Elie Akl is a tenured Professor of Medicine at the American university of Beirut (AUB). He serves as the Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the Faculty of Medicine, leads the division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (GIMG) at AUBMC, 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 conflicts of interest, systematic reviews, and practice guidelines (including the rapid, the living, prioritization and adaptation). He is a guideline methodologist for a number of North American professional organizations and the World Health Organization. He published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and has been listed as one of the “Highly Cited Researchers” yearly since 2015