Gazi B. Zibari, MD, director of Willis-Knighton’s John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center and Advanced Surgery Center, is the 2022 recipient of the Nonie Lowry Distinguished Service Award, the pre-eminent award of the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA). Dr. Zibari, who also is academic chairman of the surgery department and director of Willis-Knighton’s surgical residency program, accepted the award during the international HPBA World Congress in New York.

The award recognizes distinguished physicians who have provided leadership and made significant contributions to the field of hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery, which is related to the liver, pancreas and bile duct.  Past recipients have included physicians from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Washington University and University of Toronto, among others.  

A native of Kurdistan, Dr. Zibari came to the United States in 1976 as a refugee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College of Medicine and completed his surgery residency at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, where he was mentored by the late Dr. John C. McDonald. He credits Dr. McDonald for being instrumental in helping him secure a fellowship in abdominal solid organ transplantation at Johns Hopkins University.  In 1993, Dr. Zibari returned to Shreveport to teach and work under Dr. McDonald, who was the founder of organ transplantation in this region and a founding board member and president of South-Eastern Organ Procurement Foundation (SEOPF) and United Network of Organ Sharing.

Throughout his medical career, Dr. Zibari has acknowledged the value of teamwork and support and indicates he has had the privilege of mentoring and being mentored. Teamwork and support are fundamental values in his humanitarian outreach efforts, which have taken him to Kurdistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Nicaragua and Honduras. One of his greatest passions is helping foreign countries treat HPB diseases within the constraints of their limited resources.

“All my life I have done my best to support my family, provide the best care for my patients and teach my students everything I know,” he says. “If I can succeed, anyone should be able to succeed as well. The sky is the only limit in this country.”

Dr. Zibari also was awarded IHPBA honorary membership at the meeting.