Amal Jawad’s love of numbers and technology drove her to pursue a B.S. in Business Administration from Long Beach State University, and an M.S. in Information Systems Technology from George Washington University and, after which she embarked on a fruitful career back home in Lebanon. After spending years in the corporate world running the financial, information systems, and administrative operations of renowned consulting groups and IT firms, Amal decided to dedicate the next phase of her career to a meaningful cause. She joined Brave Heart as Operations Manager in 2014, where she oversees the daily financial and administrative operations of the office, honing her knack for troubleshooting and resource management to ensure that donations and budgets are mindfully disbursed to provide care and treatment for the children we serve. Beyond being exceptionally meticulous and well-rounded both professionally and personally, her talent for problem-solving and multi-tasking has fittingly earned her the title of Brave Heart’s ‘Jill-of-all-trades.’

Rama Fakhouri grew up in Beirut and Paris before moving to the United States to get her B.A. in International Business and MBA from the American University in Washington DC. She spent the first 10 years of her career between Washington and Paris, returning to Lebanon in 1997 to take up the reins of her family business - Kocache Enterprises - as Deputy CEO and Financial and Administrative Manager. Faced with the hard-hitting impact of the economic crisis in the region and brewing socio-political unrest in Lebanon, Rama decided to shift her focus and energy to help make a difference in the lives of vulnerable and underprivileged communities. She joined Brave Heart in 2017, where she leads and oversees a variety of fundraising initiatives and events, collaborations, and research and development efforts to advance the initiative’s mission to raise funds for children with heart disease. When she is not campaigning for Brave Heart, Rama is devoted to her family and is a feisty activist, always ready to passionately advocate and participate in movements for the human and civic rights of her fellow citizens.

Shaila Afzal spent her childhood and young adult life globetrotting between the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Inspired by her cosmopolitan roots and experiences, she became intrigued in shaping and influencing public opinion through diverse communication channels. Shaila majored in Corporate Public Relations at Boston University and landed her first job in the healthcare sector as a media relations liaison at one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals.
Shaila joined Brave Heart in 2013 as a committee member, after taking a break from the corporate PR world, where she spent more than a decade working on communication and PR campaigns for a variety of global lifestyle, luxury, tech, and consumer brands. During her first 7 years as a Brave Heart volunteer, she was involved in a variety of roles, overseeing annual awareness campaigns, special projects, and events, managing the relationships between Brave Heart stakeholders, and even serving as committee chair, before taking on the official role of Brave Heart’s PR & Communications Manager at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Today, Shaila is responsible for managing the internal and external communications functions of Brave Heart, while ensuring that they are aligned with the post-pandemic world and the challenges of Lebanon’s economic socio-economic crisis.
Originally from a mixed background, Shaila now calls Lebanon home and is dedicated to serving the public sector. When she’s not advocating on behalf of Brave Heart and the plight of children and families affected by heart disease, Shaila is a busy mom of 2 boys and an active health and fitness enthusiast.

Joumana Ghandour Atallah is a practicing architect in Beirut. She received her BFA and BArch from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MAs in architecture and urban design from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she won the Thesis Prize in 1990. Joumana has since practiced architecture in New York and Beirut, and worked as an urban designer at Solidere between 1994 and 1996. Today, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Baalbeck International Festival. As President and Co-founder of the Brave Heart Fund, Joumana has actively led the Brave Heart committee and activities since the organization’s establishment in 2003.
A successful architect by profession and a humanitarian by choice, people who know Joumana will describe her as selfless and as someone who passionately devotes a large portion of her life to public service and civic duty. Never shying away from advocating and soliciting for Brave Heart, Joumana is known for her tough negotiation and lobbying skills, which have been instrumental in contributing to Brave Heart’s growth within the AUBMC community and across Lebanon.
While she has an innate ability to lead, Joumana is an inspiring team player who is ready to roll up her sleeves at any time for the needy. As she juggles between her career, her family and Brave Heart, Joumana also dreams of the day when free and universal coverage will be provided for children born with CHD.

Riham Kosta Serhan grew up in London and studied modern languages (French and Italian) at the University of Westminster. As part of her curriculum, she spent one year in Florence and Paris to work on her thesis. After graduating with a BA Honors Degree, Riham moved to New York, where she interned at the United Nations Headquarters. Returning back to London a year later, Riham worked in public relations for the fashion industry, until she got married. Originally from Lebanon, Riham moved back to Beirut in 2003, where she co-founded Brave Heart along with Joumana Atallah, after having experienced first-hand the plight of underprivileged children diagnosed with CHD. Herself a mother to a child born with CHD, Riham set off on a mission to raise funds for needy children who required life-saving surgeries. She led Brave Heart’s participation in Lebanon’s first International marathon in 2003, where she rallied runners to participate in the marathon and sponsors to support individual races.
As Vice-President of Brave Heart, Riham has initiated and led fundraising events for the organization in London and Dubai. Today, she is based in London and divides her time between actively raising her 3 boys and fundraising for Brave Heart. In her spare time, Riham devotes herself to her yoga practice.

Dr. Fadi Bitar is Founding Director of the (CHC), Co-Director of the Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Genetics Research Program, and Associate Dean for External Medical Affairs at AUB, and Co-Founder of Brave Heart. He is also Professor of Pediatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and former President of the Pan Arab Congenital Heart Disease Association.
After earning his medical degree from AUB, Dr. Bitar completed his training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology at the State University of New York, Health Science Center at Syracuse, and went on to complete specialized training at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Bitar has earned worldwide recognition as a leading pediatric cardiologist, and has made major contributions in his field, such as the establishment of educational and clinical programs resulting in improvements towards the care of thousands of children with CHD.
He has introduced new modalities and techniques for treatment of heart diseases, including first-of-its-kind procedures and important discoveries regarding the genetic causes of CHD. Throughout the course of his career, Dr. Bitar has received several international awards, honors, medals and research grants.

Dr. Issam El-Rassi is the Director of the Congenital and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Program at the CHC, and a Member of the Cardiothoracic Division at AUBMC since 2013. He graduated from Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, after which he specialized in Adult Cardiac Surgery in Paris (Necker Children’s Hospital), then in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery in Melbourne (Royal Children’s Hospital). Dr. El-Rassi is well experienced in complex neonatal and pediatric cardiac surgery, and has performed more than 3,000 cardiac surgical procedures with outcomes comparable to the best international benchmarks. He operates on patients from the entire Middle East region.
Dr. El-Rassi is spearheading the 3D Heart Printing Project at the CHC, which produced the first 3D-printed heart in Lebanon in 2015. In collaboration with Dr. Bitar, Dr. El-Rassi performed, for the first time in Lebanon and the region, the Hybrid Norwood’s Heart Surgery for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS).
He is actively involved in humanitarian activities and works with various research groups that study CHD-related subjects, such as Grown-Up Congenital Heart (GUCH) and mechanical assist devices. Dr El-Rassi has published more than 40 papers on CHD.