Omar Chamdine, MD

photo of Omar Chamdine

Since his early years as a student, Dr. Omar Chamdine was determined to become a physician, specifically a hematologist. “The major driver for me was my father, who had severe hemophilia A,” he said.

In 1996 he graduated from high school in Lebanon and travelled to Belarus to attend the Belarussian State Medical University. He did his residency at the MGH-American University of Beirut. Two pediatric hematology oncology fellowships followed at the University of Lille, France, and the American University of Beirut. Dr. Chamdine finished his training in 2015 when he completed a pediatric neuro-oncology fellowship at St Jude.

Since 2016 Dr. Chamdine has worked in Saudi Arabia. Currently he is a pediatric hematology-oncology and neuro-oncology consultant at King Fahad Specialist Hospital in Dammam. He is director of the hospital’s pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship program. Dr. Chamdine is also a researcher and member of the St Jude Global Alliance.

“I have had a wonderful journey. I feel blessed to be able to work in this field to help and support children and their families,” he says. “However, at this point I feel that I want to do more, and I am sure that the Master of Science in Global Child Health program will help me gain knowledge in fields that are necessary to improve personally and professionally. The program will enable me to offer more global and comprehensive care for my patients and patients in other parts of the world. “

Hometown: Saida, Lebanon

Education

Pediatric Neuro Oncology: St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (2015)
Pediatric Hematology Oncology: University of Lille 2, France and American University of Beirut, Lebanon (2011, 2013)
Pediatrics: MGH-American University of Beirut, Lebanon (2009)
Medical Degree: Belarussian State Medical University, Belarus (2004)

Publications

High Dose Chemotherapy with Autologus Stem Cell Transplantation in Children with Solid and Central Nervous System Tumors. A single center experience. Barakah Bakurmum, Saad aldaama, Omar Chamdine. Journal of Oncology Medicine and Practice. Volume 6:4, 2021.

SIOP PODC–adapted treatment guidelines for craniopharyngioma in low- and middle-income settings. Nisreen Amayiri, Ariane Spitaels, Mohamed Zaghloul, Anthony Figaji, Sergio Cavalheiro, Hermann L. Muller, Moawia Elhassan, Jeannette Parkes, Naureen Mushtaq, Mohamed El Beltagy, Yacoub A. Yousef, Natia. Esiashvili, Michael Sullivan, Marcos Devanir da Costa, Patricia Dastoli, Fatima Mubarak, Ute Bartels, Omar Chamdine, Alan Davidson, Awni Musharbash, Patricia Alcasabas, Eric Bouffet, Simon Bailey. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2020 Aug 13;e28493. doi: 10.1002/pbc.28493.

Immediate Response to Chemotherapy in an Adult Neurblastoma Patient Presenting with Cord Compression. Nedal Bukhari, Bachar Harfouch, Majed AlOtaibi, Hulayel Al Harbi, Omar Chamdine. Case Rep Neurol Med. 2020: 6401497.

Molecular genetics of medulloblastoma in children: diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic implications. Maher El Doussouki, Amar Gajjar, Omar Chamdine. Future Neurology. 25 Jan 2019 https://doi.org/10.2217/fnl-2018-0030.

The incidence of brainstem primitive neuroectodermal tumors of childhood based on SEER data. Omar Chamdine, Ghada Ahmad Saad Elhawary, Ahmed Samir Alfaar, Ibrahim Qaddoumi. Childs Nerv Syst. 2018 Mar; 34(3): 431–439.

Bithalamic Gliomas May Be Molecularly Distinct from Their Unilateral High-Grade Counterparts. Broniscer A, Hwang SN, Chamdine O, Lin T, Pounds S, Onar-Thomas A, Chi L, Shurtleff S, Allen S, Gajjar A, Northcott P, Orr BA. Brain Pathology 10.1111/bpa.12484.

Gliomatosis cerebri in children shares molecular characteristics with other pediatric gliomas. Alberto Broniscer, Omar Chamdine, Scott Hwang, Tong Lin, Stanley Pounds, Arzu Onar-Thomas, Sheila Shurtleff, Amar Gajjar, Paul Northcott, and Brent A. Orr.  Acta Neuropathologica 2016 Feb;131(2):299-307. doi: 10.1007/s00401- 015-1532-y. Epub 2016 Jan 7.

Metastatic low-grade gliomas. 20 year follow up at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Original article. Omar Chamdine, Alberto Broniscer, ShengjieWu, Amar Gajjar, and Ibrahim Qaddoumi. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2016; 63:62–70.

Oral presentation at SIOP 2015 (South Africa): Metastatic low-grade gliomas. 20 year follow up at St Jude Children’s Research. Omar Chamdine, Alberto Broniscer, ShengjieWu, Amar Gajjar, and Ibrahim Qaddoumi.

Effective Treatment of Cerebral Mucormycosis Associated with Brain Surgery, case report. Omar Chamdine, Aditya H. Gaur, and Alberto Broniscer. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2015, May;34(5):542-3. PMID:25420158.

Molecular Characteristics of Pediatric High-grade Gliomas. Omar Chamdine and Amar Gajjar. CNS oncology, 2014 Nov;3(6):433-43. PMID: 25438814.

Autologous stem cell transplantation for primary refractory and relapsed Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients sensitive to salvage therapy: necessity of obtaining complete remission before autologous transplant for significantly better long-term outcomes. A. Ibrahim, M. El-Saifi , O. Chamdine, G. Nsouli, J. Makdissi, R. Jalloul, L. Khayat, M. Haïdar, S. Faddoul, F. Kamar, T. Jisr, A. Mugharbil. Poster presentation.