Dr James Orbinski

Dr James Orbinski has been appointed inaugural director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health (DIGH), based at York Univ. A physician, writer and humanitarian activist, Orbinski comes to the institute from the Centre for International Governance Innovation where he was chair of global health governance and director of the Africa Initiative. He was previously president of the International Council of Médecins Sans Frontières when the organization won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Orbinski holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Trent Univ, an MD from McMaster Univ and a master’s degree in international relations from the Univ of Toronto. The DIGH was founded in 2015 with a $20-million donation from billionaire Victor Dahdaleh, a controversial Canadian-UK metals magnate and philanthropist who was named in the leaked Panama Papers as a middleman in a 20-year corruption scheme between Bahrain and US aluminium producers.