Alfred Abuhamad

Alfred Abuhamad, MD, is executive vice president for health sciences at Old Dominion University. He previously served as president, provost and dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School for three years prior to the school’s integration with Old Dominion University and the formation of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU on July 1, 2024. Dr. Abuhamad is a physician-scientist-educator who is recognized internationally for his expertise and leadership in maternal-fetal medicine, ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis, global outreach and patient safety.

Dr. Abuhamad came to EVMS in 1992. Currently, he is the Mason C. Andrews Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Radiology. He previously served as department chair for 18 years.

Dr. Abuhamad is a pioneer in ultrasound development and education. His innovations in ultrasound have enhanced fetal diagnosis, and one of his books, a free-access e-book, "Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Practical Approach," has been downloaded more than 70,000 times and translated into 11 languages.

As president of the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine, he oversaw an initiative to encourage widespread use of ultrasound to minimize radiation exposure with other imaging modalities. He established the outreach program at the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and has led several ultrasound training missions to the developing world to include Haiti, Ghana and Somaliland. He also is a past president of the Society for Ultrasound in Medical Education and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Trained in maternal-fetal medicine, Dr. Abuhamad was a principal investigator and co-led a national team of researchers studying the human placenta during early pregnancy. That project was supported by a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

He is the author of eight books, 30 book chapters and 214 peer-reviewed journal articles. One of his books, “A Practical Guide to Fetal Echocardiography,” won the Book of the Year Award in 2019 from the British Medical Association.

He is founder and past chair of the Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care and is founder of the Ob Right Program, a nationally recognized program in patient safety and quality.

Dr. Abuhamad earned his medical degree at the American University of Beirut. He continued his postgraduate training at the University of Miami where he completed his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology and his fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine. He also pursued a second fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine in ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis.

Dr. Abuhamad has received numerous national and international awards. He is recipient of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2019, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s premier honor for education.