Surgeon On A Mission

By Laura Fawaz, TMO

Dr. Parvaiz Malik is associated with many different attributes; entrepreneur, surgeon, world traveler, a father, a husband, role model, and disaster relief volunteer.

Dr. Malik, who is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon in New Jersey, was also the one who had a major hand in the creation of various medical relief organizations.  As of last August, he was President of FIMA, the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations.  Dr. Malik is now the Executive Director of the organization.  He is also the Past-President and current Vice President of IMANA, Islamic Medical Association of North America.  He is the lead surgeon for their organization, performing Cleft Lip and Palate surgeries.  From here, began a few more organizations, targeting other health specific needs.  First though, let’s start with where Dr. Malik began. 

He started his life and medical education and Karachi, Pakistan.  This later took him to Canada for further education, New York for training, California to begin his career, and then New Jersey where he settled with his family so that his kids could receive a best education they could.  By this time, Dr. Malik had been a practicing surgeon for four years, but still wanted to do more.  “I have a passion to take care of children and adults with clef lip, and to help in any way I can,” Dr. Malik says.

His inspiration derives from this being his passion; he loves what he does.  So much so that he helped to start several braches under FIMA.  FIMA connects 43 different organizations across several Muslim countries / communities, the first being IMANA.  From there began IMANA saves smiles, helping with clef lip surgeries.  Next was FIMA saves vision, helping in corrective vision for kids born with cataracts.  The most recent branch of FIMA is FIMA saves dignity, helping with teenage pregnancies in Sudan and Pakistan, and the internal injuries that are caused during labor.

From this, he went to Sudan in 2010 with a four-person team on a camp mission to perform surgeries on children and adults with clef lips.  On these missions, each member pays their own way, and each doctor pays for his / her own supplies.  But this hasn’t deterred the mission because almost four quick years later, the team in growing with 35 volunteers set to go in March of 2014.  Dr. Malik invites any willing volunteers, not only doctors, as there is always need for more volunteers.  One volunteer that joined the 2013 camp was an attorney who offered any bit that she could, even volunteered to wash the floors, according to Dr. Malik.  But she ended up being a big asset to the mission as she was used as the main translator.

Going on the 6th year of these projects, the team combined has preformed over 98,000 surgeries.  And if all this weren’t enough, he also is a disaster responder when circuses happen, such as the tsunami in Indonesia or the earthquake that hit Haiti.  “I am very thankful for these opportunities, and I think that this [help those in need] is something that Allah (SWT) directed us to do in His way,” says Dr. Malik.

Dr. Malik is also the proud father of two sons and daughter, one whom joined him on the disaster relief missions to Pakistan and Haiti.  His growing family recently included a grandson.

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