Bio: Dr. Ghassan M. Matar is currently a Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology & Microbiology, Associate Director & Laboratory Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), and Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference & Research on Bacterial Pathogens at the Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut (AUB). Professor Matar is a resource advisor in the WHO-Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Agents (AGISAR), and served as American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Ambassador to Lebanon and Chair of the ASM Ambassador Leadership Circle (2011-2017). To present he served as an academic advisor to 52 graduate students, published 113 articles in refereed international journals and presented 130 abstracts in international, regional and local conferences. Professor Matar received funding from various extramural sources such as: CDC, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), WHO/AGISAR, PulseNet (CDC, WHO, MOPH) and others. His laboratory is involved in PulseNet International/Middle East (MoPH/CDC/WHO) and a WHO Collaborating Center for Reference & Research on Bacterial Pathogens.