When I arrived to the United States to start my training as a General Surgeon, a senior resident good friend of mine told me: "You can do only 2 more things in your life besides Surgery. Family is one ....you get to pick the other one". I replied immediately: "Where can I find a soccer team around here?".
After playing soccer all my life, residency and fellowship made it hard to keep playing however, my friend was right and I was able to enjoy games and meet people that shared my passion everywhere.
Eventually the invitation to play for the US Medical Soccer Team arrived. I found a fantastic group of people that share my three passions: family, medicine and soccer.
Life is always better after a "futbol" game.

I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I completed medical school in 2002 and moved to the US in 2004 for my Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Pulmonology training at University of Florida. I have played soccer since the day I was born and must confess that I was concerned about the future of my "soccer career" when I moved to the states. I was gladly surprised to see that soccer in this country is way more popular than I thought. Soccer has even helped me open doors in my professional career. It turns out the medical director of my current job is a huge soccer fan and all we talked about during my interview was about the "beautiful game". He recruited me for the job and also his soccer team. I moved to Baton Rouge, LA in 2010 after I finished my training in Florida and can't be happier. I currently play more soccer than I ever before.
This is my first year on the team and July cannot come fast enough. I am very glad to have joined a great group of people that love soccer as much as I do

Born in Mashhad, Iran. Grew up in Redondo Beach California and graduated from Redondo High School (same as our coach!!).
Graduated from UCLA with a BS in biochemistry, then attended UC San Diego for medical school and residency in anesthesiology followed by a fellowship in pain management at UC San Francisco. Currently in private practice at Pain Specialists of Orange County.
Married to Anna Gerayli with two children, Kayla 7 and Neela 8. Currently living in Laguna Niguel, CA.

I've played soccer my whole life, and even as a busy adult I've wanted to continue playing, as long as I can. When I found out through friends and teammates about USMST, I couldn't believe it: a team of ball-playing doctors? An international tournament? Walking the walk by living an active, healthy lifestyle? Sweet uniforms? Count me in!
I'd missed the competition, the meaningful games, and the pride that comes from being on a team. USMST gives that to us, but also so much more. We have an opportunity, with this team, to set an example and defy the conventional wisdom that people just don't have time to exercise. I hope to give my all to my teammates on the pitch, and I hope USMST can serve our community in a broader way going forward. I consider myself very lucky and blessed to call myself a member of the US Medical Soccer Team.

Puya grew up in Santa Rosa, California and played Varsity soccer at Montgomery High School. He got is BS in Biomedical Sciences and a business minor at UC Riverside where he played with the UCR club soccer team. He attended medical school at UCLA and then completed his Anesthesia Residency at UC Davis. He is currently practicing Anesthesia with ASMG at Scripps Green Hospital in San Diego. His quick touches and ball movement make him dangerous in the attacking third, and his diagonal runs into spaces behind defenders make teams think twice about holding a high line.

Dr. Lorber grew up in the Southern California attending UCLA for his undergraduate education. He then remained at UCLA completing his Masters in Public Health prior to heading to Chicago for Medical School at the Rosalind Franklin University. He now works at a Southern California emergency department and is married with twins.

Dr. Taheri was a process engineer in semiconductor and computer industries prior to medical school. After graduation from Albany Medical College, he completed his residency in anesthesiology at university of Texas at Houston . He has been in practice since 1996 in Beverly Hills , Ca specializing in out patient/office based anesthesia.