About Us
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to serve communities in need through the provision of sustainable medical relief and health based development programmes worldwide by means of working through local partnerships and communities.
OUR BEGINNINGS
Having witnessed the Balkan conflicts of Bosnia and Kosovo, a group of international medics got together and established Doctors Worldwide in 2000 as a UK charity. With a head office in Stockport, Greater Manchester, the organisation expanded and in 2004, Doctors Worldwide Turkey was set up to capitalise on the expertise of well trained doctors and health workers keen to support humanitarian and medical relief work.
Our vision is a world in which all people, regardless of race, religion and nationality, live in environments that support them to have good health and well being, and have the means as well as ability, to secure good quality healthcare for themselves, their families and communities. To date we have undertaken numerous projects across Asia, Middle East, Central America and Africa with a simple aim; to help local communities to develop, build and sustain health services such as maternity clinics and hospitals.
We are an independent charity, funded entirely by private donations. We are not a faith organisation or a political one. However, we do recognise the importance of cultural, religious and universal humanitarian values. By linking medical expertise with cultural knowledge and values, we can build capacity, empower local communities, and produce effective solutions that will leave a lasting legacy long after we have gone.
We have responded to many of the serious emergencies and disasters of recent years such as the 2010 floods in Pakistan, the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and the aftermath and the 2005 Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka. We carried out health assessments in Haiti in following the devastating earthquake in 2010.
All this would not be possible without our donors and our volunteers. At heart we are a volunteer organisation. Whether you are a doctor, nurse or health specialist, we try and help you a find a role to help those who deserve to receive a basic human right of access to healthcare.
The Team
Khalil Rehman
Chief Executive & Board Member
Khalil became Chief Executive of DWW in May 2011 but has been involved with DWW since 2005. He spent over 10 years in investment banking as a mergers and acquisitions specialist before moving into the charity and social housing sector. He has an MSc from UCL in Urban Regeneration & Development and furthered his academic interests through a Research Fellowship and postgraduate teaching. He has operated at senior board level, most recently as Director of Finance & ICT for a leading regional homelessness charity and is a board member of Action for Blind People, a leading visual impairment charity and non-executive director with social housing charities in the UK.
Dr Kani Torun
Board Member
Dr Torun was the former Chief Executive of Doctors Worldwide since 2002 and retired in 2011. He has been the key individual managing the organization and projects since its early days. In this capacity he has managed all of DWW projects thus far, with some especially significant achievements in Congo (DRC) as well as in Kenya. Graduated in medicine in Turkey. After some years in general practice completed a PhD degree and has been involved in undergraduate teaching prior to his current role.
Dr Sonya Ahmed
Board Member
Sonya is a a public health registrar based in London. She completed her GP training in 2007 and then spent a year at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine doing an MSc in Public Health, with an interest in statistics and epidemiology.
Dr Ibrar Majid
Chairman
Ibrar is currently a higher Surgical Trainee in Trauma and Orthopedics, at the North West Deanery. He became involved in relief work during the Pakistan Earthquake in 2005, he was asked to join the board of directors as a direct result of this work. His next trip was to Ghana in 2007 to undertake a needs assessment and start to develop a training grid for the hospital in Tamale in the North of the country and most recently has visited Sudan and Malawi.
Dr Saddaf Alam
Board Member
Saddaf was the first UK Chairman of DWW and has represented the charity at conferences in the U.S.A., Bosnia and South Africa and has attended projects in Pakistan and Congo. He is a Manchester graduate, working as a Family Practitioner in Oldham in North West England since 1997 having previously trained as a surgeon from leaving medical school. Married with four kids he spends as much time ferrying his kids around as working on Doctors Worldwide!
Dr Najeeb Rahman
Board Member
Najeeb works as a Specialist Registrar in Emergency Medicine in West Yorkshire. He has also completed a Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance, as well as a Diploma in Public Health. His experiences in this sector have been developed though medical trips abroad in 9 different countries, ranging from Myanmar to Haiti, Kosova to Congo DRC, as well as his role as the former Chair of Doctors Worldwide.