Cool job: Dr. Aisha Mirza, MedGlobal resiliency medical mission volunteer

What do you do? As an ER doctor with proficiency in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), I teach medical students, residents and physicians in rural and international venues, sometimes as a volunteer, sometimes paid. I am also an ER doctor at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton and a part-time dermatology associate at Stratica Dermatology. What have been your top three assignments? In 2019, I went with MedGlobal to Karachi, Pakistan, where I provided POCUS training to rural physicians over one week and gifted 10 iPads with butterfly ultrasounds. Typically, the ultrasound is very bulky and large, but the butterfly can fit in the palm of your hand, which is very convenient for a rural physician. In May 2023 I provided POCUS training to 18 physicians in three hospitals in northwest Syria, as part of a larger medical mission there. We used a combination of lectures, patient care, and hands-on POCUS, in trauma, advanced cardiac, lung, and procedural practice. The hand-held butterfly ultrasound is also used for maternal and fetal assessments. In July 2022, I visited Cameroon to help with a primary assessment of young girls in a home opened for street girls. We fundraised before the trip to bring them the medicines they needed. We were also able to provide medical care and also sexual education and hygiene lectures. This was a difficult mission because of the young age of the girls. It was hard to leave, but I am grateful that they have a safe space to live now. Can you share an anecdote about a challenging situation you experienced? In 2005, when I was an R2 Resident, I went to help with Humanity First for the earthquake relief efforts in the Kashmiri Mountains in Pakistan. I was sleeping in a tent when someone came yelling to wake me up in the middle of the night. A family had carried a woman up the side of the mountain, and she was in labour. I then delivered a healthy baby girl in the middle of the night. The next day they came back to thank us and gave us sweets. They also told me that they named the baby after me, “Dr. Aisha.” I often wonder how that little baby girl is doing.

Cool job: Dr. Aisha Mirza, MedGlobal resiliency medical mission volunteer

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