DR. Iftikher Uddin Mahmood, MD, FAAP
President, Hope Foundation for Women & Children of Bangladesh, Inc.
Founder, Cox's Bazar Hospital for Women and Children.


Dr. Mahmood was born in Cox's Bazar, a small seaside port town in Bangladesh. In the nearby town of Chittagong, he completed his high school and college education and graduated from Chittagong Medical College, University of Chittagong in 1987. After a short period of training at a local mother and children's hospital in Bangladesh, Dr. Mahmood moved to the US for higher education. Subsequently he completed specialized training in Pediatric Residency from Brooklyn Hospital, New York and fellowship training in the sub-specialty of Pediatric Endocrinology in New York Hospital - Cornell University Medical College.

Dr. Mahmood felt that there was tremendous unnecessary suffering being endured by the poor and sick mothers and children in Bangladesh. He always dreamed of building a charitable hospital to help them. While visiting Bangladesh in 1999 he decided to establish a charitable hospital in his home town of Cox's Bazar to provide medical care to the most neglected people in the community.

Dr. Mahmood established 'Hope Foundation for Women & Children of Bangladesh, Inc.' in 1999 in the USA as a charitable organization whose mission is to provide healthcare to the poor and needy mothers and children in Bangladesh.

In January 2000, the outpatient clinic of Cox's Bazar Hospital for Women and Children was opened in a rented room with one doctor providing medical care to the poor people of the area. The outpatient clinic ran successfully for 5 years during which time over 60,000 patient visits were made.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mahmood began a fundraising campaign among friends, colleagues and the ex-patriate Bangladeshi community in America to raise money to build a fully functioning hospital that could provide more services to the poor.

During 2004 a series of fundraising events helped raise money to build a 40-bed hospital in a rural area just outside Cox's Bazar. The hospital construction began in 2004 and the hospital was inaugurated in April 2005. This hospital provides much needed service to the community at nominal expense and free to the those who cannot afford to pay.

Cox's Bazar Hospital for Women and Children was built with a vision of emerging as a major healthcare center for the area with a capacity of at least 200 beds which will provide a comprehensive diagnostic and treatment facility for simple to complex health conditions.