Dr. Yacoub Yousef

Research Project-Promising

Dr. Yacoub A. Yousef is a recognized Ocular Oncologist in the Middle East. He currently heads the retinoblastoma service and the ocular oncology unit at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) in Amman, Jordan, and he is a member of the International Ocular Oncology task group that works at the global level for prevention, staging, and customized treatment for retinoblastoma.

He completed his basic medical education (2005) and the Higher Specialization in Ophthalmology (2010) from the University of Jordan. He completed his fellowship in Ocular Tumors, Orbital Disease and Ophthalmic Radiation Therapy at the New York Eye Cancer Center (NY, USA) and a fellowship in Retinoblastoma and Ocular Oncology at the University of Toronto (Canada), after which he joined as a faculty member at KHCC.

Dr. Yousef established and now leads a collaborative institutional research team for retinoblastoma at KHCC that focuses on understanding retinoblastoma in Jordan (and the Arab region) in terms of genetics, clinical and pathological behavior, and tumor features that affect tumor response to different treatment modalities including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. He also initiated the retinoblastoma screening program and awareness research to enhance early diagnosis for retinoblastoma in Jordan. At the time of this writing, Dr. Yousef has to his credit 65 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has delivered more than 50 conference lectures, multiple educational courses, and he is the author of several chapters in Eye Tumors.

In collaboration with the New York Eye Cancer Center, he established the ocular oncology fellowship program at KHCC to train ophthalmologists interested in retinoblastoma in the Middle East, and is now leading a global initiative (IRBCC, International Retinoblastoma Comprehensive Course) that teaches all aspects of retinoblastoma and is an open-access resource for eye doctors around the world that should help to save the lives of children with retinoblastoma worldwide.