Seema Jilani

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT SEEMA JILANI

American Board Certified Pediatrician with 20 years of humanitarian experience, ranging from rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, to working in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the Balkans, and other regions of conflict or post-conflict. I am a Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Children\'s Hospital, caring for acutely ill and hospitalized pediatric patients, and continue to concentrate on Global Health and Advocacy in service of underserved children. I was previously the Senior Emergency Health Advisor for the International Rescue Committee, where I spearheaded Emergency Health Responses in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine, Syria, Turkey, Somalia, the DRC, and elsewhere. I designed the Emergency Medical Team program for Gaza, and deployed as a clinician and health program director in 2024. I treated war-wounded patients in Gaza, and thereafter participated in donor briefing, media, and advocacy in support of children\'s right to access health care. Previously, I was based in Beirut, where I worked for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC,) treating refugees at Rafic Hariri University Hospital and capacity sharing with Lebanese medical residents. I was also an attending physician at Children\'s National Hospital in Washington, DC, caring for children with special needs, and providing palliative care for end of life pediatric patients. I completed my medical training at Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the world. For two years, I served as a Flight Physician on medical evacuation flights for critically ill children for TCH. As the 2015 U.S. Dept. of State Fulbright Scholar, I was based in Istanbul, where I designed and taught a new university course to help doctors be more effective advocates for their patients. My work has been featured in The New Yorker, CNN, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, BBC News, and The Guardian, among other media outlets. I have written about the Srebrenica Genocide in Bosnia, women who were shot alongside Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan, the ethical dilemmas of aid work in Afghanistan, health care barriers for immigrant children in the US, and other such issues. I have lived in Lebanon, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, England, Brussels, Venezuela, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and Houston, amongst other areas, and am currently based in Houston.