High River physician shares her passion for rural practice with the next generation of doctors
Channel: RhPAP
Date: 2020-11-04

Dr. Sarah Makhdoom, a member of RhPAP’s Board of Directors, has a passion for teaching.

Dr. Makhdoom has practised as a family physician in High River, Alberta since 2003. During that time, she has been a mentor to over 100 up-and-coming physicians.

 “It’s just important to pass on your love for medicine and for teaching to the next generation,” Dr. Makhdoom explains.

Dr. Makhdoom is originally from Pakistan. She came to Canada with her husband and two sons in 1999 and spent two years in the Rural Alberta South Family Medicine Residency Program.

While based in Lethbridge, she spent much of her residency practising in the smaller communities of Crowsnest Pass, Fort McLeod, Taber, and Milk River.

“That was the beginning of ...  my love for southern Alberta,” adds Dr. Makhdoom.

In 2003, she began her family medicine practice in High River. At the time, there was a huge demand for female physicians who loved obstetrics.

In no time, she was delivering up to 100 babies a year.

Dr. Makhdoom recently transitioned out of obstetrics and into senior care. She has the same passion for treating her older patients as she did for the moms she saw in the delivery room.

Dr. Makhdoom is also passionate about her appointment to the RhPAP Board of Directors and sees it as a way of giving back for the training and accommodations that she received from RhPAP early in her career.

“I wanted to do it as a way of thanking RhPAP, because I used those services as a resident,” says Dr. Makhdoom. “The beautiful houses that [RhPAP] provided us in those small towns and all the backup support, everything that RhPAP did for us, I can never forget it.”