Dr. Rania El Khatib, is the first Israeli Arab woman to become a plastic surgeon in Israel. Her job at the Rambam Medical Center is a chance to be an emissary for her community. Dr. Yehuda Ullman, the director of plastic surgery at Rambam Medical Center, noted that Arab female plastic surgeons are a rarity and that Dr. El Khatib will play an important role in raising awareness for treatment options for women in the Arab community and beyond.
Thirty percent of doctors at Rambam are women, and the representation of Arab physicians is proportionate to the numbers in the population. While the hospital is committed to providing equal opportunities, Prof. Yehuda Ullmann, head of the plastic surgery department, stresses that doctors are chosen purely on merit: “Plastic surgery residency is the most wanted residency in medicine not just in Israel but all over the world, and she was elected not because she’s Arab, not because she’s a woman, because she is Dr. Elkhatib and she is good and she is a very good doctor over here so we are lucky to have her here.”