Our Team
Dr. Sumera Haque
CEO & Founder
Dr. Sumera Haque is a leading expert in Women’s Health and Global Health. She has more than two decades of experience as a senior healthcare executive across the United States, Pakistan and the Middle East. She developed and led the first Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Women’s Health Center in Washington DC. She played a pivotal role in enabling Johns Hopkins Medicine International to sign an agreement with Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences in Lahore, to establish a comprehensive women’s health center within the hospital. This initiative aims to enhance women’s health in Lahore and its surrounding areas in Pakistan. She has also been a consultant to the World Bank on Public Health Initiatives in Africa and East Asia.
Dr. Haque is a physician from Pakistan with a master’s degree from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She currently serves as Faculty Advisor at George Washington University Global Women’s Institute. She advises on gender issues to improve the lives of women and girls. For her years of outstanding work, she received the Shero Award from Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland).
Dr. Haque was named as one of the Presidential Leadership Scholars in 2019, and is the first Pakistani-American woman to graduate from this prestigious program. Her immigrant success story and women’s health work was featured in President Bush’s book, Out of Many, One in 2021.
A passionate advocate for women’s health, Dr. Haque is committed to making a difference. She currently serves on the executive committee of Women in Global Health’s Washington, DC chapter and the US-Pakistan Women’s Council, an initiative of the State Department.
Zaryab Malik
Director of Operations
Zaryab Malik is a healthcare and project management professional, with extensive experience in advisory consulting and hospital operations. Zaryab managed clinical and research operations at Johns Hopkins Hospital before venturing into Advisory consulting at Deloitte and working with large Federal Health clients like the FDA. Zaryab has managed several large-scale budgets and provided expert guidance to various client needs. Zaryab is passionate about international humanitarian efforts in his home country of Pakistan.
Domestically, Zaryab is a big advocate for prison and police reform in the United States, and hopes to one day establish his own Non-Profit to help victims of police brutality and unjust sentencing. Zaryab holds an MBA, PMP and an Executive Certificate from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School for Healthcare Leadership and Management.
Dr. Sadaf Ishaque
Medical Director
Dr. Sadaf Ishaque, a fellowship-trained General and Breast Surgeon, began her career at Shalamar Medical and Dental College in 2015, gaining invaluable surgical experience across various hospitals. By 2019, she had risen to lead the Breast Center at Shalamar Hospital, where her influence extends far beyond surgery. Known for her unwavering dedication to health equity, Dr. Ishaque is deeply committed to providing state-of-the-art care to breast cancer patients, particularly in underserved areas of Pakistan.
In a country where breast cancer prevalence is alarmingly high, especially among younger women, Dr. Ishaque has become a leading advocate for breast cancer screening initiatives. She confronts the many challenges head-on, including widespread misinformation and the harmful practices of unqualified practitioners, which contribute to late-stage diagnoses. Her approach is one of compassion and innovation—adapting advanced surgical techniques to work within resource-limited settings while maintaining the highest standards of care.
Adhering strictly to the latest NCCN guidelines, Dr. Ishaque champions a transformative shift in how breast cancer treatment is approached in Pakistan. She believes that the focus should not be on the limitations of available resources, but on how resourcefulness and determination can drive better patient outcomes. Her mission is clear: to dismantle the myths surrounding breast cancer and advocate for universal access to treatment, ensuring that no patient is left behind, regardless of their background. To her, cancer knows no boundaries—and neither should the quality of care patients receive.
After recently completing the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on global health equity in the USA, Dr. Ishaque is now preparing to implement initiatives focused on capacity building, policy advocacy, and community-based interventions to improve breast cancer outcomes in underserved populations.
Dr. Uffaira Hafeez
Director of Public Health Research
Dr. Uffaira Hafeez is a medical professional with a passion for improving health outcomes for underserved and marginalized communities. She pursued her medical education at Dow Medical College. Driven by a desire to create a positive impact beyond the confines of clinical practice, Dr. Hafeez furthered her education by obtaining a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Warwick. Currently, she serves as a researcher in the Department of Internal Medicine at the United Arab Emirates University.
She also holds a certification on international women’s health and human rights from Stanford university. Dr. Hafeez’s vision for women’s health extends beyond conventional notions of reproductive health. She advocates for a holistic approach that addresses the entire spectrum of women’s health throughout their lives, encompassing not only reproductive health but also non-communicable diseases and other health issues that uniquely or disproportionately affect women.
Sohrab Malik
Development Strategist
Sohrab is a sustainable cities professional with cross cutting experience in urban analytics, international development and climate change adaptations at the city and neighborhood scale. For the city of Athens, he incorporated spatial analysis, climate research, mobility analysis, well-being and NBS for climate and heat adaptation. This was part of the Norman Foster Institute program on Sustainable Cities. Prior to this, he was a Terra.do fellow, as part of their climate change, learning for action program.
Previously, he managed and implemented a large portfolio of international development grants, with a value of over USD 25 million, spanning 13 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, while coordinating large global teams of funders, stakeholders and implementers.
He is passionate about solving climate change, building global consensus, urban planning, global south initiatives and using evidence based best practices to make lasting change by bridging fields and concepts.
Gwen K. Young
Honorary Advisor
Gwen K. Young is the CEO of Women Business Collaborative (WBC). She is also a Visiting Scholar at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University, and former Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Wilson Center. She is an Advisor to Concordia.
Ms. Young has worked across the globe to promote economic development, good governance, and peace. She has developed strategy, programming, and advocacy in the areas of humanitarian policy, international affairs, and international development. This includes developing public-private partnerships focused on public health, agriculture, gender equality, and access to finance.
Her career has encompassed a comprehensive array of international organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.
An alumna of Smith College, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and the University of California Davis School of Law, Ms. Young has pursued a career in international public service focused on humanitarian relief, international development, and human rights, starting with gender equality and equity.
Volunteers
Sania Arif
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