Ali T. Taher is a tenured Professor of Medicine in Hematology & Oncology at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, Director of the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute, and Associate VP for Academic Centers. A globally recognized expert in anemia and thalassemia, he has published over 500 papers, delivered 200+ invited lectures, and received numerous awards, including the EHA Education and Mentoring Award, KFAS Prize, and Lebanon’s National Cedar Medal.

Dr. Cappellini has been active in the fields of thalassaemia, haemoglobinopathies, and the heme biosynthetic pathway for over 40 years. She focused on the phenotypic expression of thalassaemia major and intermedia and evaluated the genotype-phenotype relationship, taking into account the co-inheritance of modifier genes. She identified the mechanisms underlying the thrombotic risks in thalassaemia. She studies in vitro molecules capable of inducing fetal hemoglobin in view of therapeutic application. She is involved in gene therapy development for thalassemia.

Prof. Khaled Musallam MD PhD is currently the Group Chief Research Officer at Burjeel Holdings in Abu Dhabi, UAE where he founded the clinical research function and operations across the Group’s large hospital network. He is also Chief of Cell & Gene and Hematology, Director of the Thalassemia & Sickle Cell Center, and Founding Director of the Center for Research on Rare Blood Disorder (CR-RBD) at Burjeel Cancer Institute located in the Group’s flagship hospital, Burjeel Medical City. He is also Global Research Lead at Burjeel Institute for Global Health in New York, Adjunct Professor at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, and Adjunct Professor at Weill Cornel Medicine in New York. He has authored over 230 articles on hemoglobin disorders with practice-changing papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature, Blood, among others. His h-index is 65. He is also editor of the Thalassaemia International Federation management guidelines. Prof. Musallam was the recipient of the 2025 European Haematology Association Clinical Excellence Award.

Dr. Abdullah Al Zayed is a consultant hematologist and is the former head of the inherited blood disorders center at Qatif Central Hospital, He is the founder and first program director of hematology fellowship at Qatif Health Network. He championed the sickle cell disease pathway in the eastern health cluster for adult patients. He was trained in Ireland and gained the MRCPI & Hematology fellowship by RCPI. He is the hematology service leader & the manager of the hematology program in the E1 cluster of the Ministry of Health- Hematology Development program project.