My name is Silva Dakessian Sailian, and I earned my BS in Nursing from the Hariri School of Nursing at the American University of Beirut (AUB). I began my nursing career as a registered nurse in the Coronary Care Unit at AUB Medical Center before obtaining my master’s degree in Public Health from AUB. Following graduation, I began teaching in the Undergraduate Nursing Program at Balamand University in Lebanon. After five years of teaching, I transferred to AUB’s Hariri School of Nursing (HSON) as a clinical instructor, where I continue to teach several nursing courses, including Foundations of Nursing, Adult Care Nursing, and Critical Care Nursing.

As a nursing instructor and bedside nurse, I developed a passion for palliative care and its ground-breaking philosophy. To further my knowledge in this area, I completed my Ph.D. in palliative care at Lancaster University in the UK in November 2022. My dissertation focused on the dignity of patients with palliative needs in a Lebanese context. Additionally, I completed the Fellowship program in palliative care through the Institute of Palliative Medicine in India, in partnership with St. Christopher’s Hospice in London, UK. I am now serving as a mentor in the Fellowship program for the second consecutive year.

At HSON, I have designed an elective course in palliative care for graduate nurses, which is currently under study. Recently I was promoted assistant professor rank at HSON.

I am also leading the effort to launch a Nursing Society in Palliative Care in Lebanon under the umbrella of the Order of Nurses. The aim is to support nurses to enhance their essential knowledge and skills to integrate palliative care to their practice or education.Furthermore, I am committed to introducing palliative care education into the undergraduate and graduate nursing curricula at my university and, hopefully, at other nursing programs throughout Lebanon.