Dr. Agron Alija is a Family Physician, Emergency Physician and Associate Professor at Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, Ontario. He was a staff physician in the Chest Clinic at University Hospital in Prishtina when the war in Kosovo. In 1988 he started working with Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as local staff for the Medical Evacuation Team. Both organizations were involved in keeping peace in the region and helping internally displaced persons.<\/p>\n
In March of 1999 when both KDOM and OSCE withdrew from Kosovo just before NATO action, along with his wife and 2 small children, he was forced to take refuge in Macedonia. Only a few days later he started working with Canadian Embassy in Macedonia, helping the many war refuges that had started fleeing the country as result of ethnic cleansing. In May of 1999 he decided to join other Kosovar war refugees in seeking a new place to live and immigrated to Canada. Together with his wife and children, they settled in Hamilton Ontario. The same year Ministry of \u00a0Foreign Affairs formally recognized him for his role in implementation of operation \u201cParasol\u201d by sending him a letter of recognition and a commemorative plaque.<\/p>\n
While living in Hamilton,\u00a0he did not waste\u00a0time. He\u00a0started writing\u00a0the\u00a0well read and respected column \u201cCanadian Diary\u201d for The Hamilton Spectator. In\u00a0the\u00a0span of 5\u00a0years,\u00a0he wrote over 200 columns that\u00a0offered readers a glimpse into the\u00a0life of\u00a0a\u00a0war refugee. Simultaneously, he\u00a0was pursuing\u00a0recertification in medicine and in 2009 he was finally granted residency in family medicine\u00a0at the\u00a0University of Western Ontario. In 2011, he finished\u00a0his\u00a0specialty in Family Medicine and opened his Family Medicine Clinic in London. He also started working in the\u00a0Four Counties Emergency Department and later on became associate professor\u00a0at the\u00a0Schulich\u00a0School of Medicine and Dentistry. Throughout these years he remained very active in many areas especially with Albanian-Canadian community\u00a0by providing his full support\u00a0in various cultural endeavours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"people-type":[38],"yoast_head":"\n