Ali Abu-Alfa

Dr Ali Abu-Alfa is a tenured Professor of Medicine, and Head of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is the Director for the Human Research Protection Program at AUB, and for Research Affairs at AUB Medical Center. He joined AUB in 2010 after spending 2 decades at the Yale School of Medicine and remains an Adjunct faculty member at Yale in the Section of Nephrology.

He earned his MD degree from AUB in 1985, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University in 1990 and a fellowship in Nephrology at Yale in 1993. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine-Nephrology, is a certified hypertension specialist (AHSCP) and a Fellow of the American Heart Association and member of its hypertension council.

Dr Abu-Alfa is the current Chair of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN)-Middle East Regional Board and is serving as an ISN council member. He is also a current member of the Continuous Medical Education Committee and Renal Disaster Preparedness Workgroup of the ISN and vice-chair/chair-elect of the latter. He is a former member of the ISN Dialysis Committee and had completed a 3-year term as member of the KDIGO Executive committee in December 2018. He is the immediate past-President of the Lebanese Society of Nephrology and Hypertension.

Dr Abu-Alfa has been a strong advocate for peritoneal dialysis (PD) for over 25 years. He has been involved in ISPD in leadership roles since 2008, first as co-Chair of the North American Chapter then as founding and current Chair of the Middle East Chapter, in addition to serving on its various committees over the years. Most recently, he was instrumental in putting together the successful bid for ISPD 2024 congress to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

He is also very involved in several national, regional, and international nephrology organizations in leadership positions, especially ISN, advocating for equity in renal care and early screening for kidney disease as well as being involved in disaster assistance for renal patients worldwide through the ISN Renal Disaster Preparedness Workgroup.

In addition to his strong engagement in these regional and international nephrology circles, Dr Abu-Alfa continues to teach and mentor students, residents and fellows while pursuing his scientific interests in the areas of peritoneal dialysis, complex hypertension, chronic kidney disease, imaging issues in kidney patients including nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and use of gadolinium-based contrast agents. He is also very active in the sphere of research ethics, its regulatory and administrative frameworks, and protection of human subjects in research