Our dedicated volunteers that make up our governing, advisory, and young professional boards fuel the organization.
Who we are
Governing Board
Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh is a board-certified plastic surgeon, the current Professor of Clinical Surgery of New York Medical College, and the former Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College. He was a partner at Long Island Plastic Surgical Group since 2000, where he also served as President of the practice from 2007-2012. Dedicated to advancing the field of plastic surgery, Dr. Alizadeh directs the Clinical Research Division of the practice’s Residency Program. Since 2005, he has been recognized as a Top Doctor by Consumer Research Council and has held the title of Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2010. In 2011 and 2012, Dr. Alizadeh also received national recognition as a Top Doctor by U.S. News and World Report, and was voted by patients as one of the Best Cosmetic Surgeons in the Annual Long Island Press Awards. Dr. Alizadeh’s passion is to perform volunteer plastic surgery. His volunteer work began in the Afghan refugee camps in 1993 and since then he has participated in volunteer missions each year traveling all over the world including Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia. In 2009, Dr. Alizadeh’s humanitarian volunteer work earned him the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an award recorded in the United States Congressional Record.
Hormoz Shayegan joined as the Executive Director of Mission:Restore in 2019. Mr. Shayegan has over 40 years of managerial experience in executing complex, high- profile, multi-faceted business ventures worldwide involving commercial as well as major institutional clients including the United Nations. Mr. Shayegan has extensive experience in identifying, evaluating, negotiating and overseeing implementation of business ventures including budget development, operational & financial performance analysis. His professional creed is building rapport with colleagues, service providers, stakeholders and other involved parties in a spirit of team-work. Mr. Shayegan has handled numerous logistic and operational projects in East, South and West Africa - the regions where his company maintained operational bases, giving him insights into the area’s infrastructure, social mores & values and multitude of challenges facing them, particularly in the areas of medical and health-care. Mr. Shayegan holds an M.B.A. degree from Iran Center for Management Studies, Tehran, Iran (1971) – affiliated with Harvard Business School.
Zainab Jaffer is a Director of MJ Group, a leading African port service provider based out of Kenya. MJ Group specializes in bulk cargo handling in liquid and dry state.
Ms. Jaffer manages the family offices for the Group, with the primary responsibility for managing strategic cooperation with various divisions of government and multinational corporations. Ms. Jaffer has been mandated with the task of implementing the Social Economic Development Initiative for Kenya (SEDIK), which has been launched under the guidance of the Kenyan government to support Kenya Vision 2030. Ms. Jaffer successfully executed SEDIK’s flagship $50 million project with an exclusive partnership with GEMS Education, the world’s leading private kindergarten to grade 12 educational provider, to structure, finance and build a 200,000 square foot mega campus in Kenya, that is set as one of Kenya’s best education and largest foreign direct investment project. Ms. Jaffer also serves as Director, Principal and/or Advisor to the following: IFG Port Holdings, a New York based global investment firm specializing in developing, funding and operating infrastructure projects with a focus on agribusiness and port-related investments; Semelex Biometrics, a Brussels based biometrics company that develops, operates and manages the supply of high technology systems in multi-biometric identification and authentication technologies to governments. She is also an active Board Member of the Equity Group Foundation, which champions the social and economic transformation of the people of Africa through education and is highly active and passionate about philanthropic work through her leadership at The Jaffer Foundation, an approved non-profit whose mission is to improve the human condition with a focus on health, water projects and education. Ms. Jaffer is also a Board Member of the Coast General Hospital; a public hospital serving over 3 million people. Ms. Jaffer graduated with honors from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a Bachelor of Science Degree, Management with Law.
Behdad Alizadeh brings over three decades of financial services expertise across the Atlantic to Mission Restore's Board of Members. He co-founded AltaOne Capital in London and is currently a board member at Cegid SA. As the founder of hCroft Partners, he advises on investments in listed European and US companies. With a degree in economics from New York University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, Behdad has held prominent roles such as President of Pardus Europe, Managing Director at The Bank of New York, and Patricof & Co. Capital Corp. His board experience includes Atos SA and Valeo SA.
Medical Advisors (US based)
- Dr. Andrea Pusic, Chief of Plastic Surgery B&Y Hospital and Professor, Harvard Medical School
- Dr. David Song, Director of Plastic Surgery Georgetown, University School of Medicine
- Dr. Lawrence Gottlieb, Director of Burn and Complex Wound Center, University of Chicago
- Dr. Christine Rhode, Chief of Microvascular Services, Columbia School of Medicine
- Dr. Alexander Dagum, Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Renaissance School of Medicine
- Dr. Joyce Aycock, Owner and Operator, Joyce Aycock MD Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- Dr. Morad Askari, Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- Dr. Silvio Podda, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital
- Dr. Stephen Harris, Chief of Plastic Surgery, Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center
- Dr. Gerhard Mundinger, Director of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, Children’s Hospital of New Orleans
Medical Advisors (Africa based)
- Dr. Peter Biribwa, Coast General Hospital, Kenya
- Dr. Metasebia Abebe, St. Paul Millennium Medical College, Ethiopia
- Dr. Phillip Makoye, Bugando Medical Center, Tanzania
- Dr. Dorothy Bbaale, CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital, Uganda
- Dr. Francis Tegete, Bugando Medical Center, Tanzania
- Dr. Tingadini Nyoni, Parirenyatwa Hospital, Zimbabwe
- Dr. Sameer Pandya, Kapkatet County Hospital, Kenya
- Dr. Wone Banda, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Malawi
Young Professional Board
Mission: Restore’s Young Professional Board (YPB) is a group of emerging leaders dedicated to raising community awareness about the organization, as well as fundraising to support the organization’s medical and surgical training missions. The goal is for the YPB to grow with Mission: Restore, helping to build the financial and volunteer support network necessary for the organization to thrive.
For more information, download the YPB overview.
Mission: Restore University (MRU)
Mission: Restore University (MRU) connects, inspires, and educates socially conscious students with an interest in global health, international development and medicine. Students create MRU student groups at their school in order to learn about global surgery, connect with healthcare professionals, and raise funding to support access to essential surgical care for patients who need it most. To learn more about starting a student group at your school contact, download the Mission: Restore University overview and contact info@missionrestore.org.
Previous Partners
