 strategic plan, launching AUB Mediterraneo in Pafos, Cyprus (the University’s first twin campus outside Lebanon), and securing AUB’s first community hospital at the Keserwan Medical Center.

Under his leadership, AUB became the first tobacco-free campus in the Middle East in 2018. He also contributed to enhancing national cancer guidelines in Lebanon and co-led a highly effective national COVID-19 vaccination campaign, reaching 93 percent of adults over the age of 70. The AUB Medical Center successfully adopted EPIC and became the first member of the COSMOS research consortium outside the United States.

Dr. Khuri has also supported impactful community initiatives, including establishing schools for Syrian refugees and securing electronic medical records for more than 15,000 refugees. During his tenure, AUB has significantly improved its global standing, rising from 801 in 2015 to 472 in 2023 in the U.S. News Best Global Universities rankings, and from 268 in 2016 to 226 in 2024 in the QS World University Rankings.

An accomplished aerodigestive oncologist, Dr. Khuri served as Editor-in-Chief of Cancer from 2011 to 2021 and has published more than 750 papers and chapters. He is the recipient of numerous academic awards, including the Nagi Sahyoun Award (2006) and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award (2013). He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and currently serves as Vice President of the Lebanese Academy of Sciences.