Dr. Elias Ghanem
Medicine, boxing safety and civic philanthropy
A Las Vegas physician whose public record connects community medicine, care during the Frontier strike and reforms in professional boxing.
From emergency medicine to neighborhood clinics
Nevada's memorial resolution dates Ghanem's arrival in Las Vegas to 1971, when he became an emergency-room physician at Sunrise Hospital. It records that he opened the first of several 24-hour Las Vegas Medical Centers clinics in 1977; UNLV later recognized him as their founder and a health-care innovator. [1] [2]
Care across the city
The Legislature credited Ghanem with treating patients across class lines and with providing free medical care and delivering more than 100 babies for workers during the six-year Frontier strike. The official memorial is evidence of how the state commemorated his service, not a substitute for every patient's record. [1]
Boxing and fighter safety
During a fourteen-year Nevada Athletic Commission tenure, Ghanem served intermittently as chairman. The legislative record credits him with safety measures including four-ring-rope requirements and testing boxers for HIV and hepatitis B and C. [1]
Key dates
People in the same story
Jody Ghanem
Follow Jody Ghanem's performing-arts, downtown and philanthropic work. [1] The Smith Center
Read the profileIn the archive
5 entries about associated places, not necessarily this person in the saved collection.
Photograph of Sunrise Hospital, Las Vegas (Nev.), 1958-1965
Photograph · Dorothy Dorothy Photograph Collection. Catalog date: 1958–1965.
Sunrise Hospital: black-and-white photographs
Photograph · Frank Mitrani Photographs. Catalog date: February 15, 1967.
Sunrise Hospital Addition (American Medicorp), Plans for Expansion Program: floor plans
Program · James B. McDaniel Architectural Records. Catalog date: 1976.
Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada: photographic print
Photograph · UNLV Libraries Single Item Accession Photograph Collection. Catalog date: 1977.
Sunrise Hospital Medical Center: photographic print
Photograph · Historic Building Survey Photograph Collection. Catalog date: Circa 1979.
Go deeper into the record.
Sources for this profile and starting points for further research. Access notes mark links we could not open directly during the October 3–4, 2026 checks. Historical accounts describe their own period; they do not necessarily describe current operations.
- 1
Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 — memorializing Elias Ghanem
The resolution records Ghanem's medical, labor-health, philanthropic and Nevada Athletic Commission work.
- 2
UNLV 2001 Spring Commencement Set For May 12
UNLV identifies Ghanem as founder of Las Vegas Medical Centers and a health-care innovator.