Heval Kelli
Heval Kelli
Delegate for Georgia
Resettled Refugee from Syria
Dr. Heval Kelli is the Refugee Congress Delegate for Georgia. A Syrian Kurdish-born physician, he moved to the United States as a refugee two weeks after 9/11 and enrolled at Georgia State 10 months later as a freshman.
Heval is a board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and specializes in preventative cardiology at Northside Hospital Cardiovascular Institute. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude while working as a dishwasher and was later accepted to Morehouse School of Medicine, where he graduated cum laude. He finished his internal medicine residency with honorable distinction and then completed a cardiology fellowship at Emory University in 2020.
Heval has co-founded and operated several nonprofit organizations focused on medical education (Young Physician Initiative and You4Education), mentorship (U-Beyond, Mentorship Initiative for New Americans) and healthcare outreach (You4Prevent). He was awarded the 2017 Friend of Freedom award and received 40 Under 40 awards at all of the institutes where he completed his education, including the 2018 inaugural Georgia State University 40 under 40 award, the 2019 Morehouse School of Medicine 10 under 40 and the 2019 Emory University 40 under 40 alumni award. He also received the first Points of Light award after the passing of President George H.W. Bush.
In his free time, Heval enjoys cooking Kurdish food and trying different spices.
“I came here as a teenage refugee two weeks after 9/11, and Americans welcomed me because they believed in my family and the American Dream for everyone. I am a cardiologist serving the community that welcomed my family, and my goal is recreating the American Dream for everyone else.”
In the News:
Recent Events:
Invest in refugees; invest in America's future, TEDxPeachtree
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