Cross-Cultural Projects
From very early on in professional life, Reza made the United States his home, and quickly become an U.S. citizen. His years of successful surgical practice provided the financial resources that he and Georgie would use for projects affecting many lives.
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The Khatib humanitarian and multicultural outreach continued to expand through their retirement years. And they worked to bring people of all faiths together, especially in difficult times, and did so for many years, through their work with two American universities.
Helping Family in America
Reza and Georgie knew that newcomers who bring their talents and aspirations to America remain one of the nation’s greatest strengths. They have always encouraged, even in troubled times, the coming-to-America of those believing in the American dream and seeking a better life. Khatib family members who have settled in the United States and others benefitting from the Khatib Foundation contribute to American life in fields as diverse as medical and computer science, education, civil engineering, architecture and structural design, transportation and urban planning, biophysics, and thermodynamics.
Helping in Iran
Reza and Georgie shared a strong capacity for empathy. In tne Republic of Iran, they would establish the Clinic for Children and the Indigent, and also establish Iran’s first hospice facility, the Hospice of Mashad.
To improve quality of life for those living in Reza’s birthplace, the Holy City of Mashad, Reza and Georgie developed overseas projects through careful coordination with both United States and Iranian governments, with extended family members and medical communities on both sides of the Atlantic providing crucial support.
A commitment to medicine and community service for the people of Mashad began almost from his birth to a religious family in October of 1930. Reza’s father, a very open-minded Clergyman at the prestigious Goharshad Mosque, guided and influenced Reza’s childhood, primary schooling and high school education, all completed at the Holy City of Mashhad in Persia. Both Reza and Georgie became strong believers in the value of people of all faiths.
Mashhad is a holy city due to its nature as the burial place of the Eighth Iman of the Shia Muslim faith, and it receives over 25 million pilgrims each year, many sick and indigent. Their plight kindled Reza’s desire to ease their suffering with free medical assistance and reassuring financial support, and that support has continued down through the years, closely coordinated with United States Department of State requirements. ( Hovering with your mouse over these photos will display their description.)
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As Reza and Georgie continued their lives, their empathy for those at the end of life led them to the creation of Iran’s first hospice facility. It now adjoins the Khatib Clinic and School for the Indigent. Plans have been made to support both institutions in perpetuity. Both stand near the Eighth Imam shrine for pilgrims and indigents in Mashhad. The Hospice was established as the first of its type in Mashhad. Providing medical care to help those with a terminal illness to live as well as possible for as long as possible, increasing quality of life. Hospice Care is paliative in nature. The primary mission is always to ease pain and suffering for patient and family as long as some quality of life remains. The hospice helps in managing of a patient’s symptoms, coordinating end-of-life care, and enhancing communications and decision making on behalf of patient, family and friends.
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Studies in Religion
“We don’t get to choose the religious heritage we are
born into…and we all need to get along.”
Dr. Reza Khatib
Reza and Georgianna worked for many years to bring people together. When Saudi Terrorists conducted the heartbreaking attack of September 11, 2001, they sponsored seminars New York with St. Joseph’s College & University for many years, and continue today with the “University of Mary Washington to further advance the Khatib Chair for Comparative Religion Studies.
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Reza and Georgie were in New York on 9/11 and witnessed the horrors and destruction caused by hate and religious fanaticism. They had looked at each other and said, “We need to do something about it!” The Khatibs sponsored studies for years at a Long Island University. And then 2019, the University of Mary Washington was honored to announce the Khatib Program in Religion & Dialogue (KPRD). This continued Reza and Georgie’s tradition for working for common understanding among peoples of many faiths. In doing so they worked through the invervention and support of Dr. Mehdi Aminrazavi, the university’s Professor of Religion. 
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The University knew that Reza and Georgie were already well known their philanthropic work in science, medicine, and brain-related diseases, and a great deal about the tragedy of 9/11 had opened up the tragic concerns of that disaster. “Other institutions of higher education have been past beneficiaries of Khatib support; the University of Mary Washington has become hopefully the permanent home of The Khatib Program in Religion & Dialogue. Following numerous meetings at the University and in New York, an ambitious program was put together, and to hopefully accomplish such a necessary task of promoting further dialogue. St. Joseph’s University (then St. Joseph’s College) was home for the initial Khatib comparative lectures. They had set aside one million dollars to promote these religious dialogues. They believed that through mutual understanding and respect for each other’s religions, tolerance and peaceful coexistence is possible. They aimed to encourage endeavors that aim to expose and introduce the scholarly and academic versions of religions taught by well-respected academics to offset the hateful agendas of those who commit violence in the name of world religions. |
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And read more about the St. Joseph Seminar Program’s Khatib Lectures here.