Los Angeles Medical Mission Team Leadership
The Los Angeles medical mission team was founded in 2002 with 49 volunteers. As of 2020, the Los Angeles Medical Team (L.A. Medical Team) has grown to over 95 volunteers, with 1/3 of our team returning members. Dr. Babak Larian has led the L. A. Medical Team since 2006. His enthusiasm for what the Los Angeles Medical Mission Team represents is infectious.
Babak Larian, M.D. (Medical Director and Co-Team Leader): Dr. Larian is an assistant clinical professor of surgery at UCLA and the director of the head and neck cancer center and tumor board of Cedars Sinai Medical Center. His expertise as a board-certified surgeon treating all types of head and neck disorders has made him a highly sought-after expert in his field. He has also participated in other medical missions in South and Central America. He has traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East. His reason for going? “I love it!”
Jim Laur (Co-Team Leader) is the VP for Legal Affairs at Cedars-Sinai. He has been on several previous medical missions over the past ten years, including one construction mission in Guatemala as well. Jim has also traveled throughout Western Europe and the former Soviet Block in addition to some of his favorite destinations of Aruba, Thailand, Cambodia, Uruguay, and Argentina. With this new medical mission, Jim hopes to continue building on the positive experience that he has had on past mission trips.
Olivia Marroquin (Co-Team Leader): I had always wanted to do a mission. I did not have a country in particular that I wanted to go to. I just wanted to help people who need it. In the spring of 2002, I had the opportunity to participate for the first time. I went to Guatemala with a team from Bakersfield. Little did I know that I was going to get addicted! I have been fortunate to have participated with other teams that have gone to Ecuador, Peru, and El Salvador. Being on a mission is like being on a roller coaster, with many ups and downs. Seeing the grateful faces of kids and adults alike makes your heart melt. By the end of the week, you will feel that you have made a difference not only in these people’s lives but in yours. Back home after a mission, we are no longer strangers. The Team is all one big happy family.