Tripoli civil society honors Dr. Rana Hajjeh as winner of best US federal employee award

The North capital of Lebanon honored Dr. Rana Hajjeh for winning the prestigious award of the federal employee of the year in the US for her accomplishments in introducing the Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) vaccine into the national immunization programs of more than 73 countries among the poorest of the world. The ceremony organized by the Unified Women’s Commissions of the North, chaired by Nahla Kabbara, was held at the Safadi Cultural Center, under the patronage of Health Minister, Wa2el Abu Faoor. In her speech, general director of Safadi Center, Samira Baghdadi described Dr. Hajjeh’s distinctive achievement as extraordinary for it came as a recognition and acknowledgement from “the world’s greatest nation”, the United States of America. Advisor to the Unified Women’s Commissions, Dr. Fatmeh Badawi speaking on behalf of Kabbara, noted that Hajjeh success for innovation paves the way for even higher and more remarkable successes. For his part, Chairman of the Health Department in the North, Dr. Jamal Abdo Hajjeh, representing Minister Abu Faoor, complimented Hajjeh’s ingenious spirit in research and science as well as in social work and humanitarian action. Similarly, the President of the Lebanese Order of Physicians in the North, Dr. Elie Habib, said the honoring ceremony is reciprocated between Tripoli and its loyal daughter who brought back into focus the city’s human qualities which were masked by decades of deprivation, poverty and misery. At the end of the ceremony Dr. Hajjeh received medals of honors from the Secretary of the Unified Women’s Commissions in the North, Dr. Hind Sufi, from the Safadi cultural institute, and Al Azm Center for Biological Research. (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, February 19, 2015)