I made my decision to leave specialist training in emergency medicine last year. My reasons for leaving were multi-factorial but for the most part I lost my confidence as a doctor. When so much of my life was dedicated to medicine, I essentially felt like I lost myself. So I...

“Refugees here are in need of much more than just physicians – there is a need for all types of healthcare workers, from speech pathologists to physical therapists to child psychologists and more.”   Obadah Moushmoush recently joined the SAMS medical mission to Lebanon, where he has been supporting physicians...

It’s 7 pm on a Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley, and Dr. John Kahler has just completed the single most medically challenging day on a medical mission in 27 years. Since July 13th, Dr. Kahler has been in Lebanon, where he is providing care on a medical mission alongside physicians...

Vickey Patel, PT, MS, is a physical therapist who recently joined our SAMS medical mission to Jordan in July. Together, she and Lydia Palmer, an occupational therapist, supported 70 patients in need of rehabilitation and therapeutic care. She shared with us her motivation for joining a SAMS medical mission, and the story of...

Dr. Nour is a Syrian pediatrician working with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS). For four years, she has been practicing within conflict zones inside Syria. She recently spoke at a UN OHCHR/WHO Meeting on Child Mortality in Geneva. She shared with us her remarks from the meeting, detailing attacks...

Cardiologist Dr. Waseem Akhter joined the SAMS Medical Mission to Jordan in July of 2017. Throughout the medical mission, he and his colleagues performed 63 cardiac catheterizations. On the first day of the medical mission, he met a patient whose experience he shared with us.  I am called to the...

Daily life in displacement wears on the body in many ways. Al-Zaatari camp is located on a 5 km stretch of land in the desert, just 13km from the Syrian border. For children in Al-Zaatari camp, the pervasive dust and dirt can lead to ocular conditions like irritation and allergic conjunctivitis,...

“When I was younger I used to hear about doctors, ophthalmologists, you name it – they said they would go to Syria and help every three weeks in the summer. I thought that was a really awesome idea. I wanted to do this even before the conflict.” Even as a child,...

Hundreds wait outside my clinic. I call it a “clinic” but it could be anything from a disused storage shed to a makeshift school classroom for refugees. The patients know we only have a few minutes to talk about their symptoms before they disappear into a sea of tents or urban...

The extent and intensity of violence against health workers globally remained alarmingly high in 2016, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition said in a new report today. The report also finds that accountability for committing these attacks remains inadequate or non-existent. The report, entitled Impunity Must End, documents attacks on...

Stopped eight times by the army as well as various uniformed officials for scheduled security checks at Beirut airport alone, one can sense the tense atmosphere in this country. 25% of Lebanon’s population is now Syrian refugees. It’s a country surrounded by decades of conflict with Palestine in the south...