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Dr. Philip Adib Salem was born in Bterram, ElKoura, Lebanon on July 13, 1941. He graduated from the Medical School of the American University of  Beirut in June, 1965, and did three years of residency training in internal medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. During his residency, he also studied moral philosophy and taught biology at the Lebanese University.
His career in cancer medicine began in June of 1968, when he joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. After two years of training there, he joined M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. From 1971 to 1986, Dr. Salem was Director of the Cancer Program at the American University of Beirut. He was the first to establish a fellowship training program in cancer treatment and research in the Middle East. Most of the students he trained in Beirut eventually came to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for further training and some of them currently serve on the faculty of this institution.
During his tenure at the American University of Beirut, Dr. Salem maintained his academic ties with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He spent the academic year 1976-1977 at M.D. Anderson as Assistant Professor of Medicine. He returned to the American University of Beirut until January, 1987, when he re-joined M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and was promoted to full professorship in 1990.
In September, 1991, he was appointed Director of the Cancer Research Program at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is part of the prestigious Texas Medical Center. Dr. Salem's appointment at St. Luke's gave him the opportunity to help institute a wide-reaching community cancer program with clinical research being a major pillar of this program. In addition, Dr. Salem is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
From 1975-1986, Dr. Salem was the chairman of the Federation of the Middle East Cancer Organizations, and in that capacity, he interacted with all the cancer programs in the Middle East. Dr. Salem is widely published and served on editorial boards for several national and international cancer medicine publications. He served on the editorial board of the journal Anti Cancer Drugs, an international journal on anti-cancer agents. He also served on the editorial board of the Annals of Oncology, which is the official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology.
On a national scale, Dr. Salem worked closely with the George Bush Administration from 1989 to 1992, in areas related to health care. In addition, he is a member of many nationally and internationally recognized cancer societies, including The World Health Organization Expert Committee on Cancer, the International Society for Preventive Oncology, The American Association for Cancer Research, The American Society of Hematology, and American Society of Clinical Oncology.
In the last few years, Dr. Salem received highly distinguished honors and merits from several American and European research institutions for his major contributions to the study and understanding of lymphomas; in particular, lymphomas that afflict the stomach and intestinal tract in the Middle East and the Mediterranean countries. He was one of the first researchers to delineate the relationship between infection and cancer and also to show that cancer may start as a benign process, which is totally reversible, before it becomes malignant.
In October, 1993, Dr. Salem was recognized by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for his "major contributions to cancer research and to mankind".
In May, 1994, Dr. Salem received the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, which is "the highest honor the Republican members of the U.S. Senate can bestow." Also in July of 1994, he was admitted to the Hall of Fame of the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership by the American Biographical Institute. His admission to the Hall of Fame was in recognition of his major contributions to cancer medicine and cancer research. During the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting which was held in Philadelphia in May, 1996, Dr. Salem was elected the first President of the Arab American Cancer Foundation.
On May 9, 1998, he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition Organizations (NECO) for "exceptional humanitarian efforts, and outstanding contributions to America," and was also selected as a member of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Society.
Dr. Salem was selected as one of America's top doctors on February 27, 2001, in the premier edition of America's Top Doctors, a national guide to outstanding medical specialists throughout the United States. Fewer than one percent of physicians in the United States have been recognized by inclusion in this national Castle Connolly Guide.
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