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