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DOCTOR DOCTOR BY LIESEL SCHMIDT
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The dream of becoming a doctor is often one instilled at a young age, when the realities of medical school are a distant worry, when the desire to heal or take away someone’s pain is the singular drive. For some, it is a dream that comes later, one inspired by seeing up-close-and-personal the impact that doctors have on the people they treat. For Dr. Faizan Malik, becoming a medical oncologist was a dream he shared with his best friend, Ali—an aspiration that, for Ali, was taken away just as it was about to happen.
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li lost his life to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma before learning that he had matched at his first choice, King Edward Medical University in Lahore, Pakistan,” says Dr. Malik, a native of Dubai. “We tried, desperately, to raise $35,000 dollars for his treatment, but failed in our efforts, and so my dear friend lost his life to cancer.”
That loss—coupled with his long-held desire to help people heal and resume living normal lives— deepened Dr. Malik’s passion to pursue oncology as a specialty. After attending King Edward Medical University, he completed his residency at Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia and his fellowship at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. In practice since 2013, he later established himself in Covington, where he has been on staff with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer 40
SOCIAL NORTHSHORE
Center and a member of Northshore Oncology Associates since 2020. It is his deep-seated passion that makes Dr. Malik such an effective practitioner and so able to connect with his patients. “Although I know it can sometimes seem like an insurmountable challenge, I will offer endless effort until there is no sorrow, pain or suffering due to a lack of quality medical care,” he says. “What I find most fulfilling about my work is patient care. I especially enjoy the autonomy of the patient-physician relationship ingrained within the fabric of the Cancer Center. Our structure at Mary Bird Perkins allows us to do what’s right for the patient, every time. Community care and bonding with patients and their loved ones is special. We become a part of their families.”
