Professor Diala El Khoury

Professor Diala El Khoury

Dean, Faculty of Public Health

700
Université La Sagesse – Main Campus P.O. Box 50501, Furn El Chebbak, Lebanon
diala.elkhoury@uls.edu.lb
Job Title / Responsibilities

I am a Full Professor and currently serve as Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Université La Sagesse. I am also a visiting professor at Université de Lille in France.

My role as Dean has focused on fostering innovation within academic structures and programs, from revising curricula to re-launching the Master in Hospital Management with Université de Lille, to initiating several continuing education programs such as the Radioprotection program with the LAEC-CNRS… I also successfully introduced and led the faculty’s first program accreditation projects.

My background in cancer biology, my training in molecular biology, my graduate studies in management and my academic expertise have enabled me to develop diverse research interests and publish in several international peer-reviewed journals. My work explores cellular mechanisms and signal transduction pathways, and more recently, specific populations to establish public health recommendations.

Beyond academia, I engage in public health campaigns and preventive medicine initiatives, convinced that universities must remain directly connected to societal needs. My vision for the faculty is to strengthen bridges between scientific research, professional practice, and community engagement in Lebanon and beyond.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology with a focus on Oncology (2010), Paris Diderot University (Université de Paris) – France.
  • MBA (Master’s in Business Administration – Project Management Focus), Notre Dame University – Louaize – Lebanon (AACSB accredited).
  • Master’s degree in Molecular Biology (2006) with a focus in SPGF (Structure, Proteomics and Functional Genomics), UFR Biochimie, Paris Diderot University (Université de Paris) – France.
  • Master’s degree in Biology (2006), Saint Joseph University (USJ) – Lebanon
  • BS in Biology (2003), American University of Beirut (AUB) – Lebanon.

TRAININGS & CERTIFICATIONS

  • April 4, 2022: Training session on Scrum (Agile) by founding member of the PMI Lebanon Chapter and former President Dr. Akram Najjar. (Duration: 2.5 hours).
  • July 23 – August 16, 2021: Participation in the International Visitor Leadership Program, “The Next Generation of E-Practitioners” offered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State.
  • June – July 2020: Course in Money, Banking law and Islamic Finance – Notre Dame University – Lebanon (Duration: 42 hours)
  • November 2009: Training course in “Mastering a strategic project”: How to master the commitment, adapt the organization to the stakes, form a winning team, position the carriers and the project, communicate, and create team cohesion. (Duration: 4 days).
  • April 2009: Training course in Management at Pierre et Marie Curie University: Introduction to managerial skills, team management, project lead, personal progress, time management. (Duration: 7 days).
  • 2010 – Present: Participated in numerous seminars and workshops relevant to academia and public health (list upon request).

Professional Experience

Management Consultant

Private Hospital – Mount Lebanon – August 2022 – Present

  • Member of the advisory board
  • Provides management advice
  • Oversees communication policies and social media content
  • Organizes strategic collaborations and MOUs
  • Accreditation/Quality Assurance expert

ACQUIN, Germany (remote)-January – June 2025

  • Studied the file for the institutional re-accreditation of Université Saint Joseph
  • Participated in the accreditation visit
  • Wrote and reviewed the accreditation report

Visiting Professor

Lille University, France – Recurrent since May 2022 – Present

  • Topic: Risk Management and Leadership in times of crisis. Audience: Graduating Master students in Quality, Environment and Health Management.
  • Launched institutional collaborations

Committee Member

Ministry of Education and Higher Education – March – May 2022: Reviewed the Biology Undergraduate program for a private University – Lebanon.

Chair of the health awareness committee

National NGO – July – November 2018

Organized and participated in health awareness campaigns across schools in Mount Lebanon

Committee member – Expert

Civil Service Council

  •  January – May 2017: Vice-Chair of a committee for appointing nurses and midwives in two governmental hospitals.
  • February 2016: Member for drafting and correcting the written national examination for appointing science teachers in public high schools. 2000 candidates applied to the Civil Service Council.
  • November 2014/June 2015: Chair of a committee in appointing a senior laboratory technician/a laboratory director at a Lebanese University and a Medical Doctor as director a governmental hospital.

Teaching interests

Developed, coordinated and taught over 15 undergraduate and graduate courses, mainly in:

  • Leadership and management
  • Communication in health
  • Research Methodology
  • Cancer biology
  • Signal transduction in health and disease
  • Molecular and Cell biology
  • Microbiology
  • Biochemistry
  • General Anatomy and Physiology

Research interests

  • Lifestyle medicine and health homeostasis
  • The role of medical imaging: Education, Prevention, and Treatment
  • Physiotherapy and public health
  • The role of physiotherapy in breast cancer: knowledge and perception
  • Simulation-based learning and its impact on critical thinking in nursing students
  • Impact of pollutants on public health
  • Environmental effects on nerve cell myelination
  • Cancer biology, especially obesity-cancer links
  • Signal transduction pathways in health and disease
  • Molecular and cellular mechanisms in health and disease

Publications

INTERNATIONAL PEER REVIEWED PAPERS

  1. Resilience among healthcare workers in Lebanon: a multi-centered cross-sectional study. Elie Bou Sanayeh; Carolla El Chamieh; Marina Makram; Diala El Khoury. Accepted in Work Journal, 2025 Sep, in press.

 

  1. Typical local values for Interventional Cardiology Procedures. Ghosn R., Massoud C, Ghanem G., Soueidy M., El Khoury D., Rizk C. Radiology, 2024 Nov. https://doi.org/10.1051/radiopro/2024053

 

  1. Exploratory analysis of factors influencing hospital preferences among the Lebanese population: a cross-sectional study. El Zouki C, Chahine A, Ghadban E, Harb F, El-Eid J,1,4 El Khoury D, BMJ Open, 2024 Oct 24 ;14:e085727. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085727

 

  1. The COVID-19 Pandemic, a Wider Portal for Health Humanities. El Khoury D. Conference Proceeding at the international symposium organized by The International Center for Human Sciences (CISH)-UNESCO, Byblos, the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences and the Hanns Seidel Stiftung, Germany. Rethinking humanities in a post-pandemic world, 2021 Nov 25; Vol 26; 8-15.

 

  1. Updates on the Effect of Mycotoxins on Male Reproductive Efficiency in Mammals. El Khoury D, Fayjaloun S, Nassar M, Sahakian J, Aad PY. Toxins (Basel). 2019 Sep 3; 11(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins11090515

 

  1. Curcumin and Endometrial Carcinoma: an Old Spice as a Novel Agent. El Khoury D, Matar R, Touma T. International Journal of Women’s health, 2019 Apr 15; vol 11; 249-256. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S194262

 

  1. Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder: A Disorder or a Fraud? Chaaya R and El Khoury D. Global Journal of Health Science, 2019 April 8; Vol. 11, No. 5; 100-16. DOI:10.5539/gjhs.v11n5p100

 

  1. Exercise-Induced Irisin, the Fat Browning Myokine, as a Potential Anticancer Agent. Maalouf G-E and El Khoury D. Journal of Obesity, 2019 Apr 1; vol 2019; 8 pages. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6561726

 

  1. Targeting surface nucleolin with multivalent HB-19 and related Nucant pseudopeptides results in distinct inhibitory mechanisms depending on the malignant tumor cell type. Krust B, El Khoury D, Nondier I, Soundaramourty C, Hovanessian AG. BMC Cancer. Dec 2011; 11:333. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-11-333

 

  1. Suppression of tumorigenicity of rhabdoid tumor derived G401 cells by the multivalent HB-19 pseudopeptide that targets surface nucleolin. Krust B, El Khoury D, Soundaramourty C, Nondier I, Hovanessian AG. Biochimie. 2011; 93(3):426-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2010.10.015

 

  1. Surface expressed nucleolin is constantly induced in tumor cells to mediate calcium-dependent ligand internalization. Hovanessian AG, Soundaramourty C*, El Khoury D*, Nondier I, Svab J, Krust B. PLoS One. 2010; 23;5(12):e15787. (*contributed equally). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015787

 

  1. Targeting surface nucleolin with a multivalent pseudopeptide delays development of spontaneous melanoma in RET transgenic mice. El Khoury D, Destouches D, Lengagne R, Krust B, Hamma-Kourbali Y, Garcette M, Niro S, Kato M, Briand JP, Courty J, Hovanessian AG, Prévost-Blondel A. BMC Cancer. 2010; 24;10:325. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-325

 

  1. The cell surface expressed nucleolin is a glycoprotein that triggers calcium entry into mammalian cells. Losfeld ME, Khoury D, Mariot P, Carpentier M, Krust B, Briand JP, Mazurier J, Hovanessian AG, Legrand D. Exp Cell Res. 2009; 15;315(2):357-69. Epub 2008 Nov 6. DOI: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2008.10.039

 

  1. Suppression of tumor growth and angiogenesis by a specific antagonist of the cell-surface expressed nucleolin. Destouches D*, El Khoury D*, Hamma-Kourbali Y, Krust B, Albanese P, Katsoris P, Guichard G, Briand JP, Courty J, Hovanessian AG. PLoS One. 2008; 3(6):e2518. (*first authors).  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002518

 

CHAPTER IN BOOK

Study of myelin genes expression in the central nervous system using Real Time PCR. Book Chapter in Psychiatric Disorders: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition. 2019. Springer – Nature. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9554-7_38

 

RECENT POSTERS IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

May 2025: Participation in the World Physiotherapy congress 2025, Tokyo, Japan.

  • Poster: Validation of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measurement Tool (B-CAM-A) in Lebanon: a Prevention and Awareness Campaign. Josiane Orfaly, Samir Badran, Lama Aoude, Celine El Toufaily, Gaelle Maroun, Elissa El Hoyek, Joya Assaf, Gergi Antoun, Diala El Khoury.
  • Eposter: Consequences of the transition from an In-Person to an online system on the quality of learning: the case of Physiotherapy Students in Lebanon. Joy Khayat, Gergi Antoun, Racha El Helou, Hassan Saleh, Diala El Khoury.

 

Grants

September 2014 – December 2020: Principal investigator on a research project funded by a CNRS – Lebanon grant for the “Study of effect of environmental pollutants on nerve cells myelination”.

October 2006 – June 2010: Graduate Research fellow in the CNRS (National Council for Scientific Research), Paris funded by a grant from ARC (Association pour la recherche sur le Cancer). The goal of the project was the study of surface nucleolin, a cellular protein, targeted by anti-cancerous agents.

 

Community Services

  • Lead Organizer, Community Health Awareness Campaigns (CHAC).

– Recurrent Awareness campaigns on breast cancer screening. Tests performed (mammography, ultrasound) in a mobile clinic, educational workshops… October 30, 2023; October 13, 2022; October 25, 2021. https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1280373

 

– Recurrent Awareness campaigns on Colon Cancer in collaboration with the NGO SAID. Screening campaign (free FIT tests, prize awarded to participating  students)  March 28, 2023; June 10, 2024. Press release links:

Al Markazia: https://bit.ly/4eiz7lr

El Nashra: https://bit.ly/3Xr3TTc

News Gulf: https://newsi.gulf365.net/world-news/amp/12609720

Al Taleb: https://altaleb.org.lb/tag/جمعية-سعيد/

  • Organized a symposium “The Post-Covid Future of Healthcare”, under the patronage of the Minister of Health and in the presence of the President of the Order of Physicians, Physiotherapists, Nursing and Medical Imaging as well as other health professionals. Recommendations were published. Press release:

https://addiyar.com/article/1989923. March 23, 2022.

  • Initiated and moderated a webinar on the theme of Covid-19 with representatives from professional orders of Physiotherapy, Nursing and Medical Imaging. “Anti-Covid vaccination: the road to immunity?” Recommendations for the COVID vaccination were published. February 25, 2021.