The early years: Reza first met Dr. Abraham Rabiner in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Rabiner was Chief of Neurology, and meeting him was a great honor. This photo of them was taken at the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital of Brooklyn in 1959, the year John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States.

Reza was also introduced to Dr. Jefferson Browder and Dr. Al Cook, who was serving as Chairman of Neurosurgery at Downstate Medical School and Kings County Hospital, where Reza’s full five year neurosurgical residency began. Each year of his residency, Reza’s empathy for glioblastoma patients and their families continued to grow, as did his frustration at having so little to offer them. His dedication to finding glioblastoma’s cure strengthened and his plan for what would become the Dr. Reza Khatib Foundation took root.

It was also during that first resident year that Reza met Dr. Andy Parsa at Downstate Medical School, then involved in GBM research at Columbia University. Dr. Parsa impressed Reza from the first day they met with his intelligence and the energy he devoted to his research. Reza quickly decided to financially assist Dr. Parsa during his residency and his activities at Columbia University, University of California at San Francisco, and Northwestern University.

Working with Dr. Parza, Reza designed a new research-oriented position that would specifically target work on the gliobastoma problem. The result of their association endures as the Khatib/Parsa Endowed Chair for Treatment of Skull-Based Tumors at the University of California, San Francisco.

After serving as the university’s first endowed chair, Dr. Parza moved on to build a wonderful reputation, cut all too short by his untimely death at age 47. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Charlotte Shum, who became associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. Today, Dr. Shum also serves as one of the distinguished trustees of the Khatib Foundation.

After completing his fifth year of residency, Dr. Khatib became Chief of Neurosurgery at Brooklyn Medical Center. His own highly successful neurological private practice continued. During the years in New York Dr. Khatib’s colleagues and friends included three other neurosurgeons trained at Downstate Medical Center. These personal friends were Doctors John Miller, Richard Johnson and Fred Nobandegani. All were highly valued and respected colleagues.

In his years of practice, Dr. Khatib published to professional to journals numerous times. See his List of Publications here.
 
In 1985 Dr.Khatib was invited to establish neurosurgical services at the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn & Queens, a facility with over 1,000 beds serving all of the New York metropolitan area. By the time of his retirement in 2000, the Catholic Medical Center had become a highly respected and requested institution. At his 2000 retirement, his colleagues and countrymen honored Reza for 25 years of service.