The Humanitarian Aid to the Syrian Casualties by Israel

On Monday December 7th, Dr. Salman Zarka, the Director General of Ziv Medical Center in Israel visited Rhode Island and met with the Rhode Island Hospital President, Rhode Island Department of Health officials, faculty and students from the Brown University Medical school. In the evening, Dr. Zarka gave a lecture at the Brown RISD Hillel, which was opened to the public. The visit was organized by the Israeli Consulate in Boston. Dr. Zarka covered the topics of Israel assisting Syrians wounded at the border and the role of the military and the Ziv Hospital in taking care of them and it's unique difficulties. Dr. Zarka is the first Druze to head a hospital in Israel. To read more about the hospital activities, please see the link. During his visit, Dr. Zarka expressed the interest of his hospital to build relations with Rhode Island Hospitals and academic institutions.

Dr. Zarka's Bio

Dr. Zarka graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa in 1988. He received a Master's degree in Public Health (MPH) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an additional Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Haifa.

Prior to his position at Ziv (December 2014), Dr. Zarka served, for 25 years, as a Colonel in the I.D.F. in a variety of positions, the last of which was commander of the Military Health Services Department. Previous to this position, Dr. Zarka was the Head of the Medical Corps of the Northern Command and the Commander of the Military Field Hospital for the Syrian casualties in the Golan Heights.