Valdis Zatlers
President Valdis Zatlers was born March 22nd 1955 in Riga, Latvia, and is a Latvian politician and former physician. He was the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011.
Biography
President Zatlers became the Head of the Traumatology Department at Riga City Hospital No. 2, holding the position from 1985 to 1994. During this time, he was the President of the Latvian Association of Traumatologists and Orthopaedists, the Founder and President of the Latvian Association of Arthroscopy, the Vice-President of the Latvian Association of Arthroscopy, Chairman of the Certification Commission, Board Member of the Latvian Popular Front, and an Activist and Board Member for the renewal of the Latvian Physicians Association. Since 1993, he has been a member of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISACOS). From 1995 to 1999, he was the co-ordinator from the Latvian side in a Swiss Confederation Assistance Project. Shortly after, he became the Director of the State Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopaedics from 1994 to 1998. Starting in 1998, he was the Director and Board Chairman of the non-profit organization, State Limited Liability Company Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopaedics. From 2004 to 2007, he was the Board Chairman again for the same organization. He is an honorary member of the Georgian Association of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. He is also a participant of the international research on knee joint endoprosthetics. President Zatlers has numerous honorary awards and degrees, including honorary doctorates from the University of Klaipeda in Lithuania, the Riga Stradins University in Latvia, the John Paul II Lublin Catholic University in Poland, the University of Latvia and the Yerevan State University in Armenia. He holds an honorary professorship from the National Governance Academy in Kazakhstan and patronage of the European Academy of Science and Art in Austria.
Education
President Zatlers attended Riga Secondary School No. 50 in Latvia from 1962 to 1972. He then attended the Riga Institute of Medicine from 1973 to 1979 and specialized to become a physician. From 1990 to 1991, he spent 6 months of professional training in orthopaedics at Yale University and Syracuse University in the United States.
Special achievements
Order of the Three Stars Class I with Chain (2008)
Order of Viesturs class I (2008)
Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav ("For outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and development co-operation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Latvia." – 2 September 2008)
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise First Class (Ukraine, 2008)
Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (Estonia, 2009)
Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain, 2009)
Order of Saint George (Georgia, 2009)
Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose (2010)
Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great (Lithuania, 2011)
Honorary doctorates of Yerevan State University (2009), John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (2010) and the Riga Stradiņš University in Riga (2010)
Order of Liberty (Ukraine, 26 April 2011)
See also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu_Bd1BsbRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXnvXFj2TCk
http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/valdis-zatlers-PEPLT00008093-topic.html
