Abdelkarim Zbidi

Hend Hassassi | 22 December 2011 | 1 Comment

Abdelkrim Zbidi was born on June 25, 1950 in Rejiche, a town in the Governorate of Mahdia.

Zbidi holds a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Claude Bernard in Lyon,France. He also received a masters degree in human physiology, a masters in human pharmacology, a postgraduate diploma in human physiology, and a degree in the study and research of human biology from the same university.

He worked as a coordinator in the training of health technicians at the University of Medicine in Sousse (from 1981 to 1988). He also held several positions at the University of Medicine of Sousse. He occupied the position of Head of the Department of Basic Sciences (from 1982 to1989). He has been working at the University of Medicine of Sousse since 1987. He was also Head of Department of Functional Explorations in the Farhat Hached Hospital of Sousse (from 1990 to 1999).

Zbidi also served as the Secretary of State to the Prime Minister for Scientific Research and Technology (1999-2000), Minister of Public Health (2001) and Minister of Scientific Research and Technology (2002).

Zbidi has been responsible for expert missions to the International Atomic Energy Agency since 1992 in the field of “Medical applications of nuclear science.”

He also served as the co-chair of the College of Physiology and Pulmonary Function, under the Ministry of Public Health (1994-1997), and as President of the University center in Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, and Kairouan from1995 to 1999, and as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Sousse (2005-2008).

He is a founding member of the Medical School of Djibouti. He has been working since 2007 as coordinator of the teaching at the Medical School of Djibouti . He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Public Health at Razi Hospital.

Zbidi has authored or co-authored about 140 publications and 300 scientific papers among 40 of which cover the field of medicine.

Zbidi was appointed Minister of National Defense by the national unity government on January 27, 2011. He replaced former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s minister of defense, Ridha Grira, who had been in office since 2010.

He kept his post throughout the interim government led by Prime Minister Béji Caid Essebsi.

On December 22nd, 2011 Zbidi was re-nominated by the new government led by former Prime Minister Hammadi Jebali to continue serving as the Minister of National Defense.

He, nevertheless, resigned from his post as defense minister on March 5, 2013, citing dissatisfaction with the governance of the interim government.