About Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta Operating on a Wounded Person

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a British-Palestinian Associate Professor of Surgery and a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon. He completed his medical education at University of Glasgow in the U.K and his postgraduate residency training in London. He later underwent 3 fellowships: Pediatric Craniofacial Surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Kids (GOS); Cleft Surgery at GOS and a further fellowship in Trauma Reconstruction at the Royal London Hospital. In 2011 he was recruited by the American University of Beirut Medical Center. In 2012 he became Head of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the AUBMC, Clinical Lead of its Pediatric War injuries program and War Injuries Multidisciplinary Clinic.

In 2015 co-founded and became director of the Conflict Medicine Program at Global Health Institute at the American University of Beirut. He returned to the UK in 2020 and continues in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the private sector.

Dr. Ghasssan Abu Sitta at a Press Conference on October 17th, 2023
A visibly shaken Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah.
Press Conference 2 hours after the Al-Ahli Baptist Massacre on October 17th, 2023.

He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Center for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College University of London and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Conflict & Health Research Group at Kings College London University. He is Clinical Lead for the Operational Trauma Initiative at the World Health Organization’s EMRO Office and serves on the board of directors of INARA, a charity dedicated to providing reconstructive surgery to war injured children in the Middle East, and Board of Trustees of the UK based Medical Aid for Palestinians. He serves on the UK’s National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) International Funding Committee.

He has published extensively on the health consequences of prolonged conflict and on war injuries including a medical text book, “Reconstructing the War Injured Patient” and “Treating the War Injured Child.” He has worked as a war surgeon in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, South Lebanon and during the 4 wars in the Gaza Strip. He has worked in the Gaza Strip during this current war. His work was featured by numerous newspapers and media outlets notably La Monde, The Independent, Telegraph, BBC and CNN.

 

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  • Gaza, 9 years on: A humanitarian catastrophe - The Lancet Journal

    Gaza is devastated by a horrific conflict, with children constituting more than a third of those killed. Targeted hospitals and crippled supplies endanger patients, including infants and ventilator-dependent cases. An immediate ceasefire is required to stop the tide of suffering and preserve our common humanity.

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  • A doctor went to Gaza to help. What he saw there still haunts him - The Washington Post

    The Washington Post interviewed Abu Sitta for several hours about his experiences. He described the events that stayed with him during his time at al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals.

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