HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Huntington radiologist and Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine alumnus Lee C. Haikal, M.D., class of 1994, has established an endowed scholarship for medical students that honors both the life and legacy of his father, Elias G. Haikal, M.D.

Dr. Elias Haikal was born in 1947 in Lebanon and immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 to seek opportunity for his family. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and went on to practice family medicine in South Carolina before returning to Nitro, West Virginia, in 1977 to build his own practice and raise his family. Dr. Elias Haikal participated in the early days of the Marshall School of Medicine by allowing students to rotate in his clinic.

Over the past 40 years, many of the extended Haikal family, including the Istfan, Ghareeb, Gharib and Hourani families, have graduated from Marshall’s school of medicine. Three members of this extended, close-knit family are current medical students at Marshall. Dr. Elias Haikal passed away in 2016.

“This scholarship represents my father’s two greatest loves—family and medicine,” said Dr. Lee Haikal.

The Elias G. Haikal, M.D., Scholarship is designated for an entering first-year medical student at Marshall University with both merit and financial need. First preference will be given to West Virginia residents. The award is renewable for three additional years pending normal academic progress.

For more information or to make a gift to the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, please contact Linda Holmes, director of development and alumni affairs, by phone at 304-691-1711 or by e-mail at holmes@marshall.edu, or visit jcesom.marshall.edu/alumni.

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Media Contact: Sheanna M. Spence, Director of External Affairs, School of Medicine, 304-691-1639

Date Posted: Wednesday, June 19, 2019