Rifat Latifi

Rifat Latifi, MD, FACS, FICS, Professor of Surgery and Public Health at the University of Arizona, and is an honorary professor of the medical faculty of University of Tirana, Albania. He also serves as Vice Chair of International Affairs at the department of surgery.

Dr. Latifi received his Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Prishtina, Medical Faculty, Prishtina, Kosova in 1982. He completed internships at the University of Prishtina and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, and residency in general surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He also was a Surgical Critical Care Fellow at Lincoln Hospital, New York Medical College.

Dr. Latifi specializes in trauma, general surgery and critical care, with special interest in complex re-operative surgery, telemedicine and nutrition support of surgery and critically ill patients. Dr. Latifi is the author or coauthor of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He also has authored/co-authored and edited 12 books and serves on editorial board of number of peer review journals.

He is a founder and president of a not-for-profit organization, the International Virtual e-Hospital (www.iveh.org), whose mission is to assist in rebuilding the public healthcare system in developing countries by introducing and implementing telemedicine, telehealth, and virtual educational programs through the concept of the IVeH Network. In addition, Dr. Latifi established the first teletrauma and telepresence program in Arizona (Southern Arizona Telemedicine and Telepresence (SATT)) that served residents along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Since 2002, he has initiated and overseen a team of three national telemedicine programs in Europe (Kosova and Albania) and Cabo Verde (Africa) for which he has received the 2015 American College of Surgeons (ACS)/Pfizer International Surgical Volunteerism.

Dr. Latifi has received “The 21st Century Achievement Award for Health” by the Computerworld Honors Program and the International Award for Health Promotion by the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) and a number of teaching awards from residents and students.