Princess Ghida Talal Inaugurates Endoscopy Unit at KHCC
Under the patronage of HRH Princess Ghida Talal, Chairperson of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF) and Center (KHCC), an endoscopy unit at KHCC was inaugurated in the presence of HRH Prince Talal bin Muhammad. The unit was named after Dr. Ala Uddin Toukan in recognition of his achievements in scientific research and his contributions in the medical and academic fields.
Princess Ghida Talal stated: “I am proud to name this endoscopy unit after Dr. Ala Uddin Toukan, whose humanity, integrity and sincerity, in addition to his vital role as a member of KHCF and KHCC’s Board of Trustees, will always be remembered.”
During the event, Princess Ghida also delivered a message on behalf of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, in which he wrote: “These fond remembrances of our late Dr. Ala Uddin Toukan demonstrate our appreciation and respect for a dear brother and friend. Throughout his life, he embodied noble morals, virtues, and goals, which he actively sought to achieve.”
The ceremony included a tour of the endoscopy unit, where the audience listened to a briefing about the unit, whose four rooms span an area of 875 square meters and serve 415 patients per month with the latest technology to remove gastrointestinal tract tumors. This technology is the first of its kind in Jordan.
About Dr. Ala Uddin Toukan
Dr. Ala Uddin Toukan was born in 1947 in Jerusalem, Palestine to Hanan Jalal Hashem and His Excellency the late Bahauddin Toukan, brother to Her Majesty the late Queen Alia Al Hussein.
Dr. Toukan spent the first two years of primary school in the Terra Sancta School in Amman, Jordan before moving to the UK in 1956 to attend Claremont School, St. Leonard's in Sussex, UK and secondary school at Bryanstone Public School in Blandford, Dorset, UK, from where he graduated in 1964. In 1965, Dr. Toukan enrolled in St. George's Hospital Medical School, University of London, where he received his undergraduate education. He carried out his postgraduate training first in internal medicine at the University of Western Ontario followed by Boston University Medical Center in Boston, MA, USA. After that Dr. Toukan held various appointments, these include, amongst others, Professor of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Jordan; Chief of the Gastroenterology and Liver Unit in the Department of Medicine at the University of Jordan, Clinical Research Associate in Medicine at Boston University Medical Center, Fulbright Scholar and Researcher in the Hepatitis Branch at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, U.S.A, as well as Chairman of the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan, and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Jordan.
Dr. Toukan played a major role in initiating and directing the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at the University of Jordan Hospital, leading to the Master’s Degree and certification by the Arab and Jordanian Boards of Internal Medicine. He developed the G.I and Liver Units of the Jordan Hospital into a modern and fully equipped national referral center. In addition, as chairman of the scientific committee, Dr. Toukan led a major advancement in educational involvement by all member physicians, particularly in supporting meetings, studies and educational activities in schools, rural areas, refugee camps and parental and teacher associations regarding liver diseases. Dr. Toukan was also invited by Dr. B. Blumberg, Nobel prize recipient for the discovery of the hepatitis B virus to sit on a Global committee for the eradication of hepatitis B, under his chairmanship and resulting from that, the formation of, and chairing for the Middle East and North Africa study group on hepatitis B which held its first meeting in Amman. Dr. Toukan was also a member of the WHO coordinating committee on hepatitis in Geneva.