Sacha El Khoury is a postdoctoral research fellow at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. She holds an MD from the University of Balamand and a diploma in health research from AUB’s Scholar in Health Research Program (SHARP). Her work focuses on clinical trials, data analysis, and academic publishing. She has experience in research coordination, manuscript writing, and collaborative studies and is committed to advancing evidence-based medical research.
Prof. Sonia M. Najjar is a Professor and OHF Endowed Eminent Research Chair at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. Before joining Ohio University, she was a Professor at the University of Toledo from 1994 to 2016, where she also served as a Founding Director of the Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Research (CeDER) (2006–2016) and a Frederick W. Hiss Endowed Professor in Diabetes Research (2014–2016). She obtained her B.A. in Biochemistry and M.S. in
Chemistry from San Francisco State University Physiology and her Ph.D. from Stanford University Medical School. Prof. Najjar’s research focuses on understanding how metabolic syndrome evolves. She is best recognized for identifying a key role for hepatic insulin clearance in insulin action and fat metabolism and how reduced insulin clearance causes insulin resistance, obesity, NAFLD, and atherosclerosis. She pioneered the finding that insulin acutely reduces fatty acid synthesis as opposed to its known chronic lipogenic action.