Shahwar Fatima Syed is a physician by profession, in private practice of internal medicine since 1986. Her office is located in Algonquin, Illinois , and is also affiliated with 4 area hospitals. She graduated from Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women in Pakistan , and did her Post-Graduate Training at Christ Community Hospital in Oaklawn , Illinois .

She has been actively participating in organizational and administrative matters of IMAMI (Islamic Mosque and Mission Inc.), located in Streamwood, Illinois since 2003. She has participated in dialogues amongst divorced Muslim groups, helped arranged lectures from speakers of other faiths in order to better understand each other, Islam, and to help build bridges.

She has actively participated in fund raising efforts for recent world calamities, such as Katrina, the Tsunami, and the Pakistan & Iran earthquakes. She has also been actively participating in fund raising efforts of Human Development Foundation for the past 10 years. This is an organization which works to uplift the left behind people of Pakistan . She would like to see the people around her understand Islam better, and as a board member of CAIR she would like to see greater harmony between Muslims with other faiths and promote peace.