The Chronic Care Center is a non-governmental and non-profit socio-medical institution,
specialised in the treatment of childhood chronic diseases, in particular of thalassaemia
and juvenile diabetes. It has been founded by Mrs. Mouna Haraoui
in 1993 and is governed by a board of trustees. The centre provides young patients
with high quality therapeutic surveillance, strict medical follow-up, and regular
psycho-social orientation under the supervision of a multidisciplinary team of specialised
doctors, nurse educators, social workers, a dietician, and a psychologist.
While treatment and orientation remain at the core of its mission, the centre also
promotes disease prevention through extensive information and health education campaigns
of its Prevention Unit and through studies carried out in its Genetics Research
Laboratory. The latter incorporates a research unit and a diagnostic unit, that
is in turn divided into a molecular biology and a cytogenetics section and that
provides many services, including genetic testing for haemoglobinopathies and other
disorders.
Dr. Ali Taher, the team leader of this project is Professor of
Internal Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center division of
Hematology/Oncology. He is also Consultant Hematologist at the Chronic Care Center.
Besides providing follow-up to thalassaemic patients, Dr. Taher has conducted several
major studies at the centre, focussed on thalassaemia. He investigates iron chelation,
hepatitis C, osteoporosis and thrombosis, and is the principal investigator of the
escalator study of the new iron chelator ICL670.