Now into its fourth year, the war in Syria has killed more than 150,000 people and driven an estimated 9 million people from their homes. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working on the ground in Syria and in neighboring countries since the onset of the conflict, first supporting medical facilities with supplies, then establishing independent facilities. Unable to receive permission from Damascus to work in Syria, teams set up projects in opposition-held areas, primarily in the country’s northern border regions. All told, MSF teams in Syria had conducted more than 7,000 surgeries, 54,000 emergency room interventions, and 88,000 outpatient consultations. In addition to responding to mass casualty events, medical teams have also offered services ranging from primary health to maternal to chronic disease care.

Dr. Deane Marchbein joined Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in 2006 to work as an anesthesiologist in MSF’s surgical program in Ivory Coast and now serves as president of MSF-USA Board of Directors. She has recently worked with MSF in Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon. She served as an anesthesiologist with MSF in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Libya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Syria, and as a medical doctor in Libya and Lebanon. She was formerly the business manager and chairperson of the anesthesia department as well as the director of the intensive care unit at Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Dr. Marchbein now works for Massachusetts General Hospital and the Cambridge Health Alliance.

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