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Contributions To Teaching And Education
After his training in the United States, Dr. Salem returned to the American University of Beirut in 1971 and established the first fellowship training program for cancer research and treatment in the Middle East. From 1972 to 1986, he trained approximately 23 physicians.  Most of these physicians eventually came to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for further training and some of them are currently on staff at this institution.
In the early 1970's, when the treatment of cancer was still a heresy, Dr. Salem worked extremely hard to introduce the new concept that cancer is not only a treatable disease, but also, a potentially curable one. Now, 30 years later, this concept has become common knowledge.
Dr. Salem was one of the first researchers to say that "cancer may start as a benign process, which is totally reversible, if diagnosed and treated at this stage. This daring concept led to the growth and proliferation of a new discipline in cancer research called Chemoprevention. Also, Dr. Salem was one of the first scientists to see the link between infection and cancer. He argued that "infections may cause lymphoma".
Dr. Salem has conducted more than 200 conferences on cancer therapy in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. He has chaired more than fifty sessions on cancer research and lymphomas in international and national career conferences. In 1993, he was asked by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) to chair the international faculty of the UICC post-graduate chemotherapy course.
During his professional career, Dr. Salem has been actively engaged in the teaching of students, residents and fellows. Currently, he moderates cancer conferences at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and for many years, he chaired the monthly, multidisciplinary cancer conference, which was open to physicians in Houston city-wide.
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