Aleppo to the Ivy League: Syrian doctor preps for end of war

In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 photo, Khaled Almilaji, who coordinated a campaign that vaccinated 1.4 million Syrian children and risked his life to provide medical care during the country's civil war, stands for a portrait on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. Almilaji is now in the Ivy League, learning about how to rebuild Syria's health system when the war finally ends. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (The Associated Press)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Khaled Almilaji (khah-LEHD' ahl'-mih-LAH'-zhih) has coordinated a campaign that vaccinated 1.4 million Syrian children and risked his life to provide medical care during the country's civil war.

Now he's in the Ivy League, learning about how to rebuild Syria's health system when the war finally ends.

He's one of three Syrian scholars studying at Brown University.

Brown said last year it would welcome Syrians after dozens of governors attempted to block refugees following the attacks nearly a year ago in Paris.

Almilaji, 35, received a scholarship to earn a master's degree in public health and moved to Rhode Island in August on a student visa with his wife.

He says he feels lucky because many other Syrian doctors have had to give up their work after sacrificing for five years.