In his capacity as a board member of the United States section of MSF/Doctors Without Borders, Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and American studies, participated in the annual Field Associative Debate (FAD) for MSF staff serving throughout Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, in Amman, on March 5-6.
This year’s regional FAD topic covered MSF’s “Medical Care Under Fire” initiative and MSF’s social and traditional media communications profile in the Middle East. After debating this year’s topics, staff members then presented recommendations and motions for consideration by the MSF International General Assembly. Immediately prior to and following this year’s FAD, Prof. Al-Tikriti joined several colleagues on brief field visits to MSF projects in Za’atari Refugee Camp, al-Ramtha and Amman. Upon his return, he reviewed a FAD report and completed a brief memo on regional operations for internal review.
Prior to visiting Jordan, Al-Tikriti presented UMW’s cooperative academic programs to an audience of 200+ students and faculty at Istanbul Sabahettin Zaim Universitesi (IZU) in Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 25 (see picture). In the course of this presentation, it grew clear that there is great interest among IZU’s student body to study English as a Second Language, Education, and Business at UMW.
Shortly after his return to Virginia, Al-Tikriti made a presentation to students at the Georgetown University School of Medicine on March 21. Appearing with Prof. Daniel Neep of Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), the event was titled “The Syrian Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis: A Panel Discussion.” In the course of this presentation, he discussed MSF’s ongoing role in the Syrian civil war, as well as his personal experiences serving as Deputy Head of Mission with MSF in cross-border operations along the Turkish-Syrian border in 2013.
