​Dr. Hany El-Banna OBE is the co-founder of Islamic Relief, the largest Western-based international Muslim relief and development NGO, established in 1984 in Birmingham, UK. He completed his MBBCh Medicine at Al Azhar University, Cairo, where he also obtained a Diploma in Islamic Studies in 1976. Dr. Hany El Banna was awarded the Hamilton Bailey Prize in Medicine at City hospital in 1981, Birmingham UK and completed a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) in foetal pathology from the University of Birmingham Medical School in 1991. Upon attending a medical conference in Sudan in 1983, at a time of famine in the region, Dr. Hany was compelled to set up Islamic Relief. Following his departure from Islamic Relief in 2008, El-Banna founded the Muslim Charities Forum and the Humanitarian Forum which seeks to foster partnerships and cooperation among humanitarian and charitable organisations across the Global South and North. Further still, he founded Zakat House to aid the growth of new charities and is the Chairman of the Muslim Charities Forum which aims to improve British Muslim Charities' contribution to international development.