Dr. Khawaja Azimuddin was born in what was known as East Pakistan or what is now known as
Bangladesh. He grew up comfortably until the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 where he and his family were uprooted
and forced into refugee camps where he stayed for another two years. His family eventually moved to what is now
modern day Pakistan. Under the persuasion of his mother, Dr. Azimuddin went to medical school after high
school and became fascinated with surgery. He went on to pursue greater training in the United Kingdom before
coming to the United States and completing residency and a fellowship in colorectal surgery in New York and
Pennsylvania. He eventually came to Houston in 2005 to start his own successful private practice which has now
expanded to include more partners.
In his free time, Dr. Azimuddin likes to paint and work on ceramic art. He is also heavily involved in the Islamic
Arts Society in Houston, working to promote greater communication and inclusion across cultures through art. He
has also written a book titled The Boy Refugee: A Memoir from a Long-Forgotten War on his experiences as a
civilian prisoner-of-war in his childhood to raise awareness of the refugee crisis in the modern day.
View interview transcript PDF — Full interview materials on Rice Digital Collections