Background
Abulaish was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Abulaish was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
From 1997–2002 completed a residency in OB/Gyn at the Soroka University hospital in Beer Sheva, Israel, followed by a subspecialty in fetal medicine in Italy and Belgium. Then a master"s degree in Public Health (Health Policy and Management) from Harvard University.
He received his elementary, preparatory and secondary education in the refugee camp schools. Abuelaish received a scholarship to study medicine in Cairo, Egypt and then a diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the University of London. He has written a book named I Shall Not Hate.
The organisation provides scholarship awards to encourage young women to pursue their studies at universities in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
Doctor Abuelaish was the first Palestinian doctor to receive a staff position at an Israeli hospital, where he treated both Israeli and Palestinian patients. Immediately before the war he was a researcher at the Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv and already an important figure in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
He is currently Associate Professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto. According to The Express Tribune, "there was hardly anyone in the audience who did not choke or wipe away a silent tear while listening to Palestinian doctor and author Izzeldin Abuelaish.." 2009: Stavros Niarchos Prize for Survivorship.
Order of Ontario]
2013: Member of the Order of Ontario.