Drs. Zahavi was born in Curaçao and did his secondary education at Peter Stuyvesant College. He received his Bachelor of Science at New York University where he specialized in biology and mathematics. Thereafter he received his medical degree at Tufts University Medical School in Boston. He worked as a resident at the St. Elisabeth Hospital in the departments of internal medicine, neurology, and orthopedics prior to his specialization in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Groningen, Netherlands. He has since then been working as a specialist in Rehabilitation here in Curaçao at the rehabilitation centre (revalidatiecentrum Curaçao).