Story of pama
PAMA was established on Nov. 10th 2013, the founders are Palestinian healthcare professionals who practiced or are practicing in the United States. PAMA fills in an unmet need for an umbrella to embrace Palestinian and other health care professionals who care about Palestine. Driven by such need a group of Palestinian physicians gathered in Dearborn, MI and had their first PAMA meeting. Since then PAMA has been reaching out to all healthcare professionals in West Bank and Gaza and the US, helping to build bridges between US and Palestinian health professionals and institutes, and collaborating with other local and international NGOs to help achieve PAMA’s mission. PAMA membership is open to all healthcare professionals who share PAMA mission. This includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, therapists, and healthcare technology professionals.
Our Objectives
- Establish an open registry to all health care professionals in the United States (US) who share the mission of PAMA
- Collaborate with Palestinian Health institutes and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help promote health care in West Bank and Gaza
- Facilitate medical missions from the US to West Bank and Gaza
- Facilitate training health care professionals
Our Mission
PAMA’s mission is to provide immediate medical relief to Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank and to establish and support programs, education & training that foster the future of Palestinian health care.
Our Vision
PAMA envisions a future where all Palestinians in Gaza & the West Bank have access to comprehensive, and sustainable health care.
PAMA envisions a future where Palestinians have access to comprehensive health care and the Palestinian health care community can develop and achieve the highest possible standard of health care for the people it serves, free from any political or ideological impediments.
Message from the President
Dear friends,
First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous support of the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) over the past few years. These times have been full of difficulties and crises. Despite your own challenges, you decided to extend your hands and help the less fortunate. Your continued generosity has touched many lives, and I firmly believe you have made the world better for those you supported.
I want to reflect on the great work you enabled PAMA to fulfill. Since PAMA was founded over 10 years ago, you sent millions of dollars to improve the healthcare and well-being of the Palestinian people. Your donations provided a quick response to many urgent crises when people were scared and needed resources. During the COVID-19 pandemic, you helped many hospitals care for critically ill patients by funding the purchase of breathing machines, high-flow oxygen equipment, and many other lifesaving tools and equipment. You also provided hemodialysis units to patients with kidney failure in the West Bank and Gaza, remarkably improving patients’ quality of life and resolving dialysis availability issues in many areas.
You aided many children to hear by providing cochlear implants and supported efforts to improve vision through our corneal transplant project. You opened a fully-equipped endoscopy unit in Jenin Hospital, saving patients from lengthy waitlist times and travel expenses. Just last year, your donations launched the first and only interventional radiology unit in Gaza, a multi-hundred thousand dollar project that is celebrated as a huge qualitative addition to healthcare services in Gaza. Your generosity will facilitate the opening of the unit this fall.
You further improved the education and training of young Palestinian physicians. By supporting our scholarship program for medical students, you helped hundreds of high-achieving, financially in-need students continue their education. You also enabled doctors to train in critical but underserved surgical subspecialties. These students and doctors are already making an impact in Palestine, providing quality medical services that were previously hard to find.
As the new president of PAMA, I pledge to continue expanding our reach and services. I promise to keep targeting and resolving specific problems in the Palestinian healthcare system. PAMA will support Palestinians in times of crisis and emergencies. I want to assure you that PAMA still values transparency, efficiency, and reliability as an organization. We want you to be sure, that by being a PAMA donor and supporter, your donations will make a measurable, impactful, and lasting difference.
Sincerely,
Mustafa Musleh, MD.
PAMA President, Cofounder, and Board Member.
Majdi Hamarshi, MD
Board member, Cofounder, Chairman of Board of Directors
Yousef Khelfa, MD
Board member, Cofounder
Muaiad Kittaneh, M.D, FACP
Vice President, Board member, Cofounder
Mustafa Musleh, MD
President, Cofounder
Rami Ahmad, MD
Board member and Chair of PAMA education committee
Fadi Safi, MD
Board member, Cofounder
Nezam Altorok, MD
Board member, Cofounder and Treasurer
Safa Saleh,BSN
Board Member
Najib Albina
Board member
Marwan Ahmad
Executive Director, U.S.
Fizza Batool
Executive Assistant, U.S.
Manal Siyam
Project Manager, Palestine
Ansar Khaleel
Administrative Assistant, Palestine
Majdi Hamarshi, MD
Board member, Cofounder, Chairman of Board of Directors
Upon his completion of medical education at Al-Quds medical school in Jerusalem, Dr. Hamarshi started working at Al-Quds as a teaching and research assistant. Later, he moved to the U.S. to complete his internal medicine residency at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Shortly thereafter he completed his fellowships in geriatrics medicine at Northwestern University and critical care medicine at the University of Missouri Kansas City “UMKC," respectively. Currently, he is an assistant clinical professor at UMKC and practices critical care in the Kansas City area.
Yousef Khelfa, MD
Board member, Cofounder
Dr Yousef Khelfa received his Doctor of Medicine “MD" degree in 2003 from Al Quds University Medical School, Palestine. In 2009 he got his American Board of Medicine degree after finishing his internal medicine training at St Joseph Regional Medical Center -Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY. Dr khelfa worked between 2009-2013 as an Academic Hospitalist before he became Assistant Professor of Medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont in Michigan state. In 2014 he was elected as Fellow of American College of Physicians. He finished his Hematology/oncology training at Marshall University-School of Medicine in West Virginia. Currently he is a practicing oncologist in Northern California.
Muaiad Kittaneh, M.D, FACP
Vice President, Board member, Cofounder
Dr. Kittaneh did his Internal Medicine training at Advocate Christ Medical Center/University of Illinois at Chicago where he also served as a Chief resident and faculty for an additional year. He pursued further training in Hematology and Medical Oncology at the University of Miami. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. He has served as a Principal Investigator and Co-investigator on many phase I/II clinical trials at one of the nation's leading institutions in the field while working at Karmanos Cancer Institute/WSU. Over the past few years he developed a specific interest in cancer genomics (Specifically BAP1) and he provide consultation, evaluation and management of different cancer types including Breast, GI, Mesothelioma and Melanoma.
Mustafa Musleh, MD
President, Cofounder
Dr. Musleh received his medical degree from Al-Quds University in Palestine in 2004. Before he moved to the United States in 2007, Dr. Musleh worked at Al-Quds medical school as a research and teaching assistant. He then joined the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and served as a general practitioner in the free clinics in the refugee camps. Dr. Musleh completed his residency and fellowship training in the United States at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Musleh is an advanced endoscopist, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, and the Chair of the Gastroenterology department at Premier Health Network. Dr. Musleh is one of the key faculty of the Gastroenterology fellowship program at Wright State University and is heavily involved in the education success of medical students, residents, and gastroenterology fellows.
Rami Ahmad, MD
Board member and Chair of PAMA education committee
Dr. Ahmad graduated in June 2010 from Jordan University of Science and Technology School of Medicine with Bachelor degree in Medicine and Surgery. After graduation Dr. Ahmad worked in several hospitals in Jordan, the last of which was internal medicine resident at King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan, April 2013-June 2014. Then he moved to the US to complete his internal medicine training at Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Seton Hall- Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and graduated June 2017. Then he joined Yale School of Medicine as internal medicine attending and clinical instructor. Dr. Ahmad joined PAMA as a supporter, donor and a Teleconference staff. His passion to education and his commitment was noticeable, and PAMA is lucky to have him as board member and the chair of the Education committee. In this role, Dr. Ahmad will oversee the Teleconference program, students educational activities, and more.
Fadi Safi, MD
Board member, Cofounder
Dr. Safi did his medical education in the University of Baghdad and Al-Quds medical school, after that he completed his internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine at the University of Toledo medical center in Toledo, Ohio. He currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Toledo. He is a medical director of the respiratory care department in the hospital.
Nezam Altorok, MD
Board member, Cofounder and Treasurer
Dr.Altorok completed his medical education at Al-Quds medical school in Jerusalem, after that he completed his training in Internal Medicine at Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem. He then completed a residency program in Internal Medicine at the University of Toledo in Ohio and a fellowship program in Rheumatology at the University of Michigan. Currently, he is an assistant professor at the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Toledo where he also serves as the associate director of the Internal Medicine Residency program.
Safa Saleh,BSN
Board Member
Safa is a critical care nurse. She obtained her bachelors of science in nursing from the University of Cincinnati . She lives with her family in Cincinnati, Ohio and currently works in a hospital system on a cardiac intensive care unit caring for postoperative cardiothoracic patients. Safa leads PAMA Nurses by providing educational webinars to nurses throughout Palestine.
Najib Albina
Board member
Dr. Najib Albina grew up in a US Army family and lived all over the US and Germany. In high school, Dr. Albina was involved in sports including football, soccer, and cross country and also made it to the rank of Eagle Scout. Upon graduating from Würzburg American high school in Germany, Dr. Albina moved to Lisle, Illinois to attend Benedictine University where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Molecular Biology. From there Dr. Albina enrolled in the Illinois College of Optometry where he graduated in 2003 and has made Chicago his home since.