Top pediatrician Dr. Zakaria Sobhy Habib was born in Madinah, on Jan. 5, 1966. He has been leading a team of medical specialists from the Kingdom’s nonprofit organization Albalsam International, that has just completed surgeries on 14 Tanzanian children.

The week-long surgery trip, which ended on June 29, was the second visit by the Albalsam team to the East African country.

Habib gained his doctor of medicine degree from King Saud University, in 1989, and attained a master’s degree in pediatric surgery from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada in 2004.

His also worked as a resident general surgeon at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh from 1990 to 1996 and was a fellow pediatric surgeon from 1997 to 2007.

Habib was an associate consultant pediatric surgeon from 2001 to 2002, has been a consultant pediatric surgeon since 2002, was director of pediatric surgery from 2002 to 2005, has been chairman of the departmental mortality and morbidity committee in Saudi Arabia since 2004, and was a fellow pediatric surgeon at McMaster University from 2000 to 2001.

He is also a member of the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group, the Saudi Pediatric Association, and the Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons.

The Albalsam medical team’s visit to Africa came in response to a request from the Tanzanian government and was carried out in coordination with Tanzania’s ambassador in Riyadh, Hemedi Idd Mgaza.