Frontline care
Gaza
First medical mission, 2009. Five more return trips before the escalation of October 2023. A 2024 WHO Emergency Medical Team deployment to Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis.
Humanitarian Work
Fifteen years of showing up.
Before the cameras, before the testimony — the work itself. Medical missions to Gaza and Lebanon, capacity-building across the Middle East and beyond.
The arc · 2009 to today
Seventeen years, traced through a doctor's return trips.
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2009
First mission to Gaza
The first in his family to return. A medical mission that began a recurring commitment — before he had even started medical school.
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2009 — 2023
A decade of return trips
Five additional medical missions to Gaza before the escalation of October 2023, alongside capacity-building across Syria, Turkey, Jordan, the West Bank, and Kenya.
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October 2023
The war begins
The escalation reshapes every mission that follows. Hospitals become targets; access becomes a weapon.
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December 2023
Borders reopen. WHO calls.
After borders reopen, the World Health Organization recruits volunteer physicians for an Emergency Medical Team.
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2024
Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis
Deployed to one of southern Gaza's last functioning hospitals. Worked the resuscitation room. Saw what the world had decided not to see.
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2024
Testimony at the United Nations
“Gaza Through a Doctor's Eyes” — testimony before the UN Palestinian Rights Committee.
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2025
SAEM Humanitarian Service Award
The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's Global Emergency Medicine Academy recognizes his service.
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2026
American Doctor, on screen
Dir. Poh Si Teng's documentary premieres at Sundance and opens in select theaters August 14 — his work, and the work of two other American physicians, made visible.
Where the work has taken him
Countries of service.
Frontline care
Lebanon
Emergency medical care on the frontline, where regional healthcare infrastructure has been devastated by conflict.
Capacity-building
Syria · Turkey · Jordan
Leading training and capacity-building initiatives to strengthen local medical response.
Capacity-building
West Bank
Ongoing engagement with Palestinian healthcare providers and systems.
Capacity-building
Kenya
Global-health training and capacity-building beyond the Middle East.
Refugee health
Europe & the Middle East
Refugee-health work across both regions, caring for people displaced by conflict.
Inside the 2024 mission
Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis.
After borders reopened in December 2023, the World Health Organization recruited volunteer physicians. Dr. Ahmad deployed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza — working the resuscitation room of one of the last remaining functional hospitals in the south.
By the time he arrived, he had already been to Gaza five times. This time was different. The hospital was not just a place of medicine; it was a refuge, a landmark, and a witness.
The hospital was not just a place of medicine. It was the last place people believed someone still cared.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad · UN testimony, 2024
Organizations he serves
The institutions behind the work.
Board member
Palestinian American Medical Association
PAMA — a network of Palestinian-American physicians supporting medical education, relief, and advocacy.
Past board member
MedGlobal
A humanitarian organization delivering healthcare to crisis-affected and underserved communities worldwide.
[confirm with Dr. Thaer: any additional current field deployments or partner organizations to list]