The First of Their Kind: AUB’s inaugural PhD nursing graduates

Fall 2022

Meet AUB’s first two nursing PhD graduates as they reminisce on their experiences at the Hariri School of Nursing and bring their AUB spirit to the wider world.

Dr. Rima Saad

Dr. Amani Al Bayrakdar

Growing up across the street from AUB, Dr. Rima Saad always dreamt of experiencing the beauty within the campus walls. Her uncle worked at the medical center’s kitchen and often told her stories about his amazing encounters with various healthcare personnel he met. This strengthened her aspiration to study at AUB and—one day—to work there. “In 2002, I was witnessing the preparations to launch the Children’s Cancer Center, and since then I wanted to work in that place,” she says. She got her start joining the center’s inpatient unit, then pursued her master’s degree in nursing, and, most recently, her PhD at AUB’s Hariri School of Nursing. Rima’s husband and two daughters were her most enthusiastic supporters during her PhD program. “Today, I proudly say that AUB has shaped me personally and professionally. I am keen to reflect the AUB spirit that is embedded in me to the world through my recent appointment at Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Global Pediatric Medicine Department in Memphis, Tennessee,” she says.

“AUB and I go a long way back,” says Dr. Amani Al Bayrakdar. “In fact, if I tell you that I remember the first time I stepped foot onto the AUB campus, I would be lying. Well, that’s because it was 23 years ago!” Amani began her journey at AUB in 1999 when she enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She later pursued her master’s degree in nursing, with a focus on caring for patients living with diabetes. As a mother of three, Amani highlights the challenges she faced as a PhD student: “I sacrificed so much family quality time and missed several bedtime stories. But what comforts me is that I was able to be a good role model for my children, teaching them that they can always reach for the stars.” She recently joined Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland as a lecturer but will never forget her alma mater. “I would like to say that my AUB did justice by me. It kept well on her promise, for it gave me life more abundantly.

We are AUB ambassadors, whether in Lebanon or any other place on this planet. It is time now to show the world what it means to be called an AUBite!”