Najmiddin Karim

Governor
Najmaldin Karim
Governor of Kirkuk
Assumed office
3 April 2011[1]
Deputy Rakan Said
Preceded by Abdul Rahman Mustafa
Member of the Council of Representatives
Assumed office
7 March 2010
Constituency Kirkuk
Personal details
Born 1949 (age 6667)
Kirkuk, Iraq
Citizenship Iraq
USA
Political party Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Alma mater George Washington University
University of Mosul
Profession

Neurosurgeon
Professor

Governor
Military service
Service/branch Peshmerga
Years of service 1972 - 1975

Dr. Najmaldin Karim (born 1949) is the current governor of Kirkuk Governorate in Iraq. Prior to the invasion of Iraq Karim had served in numerous Kurdish and Iraqi opposition groups.

Early years

Karim was born in Kirkuk in 1949, and lived in Kirkuk until he completed secondary school, when upon he moved to Mosul, where he studied medicine at the Mosul Medical College. Karim became involved in politics at university, being elected to the leadership of the Kurdish Student Union in 1971, and then later joining the peshmerga in 1972.

Karim left Iraq in 1975. He later completed neurosurgery training at George Washington University, and started his own medical practice in the Washington, DC area. Karim became an American citizen and lived in Maryland until 2009, when he returned to Kirkuk. Karim was in the emergency room when American President Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981.[2]

Return to Iraq

Karim returned to Iraq in 2009 to stand for the Kurdistan Alliance in the parliamentary election, and was elected as a member of parliament for Kirkuk. He was subsequently elected as governor of Kirkuk Governorate by Kirkuk's Governorate Council on 29 March 2011, and was sworn in on 3 April 2011.[3]

Following President Jalal Talabani's stroke on December 17, 2012, Karim served as the head of Talabani's medical team when Talabani is in Iraq, although the majority of his medical treatment has been carried out in Germany.[4]

Personal life

Karim has both Iraqi and American citizenship, and prior to his return to Iraq lived in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife and family, where he ran his medical practice.[5]

References

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