Volunteers
Amin H. Jahromi, MD-PhD
Co-Founder and President
Amin H. Jahromi, MD-PhD
Co-Founder and PresidentPassionate about helping children in need and empowering the oppressed, Amin is called to help orphans as the president/co-founder of Golestan Foundation. He is a practicing nuclear medicine physician and radiologist. Amin was born and raised in Jahrom, Iran and emigrated to the US. He has seen the stark contrast in resources available to children and has been passionate about helping orphans, missing out on one or both parents’ caring love. His vision is to empower the most vulnerable and innocent children, one orphan at a time. Amin has built a team of talented volunteers who are dedicated to growing the mission of Golestan.
Mohsen Dadfarnia, PhD
Co-Founder, Treasurer
Mohsen Dadfarnia, PhD
Co-Founder, TreasurerMohsen is an avid educator and teacher. He is a university instructor and he uses his free time to teach children in his local community. His passion in helping children in need stems from his belief that all children deserve the opportunity to fulfill their potential and that humanity knows no race or border.
Reza Ebrahimi, PhD
Secretary
Reza Ebrahimi, PhD
SecretaryCommitted to making a difference in the lives of underprivileged children and empowering marginalized communities, I'm a dedicated volunteer with Golestan Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to creating brighter futures. Born and raised in Ghir, Fars, Iran, and now residing in California, I hold a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and work at Apple. My journey is driven by the belief that every child, particularly orphans, deserves an opportunity to reach their full potential and lead happier lives.
Behzad Biglarbegian, PhD
Board member
Behzad Biglarbegian, PhD
Board memberBehzad joined Golestan Foundation to help children in need, specially in Iran. Currently Behzad is a RF hardware engineer at Apple in California. In his spare time, he likes to spend time with friends and family, watching soccer and playing setar.
Pooya Khoshgoftar, PhD
Board member
Pooya Khoshgoftar, PhD
Board memberPooya has studied and worked in Iran, Europe and the United States and is currently an engineering manager in the semiconductor industry. He strives to help children in need with focus on their health and education. Pooya is passionate about empowering children so they can find their area of talents and thereby can make a bright future for themselves. Pooya is very excited to join Golestan Foundation as a volunteer.
Mahshid Mohseni
Human Resources Chair, Board member
Mahshid Mohseni
Human Resources Chair, Board memberMahshid has had a long time passion for helping the children in need. She is a practicing endocrinologist woking as an assistant professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She grew up in Iran and moved to United States for medical training. She believes all kids deserve the opportunity to live a happy and healthy life.
Amirhossein Khosrojerdi, PhD
Board member
Amirhossein Khosrojerdi, PhD
Board memberAmirhossein started his volunteer journey at Golestan foundation with the hope that his activities can help orphans and unprivileged children reach their full potentials and live a happier life. Amirhossein grew up in Iran and came to the US in 2011 to pursue his education in Operations Research. He is currently residing in Chicago and working as a data science manager in financial services.
Mojtaba Azadi
Education Committee
Mojtaba Azadi
Education CommitteeMojtaba is a volunteer at Golestan Foundation. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends here in the US and in his beloved motherland Iran through social media platforms. He is a faculty member at San Francisco State University.
Mahdieh Taher, PhD
Social Media Chair
Mahdieh Taher, PhD
Social Media ChairMahdieh was born and raised in Iran. She moved to California and studied at UC Berkeley. Currently, she is working as a data engineer in Bay Area. Her passion for education started a few years ago when she found Montessori method and attended early education classes. She got her AMI Montessori certificate in 2015. Then she translated a montessori book to Persian. She joined the Golestan Foundation with this belief : “Within the child lies the fate of future”, Dr Montessori.
Behnam Neyshabur, PhD
Fundraising Committee
Behnam Neyshabur, PhD
Fundraising CommitteeBehnam is passionate about empowering unprivileged children and envisions a world where children have equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. He firmly believes in the power of communities. In the past, Behnam has founded/led three non-profit organizations with a focus on community building and is currently a board member of Iranian Women in Computing (IranWiC). Behnam was born and raised in Neyshabur — a small city in northeast Iran and later immigrated to the US for graduate education. He is currently a staff research scientist at Google where his research is on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Hadis Askari, B.S.A
Social Media Committee
Hadis Askari, B.S.A
Social Media CommitteeHadis is a Biochemistry/pre-med student at the University of Texas at Austin, meanwhile she is pursuing Spanish in Medical Professions and Forensic in Science certificate. Her passion to join Golestan rose out of her concern for children in Iran who do not have any voice for their pains. Hadis is glad to be part of this journey with Golestan to ameliorate this condition for children and empower them to enrich their experiences by accessing proper education and care.
Ali Askari, B.S.A
Data Manager
Ali Askari, B.S.A
Data ManagerAli is passionate about taking part in the community to help others, especially assisting children and orphans in need who are full of potential. Ali was born and raised in Marvdasht, Iran. He moved to Texas to continue his high school education. He is a pre-medical student at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies Biochemistry.
Pooya Hosseinzadeh
Education Committee
Pooya Hosseinzadeh
Education CommitteePooya enjoys being a part of Golestan team where he can help in a building a better future for the children in need. He is an orthopedic surgeon and practices at Washington University in Saint Louis. He grew up in Iran and moved to United Sates for medical training.
Fahimeh Baftizadeh, PhD
Education Committee
Fahimeh Baftizadeh, PhD
Education CommitteeFahimeh, originally from Mashhad, Iran, pursued a path in physics that spanned several countries. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics from Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Iran. She then earned her PhD in Physics in Trieste, Italy. Afterward, she continued her academic journey in the United States, spending four years as a postdoc researcher at MIT. Currently, she works as a scientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. She’s passionate about volunteering and aims to work with underprivileged kids, encouraging them to dream big and believe in themselves.
Parsa Samandi
Finance Committee
Parsa Samandi
Finance CommitteeBorn and raised in Tehran, recently moved to Canada, I have a background in Web Development with a passion for sports and literature. Currently pursuing a major in Business at Douglas College in metro Vancouver. As education is a fundamental need of every individual, it would be my honor to be part of the Golestan Foundation in this journey of helping orphans.
Shabnam Ghotbi
Education Committee
Shabnam Ghotbi
Education CommitteeShabnam was born and raised in Iran. After leaving Iran as a telecommunication engineer, she came to Indiana to pursue her Ph.D., immersing herself in the world of academic research. Shabnam graduated from Purdue university with a master's degree in Economics and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. Today she lives in the Bay area, where she applies her expertise to tackle engineering challenges in the tech industry. She first discovered the Golestan through a fundraising post. Intrigued by the organization's mission and the potential impact it could have, she became deeply interested in Golestan work. Since then, she has closely followed Golestan activities and initiatives, continually inspired by the positive changes they bring to the lives of children and families. This initial encounter ignited a strong commitment within her. She has actively supported the foundation through personal donations and strives to encourage her friends and acquaintances to contribute as well. The Golestan Foundation's dedication to nurturing children's development and fostering cultural understanding deeply resonates with her, and she feels privileged to be a part of this community.
Saba Rahimi
Youth Ambassador
Saba Rahimi
Youth AmbassadorSaba Rahimi is an Iranian American student hoping to impact lives of orphans one at a time, as she is passionate about advocating for individuals with less of a voice. As a member of the youth council in her local city and a youth member for the league of women voters SF, Saba is hopeful to embrace a youth ambassador position at Golestan and fundraise for the cause. Saba believes that every child should be ensured equal access to resources that we take for granted, and is hoping to dedicate her time to the orphans of Iran in less privileged communities.
Sana Rahimi
Youth Ambassador
Sana Rahimi
Youth AmbassadorSana Rahimi is an Iranian American high school student who is passionate about helping others when their voices aren’t heard. She is excited to work as a Youth Ambassador closely alongside Golestan Foundation to advocate to youth for equality and make a difference in a child’s life. As a loyal member of the league of women voters of San Francisco, she stands by her position to fundraise and impact people, and is dedicated to creating time to allow children to receive a better life, education, and what they deserve.
Afra Panahi
Education Committee
Afra Panahi
Education CommitteeAfra was born and raised in Mashhad, Iran. She received her bachelor and master in chemistry from Sharif University of Technology. She continued her academic path and recived her PhD from Michigan State University in the field of computational chemistry and molecular modeling, Afterwords she worked as postdoctoral researcher in the University of Michigan and Boston University before accepting a faculty position in California State University. Afra firmly believes that every child has the potential to achieve great things when provided with the right guidance and resources. She is passionate about helping children find the proper path for growth and equipping them with the necessary tools to overcome adversities.
Sajed Jamali
Golestan Canada Branch
Sajed Jamali
Golestan Canada BranchSajed brings a wealth of experience from serving in leadership roles across several non-profit organizations. He has been instrumental in driving success at Persica, the largest free job-hunting service for Iranians, which has served over 3,000 clients annually since he joined their BOD in 2017. Sajed's passion for community development has also extended to his involvement with Canadian non-profits, including Triec, YMCA, and Supply Chain Canada. In addition to his professional work, Sajed has dedicated several years to working with organizations such as Zima and Paradise Charity. His deep care for the underprivileged children of Iran is evident through his continuous efforts to find ways to support them. Currently, Sajed serves as a Program Manager at Costco. His commitment to empowering underserved communities, particularly immigrants and newcomers, aligns with his dedication to making impactful contributions in both professional and charitable arenas.
Moslem Noori
Golestan Canada Branch
Moslem Noori
Golestan Canada BranchMoslem has served the community at different cultural, charity, and professional positions. He worked with S4S (a charity group to support the Iranian students in need), organized fundraising events for Relief international, co-founded Ghasedak (a Persian podcast and live radio program), among others. Moslem immigrated to Canada in 2006 to continue his graduate studies and holds a PhD in electrical engineering. He deeply cares about empowering the underprivileged and vulnerable population, especially kids in his home country of Iran. Moslem is a principal scientist at 1QBit and has worked on the application and design of optimization and machine learning techniques.
Sina Sheikholeslami
Social Media Committee
Sina Sheikholeslami
Social Media CommitteeSina is a software engineer based in LA. As a dedicated volunteer, Sina is passionate about leveraging his personal and professional skills and experiences to support the foundation's mission of providing quality education to children who have lost their parents. With a strong commitment to empowering young minds through education, Sina is excited to contribute to the growth and development of our future generations.
Yusof Ganji
Education Committee
Yusof Ganji
Education CommitteeYusof, holds a PhD in computer engineering and is based in the Seattle area. He has always been driven by a desire to give back to his community. After years of being a donor to the foundation, he took the next step by volunteering for more opportunities to serve. Yusof is excited to contribute to improving the lives of underprivileged children, working alongside the like-minded education committee members.
Amir Heidari
Education Committee
Amir Heidari
Education CommitteeAmir holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and is currently an Engineering Program Manager in San Francisco Bay Area. He is dedicated to supporting children in need, with a strong focus on their health and education. Passionate about empowering young minds, Amir aims to help children discover their unique talents and build a bright future for themselves. He is thrilled to join the Golestan Foundation as a volunteer.