Riyaz Hassanali, MD '86

Cosmetic Surgeon, Humanitarian 

By training, Riyaz Hassanali, M.D. ’86, is a dermatologic cosmetic surgeon with a glamorous international practice. He performs liposuction, hair transplants, chemical peels, fat transplants and other cosmetic procedures on patients, including members of a royal family. In contrast, Hassanali’s avocation is a deep involvement in humanitarian medical efforts in some of the world’ most distressed places.

It’s an interesting dichotomy, the seeds of which were planted in Hassanali’s childhood. He grew up in a home in which giving back to society was a family tradition. “I said, ‘If and when I’m able to, I’m going to give back however I can,’” he recalls.

From student to surgeon

Hassanali’s time at UB seems to have reinforced the two strains of his medical life. He had several instructors who took a keen interest in his well being, both personal and professional. One professor, Dr. Elliott Middleton, “taught me the art of medicine,” Hassanali says, “how to listen, hold someone’s hand, show compassion.” Another instructor, Dr. Gerald Logue, taught Hassanali “how to think, to not accept everything at face value but to use your brain.”

Hassanali did his residency in Buffalo where he met his current professional partner, Dr. Jeff Meilman. Meilman encouraged him to pursue cosmetic surgery because, according to Hassanali, “I have the ability to see things three-dimensionally. You can’t learn that.” After completing a fellowship in Minneapolis, Meilman recruited Hassanali back to Buffalo, where they’ve been in private practice together for 14 years.

Helpful Hearts

Hassanali’s humanitarian work began shortly after his return to Buffalo. When war broke out in Bosnia in the early ’90s, a group of Buffalo doctors got together to help provide area relief; Hassanali was one. He and several other members of the group, called International Medical Relief of Western New York, went on a fact-finding mission. At first, the group’s focus was providing humanitarian efforts to a regional hospital. “Then we realized that what was really lacking was the raw materials and continuing education,” he says. “We spent the bulk of our money to get the Bosnian doctors training in western medicine in Buffalo and sent them back with the tools to use.”

Hassanali ultimately took several trips to Bosnia. During one expedition, his group traveled from Croatia to a Tusla hospital in an ambulance because “it was understood you don’t bomb anything with the Red Cross on it. We were going through completely war-ravaged areas, where refugees were living in shantytowns.” The hospital’s plastic surgeon had lined up 30 or 40 patients who needed operations. The next morning, when surgery was to begin, the plastic surgeon “wouldn’t come into the operating room because she had been traumatized personally and had lost the courage to operate,” Hassanali said. “By our fourth day there, we decided we wouldn’t have been able to make a difference unless we rehabilitated her. A few days later, she was operating again – a very skilled surgeon. That was a highlight for me.”

Later, the group turned its attention to providing humanitarian aid in Tanzania, which has “very basic needs – water, food, antibiotics,” Hassanali says. “I’ve made around seven trips there over the past few years. Lately, our focus has been providing surgery to legally blind people who have cataracts but can’t pay $100 for surgery.” The group’s limitation “has been funding, but we maintain zero overhead; it’s strictly volunteer. Every penny we raise goes directly to the cause.”

Carrying on the Family Tradition

In addition to his own work with Internal Medical Relief of Western New York, Hassanali is continuing his family’s tradition of giving back to society. In July, he and his family paid for 100 cataract surgeries in Tanzania and also made donations to orphanages and schools for the blind and handicapped. Hassanali brought his wife and 5- and 7-year-old sons on his last trip to Africa: “They live a very sheltered life, so I wanted them to experience what the real world is all about.”

The family brought food to an orphanage that housed 100 or so children, ages 15 months to 15 years, all living in a room the size of a tiny apartment. “It was hard for the kids to see that people can live in such horrible conditions,” Hassanali says. “I asked the boys if they could help. They shrugged at first, but then they got into it. They won’t forget that. They make comments still about doing things for the poor. It’s a skill that’s taught, that requires emotional attachment and a willingness to make that sacrifice.”

To make a donation to aid the group’s effort, send a check to International Medical Relief of WNY, 811 Maple Rd., Williamsville, NY, 14221.

Written by Grace Lazzara
April 2005

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