To Heal the World
An international online reflection on mending the brokenness of our global family
Meet the Judges
Bassem A Bejjani, MD
Bassem A Bejjani, MD, a native of Lebanon, is a longtime patron of the arts. He is trustee of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and immediate past Chair of the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). He is also on the Board of Trustees of The Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington in Seattle, and has previously served on the Board of the Spokane Symphony where he was Executive Vice President. A graduate of the American University of Beirut, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, he is a pediatrician and a medical geneticist, and Chief Medical Officer of Metis Genetics, a telegenetics counseling service company. He is co-founder of Signature Genomics, a genomics laboratory that was acquired by PerkinElmer, Inc. in 2010. He is interested in arts and science education and the role of art in enhancing creativity, scientific learning and critical thinking.
Sylvia van Vliet Ragheb
Sylvia van Vliet Ragheb is the co-Founder of Syra Arts, a gallerist and specialist in contemporary Middle Eastern art. Her gallery in Washington D.C. represents some of the Middle East's leading contemporary visual artists and jewelry designers. She also represents the renowned Egyptian jeweler, Azza Fahmy, in the United States.
Jessica Wright
Jessica Wright is a specialist in contemporary Middle Eastern art, gallerist, curator and an Arabist. Having grown up in The Kingdom of Jordan, she obtain her B.A. in Art History and Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. She was previously the gallery director and cultural coordinator for the Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, D.C. She most recently served as the Managing Editor at the Center for Public Justice, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. She currently resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.