Drs. Natasha Piracha, Shoaib Mahmood, and Mehr Qureshi met on their November 2017 SaveSyria mission and made plans to come together again in the future to help Syrian refugees. They are now on their reunion mission as part of the SaveSyria April 2019 team. Here are some quick facts on these team members:
Dr. Natasha Piracha is a med peds physician from New Jersey. This is her fourth mission with IMR (she’s been to Haiti and Jordan) and first time as a team leader. Dr. Piracha uses vacation time to do medical relief missions: “I always take one vacation, and the other week — I personally find it difficult to not be productive. You see the world and meet awesome people to do some good.”
Besides helping others, Dr. Piracha enjoys baking, cooking, and lots of traveling (she was just in Italy!) in her spare time.
Dr. Shoaib Mahmood is a family medicine physician out of Birmingham, Alabama. This is his third mission with IMR. His residency program encourages international mission trips, offering it as elective time and allowing Dr. Mahmood to utilize his skills to help those less fortunate. “God chooses whoever he does for this deal to serve others,” says Dr. Mahmood. “If you’re fortunate enough to help others with your skill, you should.”
Fun fact: Dr. Mahmood initially started his career as a CPA, then switched gears to pursue a medical degree and MBA.
Dr. Mehr Qureshi is a trauma surgeon and intensivist in Brooklyn, New York. It’s her first job out of fellowship training: “It’s everything I expected it to be — challenging, rewarding, exciting, and an adventure,” she says. ”Every day I learn something new, and I love teaching and working with residents. I get to work with a great group of people, so I lucked out.” She went on her first IMR mission to Sudan as a medical student, and she has also been on a SaveSyria mission.
“I went to my last Jordan trip in November 2017 not knowing anyone in the group, ended up meeting the smartest and coolest people, and had an amazing time. Everyone in the group got along and worked so well with each other. It almost felt like catching up with long lost friends. We all still keep in touch.”
To support this team’s current SaveSyria mission, click here.