Elie Akl is a tenured Professor of Medicine at the American university of Beirut (AUB), where he serves as the Associate Dean for Clinical Research, leads the division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, directs the AUB GRADE Center, and co-directs the Center for systematic reviews of health policy and systems research (SPARK). His research expertise is in systematic reviews, practice guidelines, and conflicts of interest. He serves as a guideline methodologist including for the World Health Organization. He published close to 500 peer-reviewed papers and was listed by Thomson Reuters as one of the 2015 “world’s most influential scientific minds” and as one of the “Highly Cited Researchers” yearly since 2015.