Category: President’s Messages

I write to you all as the President of MAMCOAANA for 2016-2017. Frankly, as the editor of Sandesh for the past few years, and the random writer random things on Mamcoaana Digest and Whatsapp and MAMCOAANA Facebook, and, I admit, the tongue-in-cheek remarks from my brain that are forever ready to come out of my mouth, I think most of you who truly follow the goings on of MAMCOAANA need no additional word-footage from me.

I have no lofty personal goals, no great agenda, and no grand plan in mind. I simply want to emphasize that any organization and its executive committee is only in existence because of its membership, and active participation of that membership. So, much as I have this ‘president’ tag and a ‘message’ to write it is meaningless without YOU – the Maulanian – one who is ready to brave the wonderful madness of intermingling with its own kind again despite your responsible and busy personal and professional achievements.

So, take the plunge and join MAMCOAANA as a life member, and join me for the Annual Convention in Columbus, Ohio for 2017.

Tarang Sharma, MD

It is with a sense of great exhilaration and responsibility that I embark upon my tenure as the president of MAMCOAANA for the year 2015-2016. I am honored to serve my fellow Maulanians in this capacity.

It has been 24 years since I graduated from MAMC and 18 years since I came to the USA. It has been an exciting journey indeed. I have been associated with MAMCOAANA since the Boston Convention in the year 2010. Some of my batch mates were also visiting, and it was simply on a whim that I decided to attend. I am so glad that I made the trip! It was truly memorable; and, the warmth of conversations, sense of bonhomie and camaraderie anchored me firmly to the MAMCOAANA family forever.

As a president this year, my efforts would be to bring more Maulanians into the fold. We have a special life-membership drive going on until the end of this year at a discounted price to encourage people to join. We have seen tremendous success in the very first month, with more people having signed up than in any similar time frame in the past! Please keep it going: MAMCOAANA is an organization that represents each one of us: over 1800 proud graduates from MAMC in North America!

These are exciting times for MAMCOAANA. There are several new initiatives for the year. We now have in place a guest lecture series program with MAMC. MAMC journal was launched last year and there is a keen desire to have our members contribute to it. These are both excellent ways for us to give back to our Alma Mater and in a larger sense, to the medical education in India. In addition, we do hope to encourage some form of charitable/service related undertakings and hope to have some trips focused on these activities guided by MAMCOAANA in the future. The discussions are afoot with regards to involving our school and college-going children to participate in such activities. I would encourage you to please get involved in whatever form you wish.

I am immensely thankful to the entire Executive Committee of MAMCOAANA for volunteering countless hours of their precious time towards the association activities. It would be simply impossible to run this organization without their selfless dedication.

The recent convention in Houston under the leadership of Dr Randeep Suneja was fabulous! Randeep and Seema touched everyone’s hearts with their warmth and friendship. We are planning another unforgettable event in Minneapolis for all of you in July 2016. So, please join in… MAMCOAANA will be all the more strong with your support and participation.

Alok Maheshwari, MD

The 30th MAMCOAANA Convention was held in beautiful Toronto at the Downtown Marriot Eaton Centre (Center) from July 24 to July 27, 2014. Dr. Bharat Kalra and Anu Kalra organized the BEST MAMCOAANA so far. Not only were the food and entertainment world class, but the love and warmth that the Kalra family shared with us all was the true highlight of the convention.

Dr. Dinesh Choudhry, the CME Chair, did a fantastic job putting together a CME that was a great learning experience.

We all were fortunate to have the Dean of MAMC, Dr. Deepak Tempe & his wife, Dr. Anjali Tempe attend the convention. History was created and a new milestone was established, as this was the first MAMCOAANA convention in which the Dean attended the meeting. We had an excellent brainstorming session with Dr. Tempe. I truly believe this is a turning point for our organization as this will lead to a stronger and mutually beneficial relationship between MAMCOANNA & MAMC.

I would like to take the opportunity to now welcome and congratulate the President-elect 2014-2015, Dr. Tarang Sharma who has done a superb job as Secretary for many years. We look forward to her leadership as the President in the future. In addition to Dr. Sharma, we have an extremely dynamic team of leaders, which include Dr. Ashutosh Gupta, Dr. Bhushan Pandey, Dr. Vikas Khurana, Dr. Alok Maheshwari, Dr. Bharat Kalra, Dr. Bhupesh Kaul, Dr. Nikhil Goyal and Dr. Dinesh Choudhry. They all have been working tirelessly and I want to thank each one of them and all the other members who are contributing in their own way for MAMCOAANA.

As we embark on this new journey with stronger and better ties with our Alma mater, I want all of you to start preparing for our next MAMCOAANA Convention to be held in Houston, Texas from July 23 to July 26, 2015. We would love you all to land “Your Eagle” in the Space City next year.

With wonderful memories of MAMCOAANA Reunions over the years, and many more to be created,

Love,

Randeep Suneja, MD, FACC, FSCAI, FASNC, FACP, FCCP

MAMCOAANA’s 29th Annual Convention was held in the Big Apple this year. The events started off with a meet and greet, followed by a cruise, and ended with a gala dinner on a rooftop restaurant. Good food and even greater company of old and new friends all under the organization of Dr. I.P. Chhabra was memorable. Kudos to Dr.Inderpal Chhabra and his family for arranging such an exciting event.

Recently, I came to know of the untimely deaths of two of our fellow Maulanians, Dr. Shiv K. Patil and Dr. Rajinder Sippy. My family and I send our deepest condolences and wish their loved ones the best in this difficult time.

To our new members, we give a warm welcome and thank you for joining our MAMCOAANA community. My family and I have been in attendance for the past four years and enjoy coming back every time. Please do encourage your MAMC friends to join as life members. I’m sure they will enjoy the social gatherings and events we have.

At MAMCOAANA we are proud of the quality of our CME program. The committee is constantly striving to set a high standard. Every year the lectures are found to be engaging and informative by attendees. We would especially like to thank Dr. Dinesh Chaudry, our CME coordinator for a fantastic program. I would also like to welcome Dr. Randeep Suneja as the incoming president elect .

Thank you to the executive committee for giving me the opportunity to serve as the president of MAMCOANNA for year 2013 to 2014. I carry forward the tradition of our annual event and would like to invite you and your family to the MAMCOAANA 30th Annual Convention in 2014 to be held in Toronto, Canada from 24 July to 27 July 2014. We hope to put together an exciting program for you all to enjoy. Details of the program will follow.

I wish you all the best for the rest of 2013 and look forward to seeing you all in 2014.

‐ Dr. Bharat Bhushan Kalra

I still cannot believe that it has been 20 Years since I left MAMC for the United States. Like all of us, I too struggled to get through training. I terribly missed all good friends I spent 6 years of my prime youth with.

And then fortunately, came back to MAMCOAANA. It has been a great experience. Reconnecting with some old faces and some new, it was rejuvenating. Especially since now the relationship is more collegial.

Some of us got exposed to giving back at MAMC through the leadership of teachers such as Dr G.S.Sethi, a phenomenal pediatrician and humanitarian; and the National Service Scheme programs run by P&SM. department at MAMC. I saw an X ray machine at Tilak Vihar widow’s colony with the inscription “Donated by Nargis Dutt Foundation.” (www.nargisduttny.com). I am lucky to have been involved with them since 1996. This foundation has donated millions of dollars worth of equipment to various charitable institutions across India. It has also helped contribute towards natural calamity relief funds such as in Bhuj, Gujarat and Haiti.

I wish we could have such a structure in MAMCOAANA as well. I brought this idea up a few years back to my MAMC1986 yahoo group. There was a very mixed reaction. Some were apathetic, most were warm and then there were some who were very enthusiastic towards this program. The way we envisaged it was to raise a small to modest endowment, which sort of pays for itself through investments etc. My good friend, Anupam Sibal from Apollo Hospitals gave this brilliant idea of utilising these funds to encourage real and original research at MAMC. The idea was to institute an award to be provided to any student of MAMC who publishes an original article in a well known peer reviewed journal. I am looking forward to creating this through my class and would like to welcome the larger MAMCOAANA group to contribute and participate as well.

Looking forward, I and my family invite all of you and your families to spend a few days of your summer of 2013 with us in our hometown of Long Island, New York. In order to keep expenses reasonable, we are working on getting the best deals possible. Have a great rest of the year and a bright future.

– Inderpal Chhabra MD FACP

To paraphrase a famous line from a movie — This is Houston Calling. The Eagle has landed in Houston!

It is my distinct pleasure and honor to invite the Maulana Azad Medical College alumni in North America, Canada and anywhere else on the globe to the 28th MAMCOAANA Annual Convention to be held in Hotel Sorella in CityCentre Houston, from Thursday July 26th to Sunday July 29th. The meeting hosts for this convention are Randeep and Seema Suneja and they have worked tirelessly and with tremendous enthusiasm to ensure that this convention is, to quote them “the biggest and the best MAMCOAANA convention ever.”

This year, thanks to Randeep’s strenuous efforts to ensure great sponsor support, we have been able to reduce the registration rates for MAMCOAANA even further and the 2012 Convention registration rates are 33% lower than the already low 2011 Convention rates. And given that the Life Membership rate has been reduced to $200 till at least August 2012, there is even greater incentive for Maulanians to become MAMCOAANA life members.

This year Randeep and Seema have planned a great program for us. As the delegates arrive on Thursday, there will be a light dinner and a get-together with the usual Maulana Azad gaana-bajana, Karaoke and the MAMC style phatay-baazi.

Friday morning starts with free VAP advanced lipid profile testing before the CME lectures. So make sure you are fasting if you want your lipid profile tested. After the CME ends, buses will take the Convention attendees at to the NASA for a tour. After the NASA tour, the buses will take the delegates to the Kemah Marina for an evening dinner cruise on a private yacht. The cruise includes Indian cuisine and DJ.

On Saturday, after the CME, buses will take the delegates to Randeep and Seema’s home for a Lunch with a South Indian flavor.

Saturday evening will be the Annual Banquet. Those who have been to MAMCOAANA need no further description of the fun-filled evening. For those who have not been to a MAMCOAANA banquet, come prepared for good food, great music and bhangra with dhol (we promise to keep the speeches short!).

And on Sunday the delegates will depart for their respective cities, after a hot breakfast.

I urge you all to make it possible to attend the MAMCOAANA Convention. I have long held that while the CME is an important part of the meeting, the Convention is a time for those who share the Maulana Azad clinical DNA to get together, sit together, learn from each other’s expertise, ruminate, spend a couple of days recalling the MAMC nostalgia together, and sing and dance together. CME with bhangra, as one delegate so aptly summed it up.

Come one, come all. Come to Houston for the MAMCOAANA Convention! Register before April 30th to take advantage of our Early Bird Registration specials on both Registration and Hotel Reservations (see the brochure for the Registration fee and hotel details).

– Bupesh Kaul
President, MAMCOAANA

MAMCOAANA had a very successful 27th Annual Convention in Philadelphia in July 2011. Kudos for the success to the team led very successfully by Vikas and Ritu Khurana. The high point of the convention was the banquet with dancing. Suffice it to say that a good time was had by all. Three new MAMCOAANA families who came for the first time to the reunion, returned home vowing not to miss another meeting MAMCOAANA meeting. That in itself speaks volumes for the success of not just the meeting but the format of the reunion. MAMCOAANA 2011 also welcomed new participants from 2004-2007 batch and I hope that they too will find time in their busy training schedules to attend future meetings of MAMCOAANA.

I have long maintained that the alumni reunion is to connect with other people who share your clinical DNA and the survival and success of MAMCOAANA conventions has borne this out. When I went to my first MAMCOAANA meeting in 2003, I did not know a single person there. But attendees at that reunion took me into the MAMCOAANA family and it was as if one was returning home. Not only did we have much to share in terms of the MAMC clinical legacy, but there was much delight in reliving the fun of our College days.

Important as they are, MAMCOAANA reunions however are much more than just swapping memories, eating and dancing. Friday and Saturday mornings are devoted to CME. Speaking for myself, I have found MAMCOAANA CMEs to be of very high quality.

And now for the last 2-3 years MAMCOAANA has added to its activities. Credentials verification being important for its members, MAMCOAANA has taken the lead in setting up with MAMC, a process which is being continuously refined to provide a service for not only the North American MAMC grads but MAMC grads in any part of the world.

Which brings me to Life Members of MAMCOAANA. A significant portion of the Credentials Verification process is funded by MAMCOAANA. This funding is derived from earnings on the fund established by Life Membership. Therefore, for credentials verification to survive, it is imperative that we enlarge our membership base. I would urge every MAMC graduate in North America to consider becoming a Life Member of the organization. And right now is the perfect time to become a Life Member. The General Body Meeting of MAMCOAANA at its 2011 meeting approved the a temporary reduction of Life Membership from $500 to $200 for a period of one year. This Life Membership also brings advantages in reduced registration fees for the MAMCOAANA attendee as well as his family. Therefore I would urge MAMC graduates in North America (or indeed anywhere in the world) to take advantage of this reduction and sign up as life members.

Those who wish to become Life Members may send a check made out to MAMCOAANA to either Dr. Ashutosh Gupta or to me with “Life Membership Fee” in the memo line. My address for this will be P.O. Box 28253, Dayton, OH 45428-0253. All checks received will be forwarded to Dr. Gupta.

The next MAMCOAANA convention will be held in Houston, July 26th to July 29th, 2012 with Randeep Suneja as the meeting host. Details will be posted on this website.

– Bupesh Kaul
President, MAMCOAANA