Why MedGlobal?

MedGlobal works in difficult to reach areas, devastated by war, natural disasters, famine and ethnic cleansing, where individuals have poor access to healthcare and many NGOs choose not to venture.

How we Started

MedGlobal was founded in June 2017 by physicians who are experienced in humanitarian medicine to address the health needs of the most vulnerable across the world.

MedGlobal’s culturally diverse teams respond to the world’s humanitarian crisis by partnering with communities to provide innovative, sustainable, and dignified healthcare.

Purpose & Operating Principles

MedGlobal provides sustainable healthcare services to refugees, the displaced, and most vulnerable in crisis areas and low resources countries worldwide by deploying diverse short term volunteer medical missions and partnering with local organizations.

We are committed to implementing our missions based on the following operating principles:

Sustainable Impact

Rendering positive, measurable, and sustainable impact on our beneficiaries by providing quality, free, immediate, relevant, lasting, and life-saving healthcare services to populations who may not have access to such services and collecting data to analyze the outcomes.

Intense Leverage

Leveraging every dollar raised or donated through incorporating volunteerism of highly skilled medical professionals, in-kind donations, the use of technology and innovations and training.

High Visibility

Achieving high visibility for our work and partners through our active presence on multiple platforms including online and social media, digital marketing, smart advocacy, and earned media.

What we do

MedGlobal deploys Short Term Medical Missions, STMMs, composed of carefully-vetted global healthcare volunteers, provide assistance and education to local partners and healthcare providers, support local medical providers with training, funding, technology and advocacy and donate medical equipment, medications and medical supplies in order to provide life-saving and life-sustaining medical services, based on needs-assessment and best practices, to the most vulnerable around the globe.

Through partnerships with local organizations, training of local professionals and increasing the capacity of local organizations and hospitals, we sustain our impact and address the need for primary and specialty care services in women’s health, children’s health, non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, mental health and surgeries incorporating best practices, technology and innovations.

Through quality improvement, we aim to establish a culture of healthcare quality, prioritize areas of improvement, collect and analyze data and communicate our results while committing to ongoing evaluation and sharing our results with the wider community.

So far, MedGlobal has deployed more than 519 medical volunteers in 199 missions to 14 different countries since its inception. MedGlobal has donated more than 1 million dollars of medications, medical supplies, and equipment. Our medical volunteers have donated more than $4,087,323 of professional medical services, with over 32,164 hours of service, and provided dozens of training courses to local healthcare providers.

We use smart advocacy to shape policy towards the populations we serve.

Our Core Values

Humanitarianism

We strive to alleviate human suffering, protect life and health, and ensure respect for the most vulnerable regardless of their backgrounds while embracing universal humanitarian principles.

Diversity

We believe that the diversity of our volunteers and staff enriches our organization and makes it easier to connect with the populations that we serve globally.

Cultural Competency

We accept, and strive to understand, the differences in cultures, beliefs, and values of the populations we serve without prejudice or judgment.

Volunteerism

We embrace volunteering and giving at all levels. Medical professionals are encouraged to give their time, skills, knowledge, leadership and charity to those in need.

Professionalism

We expect the highest conduct of our medical professionals based on best practices, quality care, and evidence-based guidelines.

Partnership and Collaboration

We sustain our impact by working together with and training our local partners.

Our Team

Dr. Zaher Sahloul

President

Dr. Heather Draper

Program Director

Now Hiring

Communication and Development Manager

Apply Here.

Now Hiring

Grants and Fundraising Coordinator

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Now Hiring

Missions Coodinator

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Dr. Denisse Pareja, MSPH

Research and Education Coordinator

It is important to me to be able to contribute to providing healthcare services to the most vulnerable, especially children.

Kathleen Fallon

Advocacy Advisor

Dr. Hena Ibrahim

Interim Executive Director

Entesar Yassin

Finance and Operations Director

Becca Sheehy

Volunteer Coordinator

Dr. Marwa Saleh

Educational Programs Coordinator

Dr. Maryam Molla

Bangladesh Field Coordinator

Lindsay DuBois

Colombia Field Coordinator

Bee Walsh

Administrative Coordinator

“There is no utility in observing, we must use our collective skills for good.”

Want to join our Team?

Check out our current career opportunities!

Board Members

Zaher Sahloul

President

Bio

Co-founder, President

Dr. Zaher Sahloul is a Critical Care specialist at Advocate Christ Medical Center and Associate Professor in Clinical Medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

He was instrumental in providing medical relief to help the civilian population in his homeland of Syria, especially in devastated Aleppo. He is on the advisory board of the Syrian Community Network and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has written widely about the medical and humanitarian crisis in Syria and is a recognized Muslim speaker in the interfaith circles.

In 2016, Dr. Sahloul was awarded the Chicagoan of the Year for risking his life in medical missions to Aleppo. He also received many other awards including the “Heroes Among Us” award by American Red Cross, Dr. Robert Kirschner’s Award for Global Activism by Heartland Alliance Kovler Center 2017, the Commitment to Change Award by the National Immigration Justice Center for his commitment to human rights, and the Shine a Light on Global Refugee Crisis and annual humanitarian award by UNICEF Chicago 2017.

In 2017, he co-founded MedGlobal and currently serves as its president.

John Kahler

Bio

Co-founder, Board Member

Dr. Kahler is a general pediatrician who was Chief Medical Officer for a municipal Federally Qualified Health Center in Joliet, Il until his retirement in January 2017. He received a B.A. from the University of Illinois and an M.D. from the University of Illinois in Chicago. He did his pediatric training at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where he practiced for the next 34 years, serving the underserved of the metropolitan Chicago area. He then moved to be Regional Medical Director for a large Federally Qualified Health Center in Chicago and became its Chief Medical Officer.

For 25 years, he has had an interest in global health and has participated in humanitarian work. For the past three years, his humanitarian work has been concentrated on the Syrian Diaspora.

In August 2017, Dr. Kahler helped found MedGlobal and he currently serves as MedGlobal’s Chairman of the Board.

Hena Ibrahim

Bio

Interim Executive Director, Board Member

Janet Lin

Bio

Board Member

Dr. Janet Lin is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the UIC College of Medicine. She holds an affiliate appointment in the division of community health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health.

Lin is an expert in disaster preparedness and response. She has developed emergency response plans at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System for situations ranging from flu outbreaks to tornadoes and other weather events.

She travels extensively to help international communities prepare for and respond to disasters. She is working in Haiti to empower community members to reduce disaster risks and improve the delivery of health care.

She is the director of health systems development in the Center for Global Health at UIC. She heads the international emergency medicine fellowship program in the UIC College of Medicine, which trains postgraduate physicians to practice and do research in international settings.

Moeen Saleem

Tracy Ibgui

Nour Akhras

Inam Hussain

Ted Barnett

Leonard Rubenstein

Bio

Board Member

Leonard Rubenstein is a lawyer who has spent his career in human rights and now focuses particularly on health and human rights, especially the protection of health in armed conflict, and the roles of health professionals in human rights. At Johns Hopkins, he is a core faculty member of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and the Berman Institute of Bioethics. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, he served as Executive Director and then President of Physicians for Human Rights, as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and as Executive Director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

Mr. Rubenstein’s current work includes advancing the protection of health facilities, patients, and health workers in situations of conflict, advancing refugee and migrant health and rights, exploring the ethical responsibilities of health professionals to advance human rights including in situations of violent conflict. Mr. Rubenstein founded and chairs the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition.