Berisha attending the Munich Security Conference 2006

Dr Sali Ramë Berisha (help·info) (born October 15, 1944) is the current Prime Minister of Albania. He previously served as the first democratically elected President of Albania, from 1992 to 1997. A cardiologist, university professor, and leading researcher, he entered politics as leader of the anti-communist opposition beginning in 1989.

Berisha was born in Viçidol, village near the border with Kosovo. He studied medicine at the University of Tirana, graduating in 1967 “with honors”. He specialized in cardiology and was subsequently appointed as an assistant professor of medicine at the same university and as staff cardiologist at the Tirana General Hospital. During the 1970s, Berisha gained distinction as the leading researcher in the field of cardiology in Albania and became professor of cardiology at the University of Tirana. In 1978 he received a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) fellowship for nine months of advanced study and training in Paris. Upon his return to Albania, Berisha conducted a research program on hemodynamics that attracted considerable attention among his colleagues in Europe. In 1986 he was elected member of the European Committee for Research on Medical Sciences where he worked for the elaboration of scientific researches strategies for “Health for all”. Berisha’s international cardiological research studies were important and original; they were published in prestigious European Western Medical magazines and journals. Berisha also taught medicine at the University of Tirana (1980 – 1990), published study books, textbooks and articles on cardiology, inside and internationally. He holds the scientific title Professor Doctor. He has worked as a professor at the Cardiology Clinic in Tirana. He worked since 1976 in Blok, the resident neighbourhood of Labor Party.