Finding Humanity in Medicine

David Hasan and Seth Cohen come from different backgrounds. Hasan is Palestinian, Cohen is Jewish. But after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in Israel and military response in Gaza by Israel, they both had the same impulse: to help.

Hasan, a Duke neurosurgeon, traveled to Gaza with 17 other physicians to provide lifesaving care. Cohen, a Duke otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon, traveled to Israel to bear witness to the tragedy’s aftermath and consult and support health care teams. 

Image

In an effort to explore how universities can foster constructive discourse, the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East invited Hasan and Cohen to speak to the Duke community at a 2024 forum titled Universities and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: How to Discuss, How to Engage. 

Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents who fled the land in 1967, Hasan says that before Oct. 7, he had never engaged in humanitarian efforts, focusing instead on advancing his career. But in late December 2023, after the United Nations adopted a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, “I immediately dropped everything and jumped on that opportunity,” Hasan said.

Cohen, who had never met Hasan, heard him speak about some of his experiences and reached out.

“When I heard him talk of his heartache and his desire to help, I thought I have the exact same heartache and desire to help, even though we’re quite different,” said Cohen, who found an emergency medical registry and traveled to Israel with the American Healthcare Professionals and Friends for Medicine in Israel.

Stripped of their labels and working together to save lives, the two physicians “found the humanity in medicine,” said Cohen.

“The hope is to forge forward together, American, Palestinian, Israeli, and work for the future, because without it, the alternative is horrible,” Hasan said.

To learn more about the Provost’s Forum, go to this Duke Today story. And, for more information on Hasan’s ongoing humanitarian work in Gaza, read this interview.