Riad Azar, MD

Dr. Riad Azar joined the LAU Medical Center–Rizk Hospital in 2011 as head of the Division of Gastroenterology. Prior to attaining this position, he was associate professor and director of Endoscopic Ultrasound at Washington University in St. Louis, US, where he spent nine years as an attending physician focusing on all aspects of interventional endoscopy and general gastroenterology. Dr. Azar graduated from Saint Joseph University Medical School, Beirut, in 1994. He then completed an internship at the University of Connecticut in 1995, and a residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Massachusetts in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Dr. Azar obtained a diploma in advanced endoscopy from Harvard Medical School, Boston, in 2002. He has a strong interest in all aspects of interventional endoscopy, including ERCP and EUS—focusing mainly on the pancreas, gallbladder, and bile ducts; treatment of gallstones; and cancer staging. He also specializes in colonoscopy and the resection of large polyps. He has extensive experience and expertise in endoscopic bariatric procedures and the management of complications resulting from bariatric surgery. Dr. Azar is a diplomate of the American Board of Gastroenterology. He was promoted to clinical professor of medicine at LAU in 2017. He has published a large number of articles in major gastroenterology journals, and several textbook chapters. He received recognition as one of the “Best Doctors in America” from 2009 through 2018. He remains an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, US.