Dr. Thaer Ahmad on Gaza and Walking Out of a Meeting with Biden

Dr. Thaer Ahmad is a board-certified emergency medicine physician, global health leader, and humanitarian who has provided medical relief in some of the world’s most devastated conflict zones, including Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, and Kenya. Based in Chicago, he serves as an Assistant Program Director for his department’s emergency medicine residency program and is the director of global health. He is also an assistant clinical professor at the University of Illinois and at Wake Forest School of Medicine. In a widely publicized moment, Dr. Ahmad delivered a powerful firsthand account during a private briefing with President Biden in 2024 and walked out in protest after calling for an immediate ceasefire—a moment that was covered by major news outlets and amplified the voices of the most vulnerable victims in Gaza.

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