Bernard Gerbaka MD, PhD

Dr Bernard Gerbaka is President of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), Professor of Pediatrics in St Joseph University in Beirut, Director of the Child Protection Unit in Hotel-Dieu University Hospital and board member of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

A longtime, international advocate of child safety and welfare, Dr Gerbaka has been a prolific figure in Lebanon’s drive to protect Child Dignity, as the former President of the Child Protection Services, the Lebanese Union for Child Protection and Vice-President of the University Child and Youth Observatory in Lebanon. He is also a former member of the City Council of Beirut, where he set-up the first Child Safety Committee, the first Child and Youth Commission in Beirut Municipal Council, the Child Protection Committee in the Higher Council for Childhood and the first hospital-based Child Protection Unit in Lebanon, leading to the introduction of child abuse and neglect into the Health and Social University Curriculum. He has participated in research on child protection with the United Nations and the League of Arab States.