Zaher Sahloul

Dr Zaher Sahloul is senior advisor and past president of the Syrian American Medical Society, SAMS. He is the founder of American Relief Coalition for Syria, a coalition of 14 humanitarian US based organizations working in Syria. He led SAMS to be one of the most important medical relief and advocacy organization providing medical relief to Syrians and Syrian refugees. Currently, he leads SAMS Global Response to address the refugee crisis in Europe and provide medical relief in disaster areas. Dr Sahloul also is a leading advocate in the Syrian humanitarian and refugee crisis. He wrote several influential articles on the impact of the Syrian crisis on patients, healthcare workers and public health. He was awarded Chicagoan of the year for 2016 for his humanitarian work in Aleppo and received Dr Robert Kirschner Award for Global Activism by Heartland Alliance Kovler Center 2017. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He is a practicing physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Sahloul has been conducting humanitarian efforts to help the civilian population in his homeland of Syria, especially in devastated Aleppo. He has treated civilians injured by sniper fire and bombs and those with chronic illnesses, sometimes working in basements to reduce the chances of being caught in the bombings. Dr. Sahloul considers his work a chance to redress the world’s inaction to the civil war. His commitment, energy, and compassion are compelling, demonstrated both in his international work and locally He has written widely about the medical and humanitarian crisis in Syria. He is a past chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, CIOGC.