Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Medium post, the  Iranian Americans' Contributions Project profiles Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, a plastic surgeon who leads Mission: Restore (a nonprofit that provides free healthcare education).

• Dr. Alizadeh discusses how his time volunteering abroad to help refugees alongside Doctors Without Borders inspired his nonprofit work. How can we find more ways to give time and expand our philanthropic journeys?

• Here's another perspective on the Doctors Without Borders experience.

Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh is the Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Westchester Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery at New York Medical College ... he specializes in a range of cosmetic and reconstructive surgical procedures, as well as less invasive treatments. Cosmetic procedures include breast augmentation, lift, and reduction, body contouring, including buttock augmentation and labioplasty, as well as minimally invasive facial rejuvenation. Reconstructive procedures include breast reconstruction after cancer and migraine surgery.

"I am very fortunate that in any given day I get to live my passions of academic medicine, clinical surgery, and global health. I divide my time between research and teaching at an academic medical center, performing cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, and leading Mission: Restore, a nonprofit foundation that provides free healthcare education," says Dr. Alizadeh. "The best part is that I can move seamlessly between each of these areas as lessons from one arena can help with the others ...

"I always try to merge my clinical experience with our nonprofit work. For example, we now have our students watch patients in Africa via telemedicine and see devastating traumatic deformities that they would never encounter in their training in New York. Using videoconferencing, we get to examine the patients via our colleagues in Africa and teach them what to do while warning our students here what not to do. At the end of the day, it’s about seeing someone smile, whether that’s one of the students, doctors, or patients."

Read the full article about Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh's nonprofit mission by Jahandad Memarian at Iranian Americans' Contributions Project, via medium.com.