NAAMA gala spotlights medical leadership tied to community care
The Michigan chapter of the National Arab American Medical Association used its 43rd annual gala to frame medicine as both a professional calling and a civic obligation. Held Oct. 16 at the Soho Banquet & Event Center in Westland, the evening brought together physicians, healthcare leaders and community members from across Metro Detroit for a program built around recognition, mentorship and humanitarian service.
The central honor of the night went to Dr. Basim Dubaybo, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for a career spanning medicine, education, leadership and community service. Dubaybo’s work in pulmonary medicine, critical care and internal medicine has placed him at the intersection of acute care and academic medicine, and the award recognized the long arc of that influence. In a field where clinical expertise is often measured by procedure counts or publications alone, the gala pushed a broader standard: enduring service to colleagues, trainees and the public.
His role as a former national president of NAAMA also carried institutional weight. During that tenure, he helped organize major conferences designed to build cooperation, facilitate exchange of medical expertise and strengthen continuing education between Arab physicians in North America and colleagues in the Middle East. In practical terms, that kind of professional bridge-building matters because medical knowledge moves quickly, but access to it does not always move evenly. Conferences, mentorship networks and multilingual professional communities can narrow that gap for physicians working across systems and borders.
The event also reflected a second theme running through the evening: medicine as relief work in moments of crisis. NAAMA Michigan President Dr. Tamam Mohamad, who is preparing to assume the national presidency, described the chapter’s recent efforts as a mix of local support and international humanitarian response. He pointed to aid sent to families affected by devastation in Gaza and southern Lebanon, including containers of health supplies and medical equipment. The chapter also provided academic and financial support for 15 students from Gaza so they could continue medical studies at the American University of Beirut.
One sentence from the evening captured the tone of the night without softening it.
Medicine, in this setting, was treated as a duty to preserve life before it was treated as a profession.
Mohamad, an internationally recognized cardiologist and interventional specialist, also emphasized the association’s support for the recently opened ACCESS Recovery Center in Dearborn, which treats and rehabilitates people struggling with drug addiction. That choice of focus links the gala’s celebratory atmosphere to a hard public health reality. Addiction care does not sit apart from mainstream medicine; it is part of the same continuum of chronic disease management, relapse prevention and social stabilization. Support for a recovery center signals an understanding that cardiovascular disease, mental illness, infectious disease and substance use often meet in the same patients and the same households.
He also described workshops for students and academic support across universities, along with efforts to strengthen professional relationships among physicians. Those programs may sound ceremonial from the outside, but they often shape the pipeline of future clinicians in very concrete ways. Mentorship helps students navigate admissions, training, research and licensure, while association-based networks can make medical careers feel accessible to first-generation trainees and immigrant families who may not already know the path.
Wayne State University School of Medicine Dean Dr. Wael Sakr delivered the keynote address and anchored it in a different kind of challenge: the speed of change in modern medicine. He argued that medical knowledge now doubles every few months, which places pressure on physicians and students alike to keep pace with digital tools, technological advances and new scientific findings. The message was less about abstract innovation than about daily clinical competence. In real practice, rapidly evolving evidence affects how doctors interpret symptoms, select treatments and communicate risk to patients.
Sakr also turned the discussion toward geographic inequity. He pointed to the need to improve services in rural areas, which he said cover roughly 85 percent of the United States’ geographic area, yet remain underserved compared with urban centers. Rural shortages are not simply a staffing problem; they shape delayed diagnosis, longer travel times, fragmented follow-up and weaker access to specialty care. In that context, training physicians with the skills and flexibility to work across settings becomes a public health issue, not just an educational one.
The gala program described Sakr as a physician, educator and academic leader whose career reflects commitment to excellence in medicine, research and community service. Born in Syria, he earned his medical degree from Damascus University in 1980 before immigrating to the United States. Mohamad also graduated from Damascus University’s medical school in 2003, while Dubaybo graduated from the American University of Beirut. Those shared academic threads gave the evening a transnational character, reflecting how Arab American medical leadership has been built through institutions on both sides of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Hassan Abdallah, vice chair of the Michigan Board of Medicine and chair of the Dearborn Board of Ethics, shifted the focus to identity, integrity and representation. He urged Arab American physicians to remain connected to their culture and to introduce themselves to patients using their Arabic names. The point reaches beyond symbolism. Names carry trust, recognition and continuity, especially in communities where language and heritage shape the clinical encounter. When physicians present themselves authentically, they often reduce distance before the first question is even asked.
Dr. Mustafa Hamed, chair of the Michigan Board of Medicine and medical director of emergency medicine at McKenzie Health System, spoke to a similar theme from the standpoint of service delivery. He emphasized the importance of improving comprehensive healthcare and responding promptly to patient and community needs. Emergency medicine makes that principle especially visible: delays can cost function, life or recovery time. His remarks linked high standards of care today to a healthier and safer tomorrow, a line that resonated in a room filled with doctors who straddle public service, clinical work and cultural leadership.
The evening drew approximately 500 attendees and was emceed by Palestinian political activist and comedian Amer Zahr, with musical and vocal performances by the National Arab Orchestra. The attendance itself suggested a durable institution with a broad constituency, but the event’s real message was narrower and more concrete. NAAMA is trying to use professional medicine as a platform for education, relief, cultural continuity and support for the next generation of physicians.
What remains unanswered is how far such association-led efforts can be expanded without losing their local focus, and how much more visible support physician groups can provide for students, recovery services and overseas humanitarian needs in the years ahead.