Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish - Keynote Speaker

Known to many as “The Gaza Doctor”, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish is the author of “I Shall Not Hate”, and founder of the Daughters for Life Foundation. An assistant  professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto, he has experienced the horrors of war first hand, and has devoted his life to pursuing peace in the Middle East. Daughters for Life provides access to higher education for young women from that region.

Among Dr. Abuelaish’s many awards, he is the 2009 recipient of the Stavros Niarchos Prize for Survivorship. He also won the 2009 Search for Common Ground Award, the 2009 Middle East Institute Award, the 2010 Uncommon Courage Award from the Centre for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding at Queen’s College (New York), and the 2010 Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award of Canada.

Dr. Abuelaish was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2009 and again in 2010 by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan. He was one of  three finalists for the 2009 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, and, in 2010, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.