March 9, 2016

Experts to discuss Syria’s national crisis during SVSU event

Syria’s crisis will be the focus of a series of presentations at Saginaw Valley State University led by Mouhanad Hammami, president of The National Arab American Medical Association Michigan Chapter.

The event — free and open to the public — is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Curtiss Hall’s Seminar Room E at SVSU.

Hammami is the featured speaker. Other speakers will include John Baesler, SVSU associate professor of history; Rosina Hassoun, SVSU assistant professor of sociology; and Ingrid Hoskins, an SVSU history major from Pinckney and president of SVSU’s History Club.

The group will discuss the root causes and consequences of rebellion in Syria, where an estimated 250,000 people have died during nearly five years of anti-government protests and civil war. The crisis has led to millions of refugees attempting to flee to surrounding nations.

Hammami’s talk will focus on the medical needs of those refugees.

A graduate of Aleppo University in Syria, Hammami completed his postdoctoral research in pediatrics at the Newborn Center of the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He then accepted a faculty appointment at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit and a research position at the Detroit Medical Center Department of Pediatrics.

In 2006, he was granted the American Medical Association Foundation for Excellence in Medicine and Leadership award for his public health advocacy and community work. He was awarded the “Health Policy Champion Award” by the Michigan Department of Community Health in 2011. He was named the “Arab American of the Year in Medicine” by The American Arab Professionals Network in 2012.

Hammami recently was named director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans and Community Wellness, where he oversees all health, wellness and human services for the 13th largest county in the nation.

For more information about the March 16 event, contact Baesler at (989) 964-4381 or email jbaesler@svsu.edu.