Meet the Team
We are a volunteer-based, non-partisan, multi-faith-led coalition of Iranians and allies in the greater Philadelphia area advocating to free Iran alongside the #WomanLifeFreedom revolution.
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Executive Director
Sanaz is an Iranian woman originally from Dubai, U.A.E, who moved to the U.S. in 1999 for higher education. With a masters and doctorate degree in psychology (2016) she’s always been passionate about mental health care and advocacy. Today, she practices as a trauma-informed psychotherapist, consultant, and yoga teacher. Sanaz actively seeks community collaborations at the intersection of mental health, community care, and social justice.
Since 2019, she has been committed to supporting Afghan women refugees, partnering with various refugee support organizations both overseas and in Philadelphia. Through trauma-informed yoga healing circles in the Farsi language, she remains steadfast in working with displaced populations, fostering meaningful connections, and working to deepen their sense of belonging. Her dedication to historically marginalized communities is evident in her work both in the therapy room and in the community.
In her free time Sanaz has been committed to amplifying the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in the city of Philadelphia.
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Treasurer
Pouya left Iran as a teenager after she had conflicts with the government in the early years of the Islamic Revolution. She lived and studied dentistry in Germany and moved to the United States in 1992 to specialize in Periodontics and Implant dentistry. She has been affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania as a clinician and as adjunct faculty until the present. But in addition to her position at the university she started her own practice 20 years ago in the suburbs of Philadelphia and has been providing her services to the community ever since. She has been living in and around Philadelphia since she moved to the US and loves this city.
Pouya believes that her roots were formed in her beloved Iran but her branches blossomed in different parts of the world and she considers herself a global citizen, therefore advocating for human rights anywhere and everywhere in the world. Since the start of the women-life-freedom movement she has dedicated her time to raising awareness about the situation of women and marginalized minorities in Iran and hopes to see Iran and Iranians, free and in peace.
She acts as the treasurer of Philly Iranians.
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Artistic Director
Sepehr Pirasteh is a composer, conductor, and activist born in Shiraz, Iran. His compositions draw on Persian classical and folk as well as contemporary classical music vocabularies to express his concerns and fears about the political and social realities of the world we are living in. Sepehr's works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as Argus String Quartet, PRISM saxophone quartet, MISE-EN Ensemble, Arcana Ensemble, Pushback Ensemble, Unheard-of Ensemble, Composers Conference Ensemble, Chamber Music Workshop of the Composers Conference, and ENA chamber opera ensemble. His music has been performed in Argentina, Brazil, Iran, and the United States. Sepehr has also been a fellow in festivals and residencies such as Harvard University's Fromm Foundation Fellowship (Composers Conference), CCI Initiative, and Fresh Inc Festival.
Sepehr currently is a Ph.D. candidate in Music Studies at Temple University. He pursued his MM in Composition and Orchestral Conducting at Central Michigan University and his BM in Composition from Tehran University of Art (Iran). His research interests are political music, protest music Iran and Iranian diaspora.
Furthermore, Sepehr passionately believes in the power of art as a tool for activism, harnessing the language of music to amplify the voices of change. He recognizes that artists carry a profound responsibility to address pressing issues, including violations of human rights, through their creative expressions, fostering a more just and compassionate world.
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Advisor
Reza Moradinezhad, also known with his pen name "Porya Parsa", is an Assistant Professor at Drexel University's College of Computing and Informatics, and an AI Scientist at TulipAI. His PhD dissertation investigates how humans build trust toward AI agents. He has collaborated with top institutions including MIT, CMU, and Harvard University, publishing and presenting his work in venues such as Springer Nature and ACM CHI. Reza is eager to apply his experience in building trust to empower the Iranian diaspora to unite in their fight against the occupying Islamic Republic regime in Iran.
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President
Maryam was born in Hamburg, Germany, to German Iranian parents. Her family moved to Iran when she was 4 years old but left the country in 1979 due to the Iranian revolution. She grew up in Germany and obtained her degree in Business School. Maryam worked in an international import/export company and also assisted her family with their business on the side. In 1988, she moved to the United States, where she met her husband. They opened their own business in 1990 and raised two children before retiring in May 2023.
Even though she has been out of the country for over 40 years, she still considers Iran her home and can't bear to witness the pain and suffering endured by the Iranian people over the past 44 years. Last November, with the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and the start of the Women's Life Freedom revolution, she realized that she could not simply stand by as a bystander. Her main goal became reflecting the voices of the people of Iran. That's when she joined Philly Iranians.
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Hamidreza Nourzadeh is an ABR certified therapeutic medical physicist renowned for his expertise in utilizing cutting-edge technology to enhance radiation therapy procedures for cancer patients. With a strong background in optimization, machine learning, and AI, he is deeply committed to refining treatments, making them more precise and effective. Currently serving as an assistant professor, he is actively engaged in optimizing Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) treatments on advanced MR-Linac machines at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Hamidreza Nourzadeh's belief in unity, determination, and education underscores his vision for Iran. He sees education as the catalyst for empowerment, equipping individuals with the tools to overcome challenges and contribute meaningfully to society. Through education, he envisions a prosperous, harmonious, and inclusive future, where the Iranian people thrive and actively shape their destiny.
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Database Specialist
Sanaz holds an MBA, an MA in Higher Education, and is currently a PhD candidate in Education, with a passion for social activism and diversity. She works for the Technology Commercialization Office at Rowan University.
Also, Sanaz is an industry mentor for NSF I Corps National Fall 2023, a council member of the "Women’s and Gender Studies Program" (WGS) at Rowan University, an advisory board member with the "Women’s Alliance Network" (WAN) at Rowan University, a committee member of "Small Offices" at Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and a volunteer in the "DEI Strategic Priority Council 1" (SPC1) at Rowan University.
Sanaz remains committed to social activism. She has also been recognized for her outstanding contributions to diversity and social activism, winning both the Senate Diversity Award for Excellence in Social Activism and the Rowan Excellence in Diversity Award for a Group Project. Also, She has been awarded the prestigious Susan Keyes Technology Transfer Career Transition Fellowship by the AUTM Foundation.
Sanaz's research is focused on the experiences of Iranian doctoral international students in US universities in the current socio-political environment.