With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and in line with its mission to provide superior didactic education complemented with state-of-the-art interactive and practical training in health research, Scholars in HeAlth Research Program (SHARP) students and graduates have been working relentlessly in addressing the immediate and continuing medical challenges that immerged as a result of this pandemic. To better understand this virus and report findings, they have aggressively pivoted their research and aided in improving and advancing the healthcare agenda.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began unfolding, our SHARP scholars mobilized to create a comprehensive response integrating dozens of fields of expertise to complete rapid reviews, articulate guidance, and find solutions in numerous areas. Below are some samples of the already published relevant findings while others are still in process:
Dr. El Hajj Fuleihan, Program Director, and Dr. Chakhtoura, Assistant Summer Director, published a commentary titled “Myths and Facts on Vitamin D Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic" in Metabolism journal. https://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495(20)30140-2/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_aip_email
Drs. Amer Bechnak and Ghina Alaeddine worked on some of the projects spearheaded at the Emory Hope Clinic including a randomized trial of the safety and efficacy of Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults (with promising results as by Dr. Fauci), and a dose-ranging study of the safety and immunogenicity of 2019-nCov mRNA vaccine in healthy adults.
Dr. Elias Ghossoub worked on “COVID-19 and the duty to protect from communicable diseases" which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Dr. Tamara Lotfi worked on two systematic reviews that were commissioned by the WHO. The first was titled “Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-person transmission of SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis"; the second review was titled “Non-invasive and invasive ventilation for patients with COVID-19 and the risk of virus transmission to health care workers from aerosol generating procedures: An urgent systematic review of multiple streams of evidence for the World Health Organization". She is also currently working on an ongoing Rapid Review titled: “A rapid systematic review of the clinical factors associated with neurological manifestations in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2".
Dr. Elie Ramly worked on two publications on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on plastic and reconstructive surgery and the role of surgeons in the crisis.
Dr. Nour Al Jalbout worked on "Immediate Psychological Impact of SARS-CoV2/ COVID-19 on Emergency Department Healthcare Workers and Staff in a Tertiary Care Center", a social and behavioral study.
Dr. Mohamad El Moheb worked on Gastrointestinal Complications in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19.
In addition, two current SHARP MSc students, Drs. Aya Bassatne and Maya Basbous are currently working on a rapid review on Covid-19 and Vitamin D along with Dr. Ola El Zein, Head of Saab Medical Library (SML).
Dr. Issam Shaarani has three projects in progress: Public Awareness on COVID-19 and its Association with Social Media Use: A Cross-sectional Study from Lebanon; Utilization of Telemedicine by the Lebanese Physicians during Time of Pandemic ; Health Care Seeking Behavior Among People Residing in Lebanon During COVID-19 Quarantine.
Dr. Elie Akl published the article "Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis" in Lancet.
Spearheaded by Dr. Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, principal investigator and program director, SHARP is an interfaculty collaborative effort involving co-investigators from the Faculty of Medicine (FM), Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS), and Hariri School of Nursing (HSON).
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