Rana Bitar is a physician, poet, and writer. Born and raised in Damascus, Syria, she emigrated to the U.S. to complete her medical education.  Her memoir, The Long Tale of Tears and Smiles, will be published in March 2021. Her poetry and essays had appeared in The Deadly Writers Patrol journal, Dove Tales, Earthen Lamp Journal, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Magnolia Review, El Portal, Pacific REVIEW, The Pharos, and The Charleston Anvil. Her poetry chapbook A Loaf Of Bread (Unsolicited Press, 2019) was a finalist in the Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition in 2017, and won an honorable mention in The 2017 Louis Award for poetry. She is a physician in the fields of hematology and oncology. She lives in upstate NY.