Support Our Heart Rhythm Colleagues Leading Global Medical Missionary Work

The COVID pandemic has been enlightening — it has shown us how globally intertwined humans are, how horrible health care is in middle and low-income parts of the world, and how amazing health care workers are. This editorial is dedicated to heart rhythm specialists who tirelessly devote a substantial amount of their time trying to improve the health of people around the world. Below are four electrophysiologists and their causes. These are just a few of the medical volunteers with whom I am familiar. I am sure there are many others.

The first is Dr. Ambrose Kibos. Ambrose currently practices in France, but has devoted much of his time and personal resources to helping those in need in his native country, Kenya. He is the founder and director of the Kibos International Health Foundation (KIHF), which was recently established and registered in Canada. KIHF has an ambitious agenda to improve the health care of the local people. They are currently planning to provide COVID education and testing, with the ultimate goal of offering COVID vaccines to Kenyans. Consider making a donation at https://ikhf.org/make-a-donation/.

The second is Dr. Moeen Saleem. Moeen completed his EP training at Northwestern and practices in the Chicago area. He has vigorously pursued his passion of medical missionary work. A couple of years ago, Moeen organized a trip through the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) to provide both basic health care as well as advanced EP care to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and many of us in Chicago were able to join him on the trip. He is currently on the board of MedGlobal, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to serve vulnerable communities, including refugees and displaced persons around the world. To learn more or get involved, go to https://medglobal.org/.

The third is Dr. Marwan Refaat. Marwan trained at the University of California in San Francisco and returned home to the American University of Beirut (AUB) Medical Center in Lebanon. He has supported SAMS in the past and is now involved with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). This is a trusted NGO and UK-registered charity. MAP provides immediate medical aid to those in great need, while also helping to develop local capacity and skills to ensure the long-term development of the local healthcare system. For more information, please visit https://www.map.org.uk/.

The fourth also did his EP training at Northwestern: Dr. Sri Sundaram. Sri practices in Denver, Colorado, with another Northwestern alumnus, Dr. William Choe. They both work with Jeremiah’s Hope (https://cmmcjh.org) to provide EP training and education in Cambodia. Jeremiah’s Hope has a charity hospital in Cambodia that takes care of the sick and poor. Donations to this organization can be geared specifically to EP, to be used for pacemaker implants, catheter ablations, and EP education. All donations go directly to patient care or education. Sri has partnered with several other organizations, including Resource Exchange International (https://www.resourceexchange
international.org/), Project My Heart - Your Heart (https://www.myheartyourheart.org/), and Heart for Hope from BioTelemetry (https://www.gobio.com/heartforhope/). Sri has been so dedicated to his medical mission work that he was awarded the Heart Rhythm Society’s Global Humanitarian Award in 2020.

The past two years have shown us that we all have to help those who support others. Let’s support those electrophysiologists who have stood out as the most active supporters around the world. 

Stay safe,

Bradley P. Knight, MD, FACC, FHRS

@DrBradleyKnight
Editor-in-Chief, EP Lab Digest

Disclosures: Dr. Knight reports that he has served as a consultant, speaker, investigator, and/or has received EP fellowship grant support from Abbott, AtriCure, Baylis Medical, Biosense Webster, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, CVRx, Medtronic, Philips, and Sanofi. He has no equity or ownership in any of these companies.