News

News

November 1, 2018

AAPI Arkansas donated $7000 towards Kerala flood relief to Indian Medical Association Kerala State branch in November 2018. Dr. E.K Ummer, President of IMA Kerala reported that in Kerala flood calamity 1st rescue stage and 2nd temporary rehabilitation stage is over. Now they are in the 3rd stage of permanent rehabilitation. More than 20000 houses lost, roads, bridges, business centers, agriculture areas, hospitals, clinic and damages to properties of Doctors occurred. We are supporting by medical camps and free clinics in the flood affected areas and many hospital's theaters and ICU Centers are damaged. So many doctors houses has been damaged ,lost their home appliances and cars. Now they are supporting for reconstructing houses ,supporting hospitals and clinics. So they are utilizing the fund for reconstructing houses to the poor and needy and supporting doctors, maintenance of hospitals and clinics and supporting doctors those who have lost their cars and houses. Already they have spent more than 4 crore and supporting Kerala Govt also for rehabilitation process. We hope that these funds will help the needful there.

AAPI Arkansas has always offered generous support for several major disasters in India. We supported Nepal Earthquake relief and Chennai Flood relief in the recent years. We keep a reserve fund from our charity collections every year to support disasters like these.

AAPI Arkansas sincerely thanks all the central Arkansas Members and especially members from North East Arkansas who donated all of their charity funds raised in 2018 towards this cause..

Also our newly formed AAPI Arkansas Youth Club members led by Anya Rao and Adhitya Gowda have been instrumental in raising some of the funds donated to the kerala flood relief. Their efforts are very encouraging and inspiring for us to continue to do more to make a difference in our communities.

October 12, 2018

It is with great sadness that we are informing you that our founding president Dr. Simon Abraham passed away on Friday on Oct 12th at the age of 86 in Mountain Home, Arkansas. He is survived by his wife, Annie, four children (Vinu Simon, Prema, Matthew, and Jacob), and eight grandchildren (Jamuna, Mathew, Abe, Maya, Lily, Simon, Benjamin, and Anna)

Born in the state of Kerala in the south of India, Dr. Abraham grew up in the Nilgiris region of Madras. He graduated from the Christian Medical College with his medical degree in 1958, working as an associate professor of surgery until 1966. He completed training in cardiothoracic surgery in Auckland, New Zealand and earned the title of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He moved to Mountain Home in 1971.

Dr. Abraham started his medical practice at the Saltzman-Gunther Clinic, in Mountain Home. The Abraham Medical Center was built in 1975. He had a successful practice with specialization on cardiovascular and family medicine. He retired at age 82 in August 2014 after serving the community for over 43 years. Dr. Abraham donated the building and property on which the Medical Center sat to the Mountain Home Educational Foundation to provide financial assistance to promising high school students. Dr. Abraham also led efforts to support development of the Paraumala Hospital in Kerala

Dr. Abraham was the First Indian American Physician to come to Arkansas and the first foreign medical graduate to receive a medical license in the state. Since the early days he has constantly engaged the foreign physicians coming to the state and advocated for their welfare. He co- founded AAPI Arkansas on April 19, 2008 with Dr. Narender Gorukanti, Dr. Vijay Koli, and Dr. Jayesh Shah. He has been a strong force in our growth in membership from 26 members in 2008 to over 300 members all over the state now. He also has been a strong supporter of charity work done by AAPI Arkansas. He donated $10000 towards our Scholarship initiative at our 10th Anniversary Annual Event this year. We are glad that he was able to attend our Annual Event and we had the opportunity to honor him for his service at the event in the presence of Governor Asa Hutchinson, Congressman French Hill and Lt. Governor Tim Griffin. We will miss him dearly and are deeply grateful for his services to AAPI Arkansas. We would not have been here without his dedication and perseverance. We are sincerely thankful to 'Father of AAPI Arkansas' Dr. Simon Abraham

We hereby wish peace and comfort at this difficult time for his family.

Please share your tributes to Dr. Abraham by clicking the link below https://www.kirbyandfamily.com/obituaries/Simon-Abraham/#!/TributeWall

October 7, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) donated $1000 to AIM for Seva on Oct 7th 2018 at the Jagat Pavani Ganga- Musical sponsored by them at the Robinson Center in Little Rock. AIM for Seva offers integrated community development programs, reaching out to rural and tribal children across 15 Indian states. Their mission is to reach education to every child across the nation through the concept of a Free Student Home.

October 1, 2018

AAPI Arkansas was featured in the Sept-Oct 2018 Edition of Healthcare Journal of Little Rock. Read the article below.
Healthcare Journal of Little Rock

September 9, 2018

The 3rd Northwest Arkansas AAPI Annual Event a grand success. It was held on September 9th at Double Tree Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas. The event was graced by Congressman and House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack; Bootsie Ackerman, District Director for congressman, Denten Park, CEO, Northwest health systems; Dr. Steve Goss, President, Mercy Clinics.

NWA AAPI recognized Dr. Ajay Malshe for Academic excellence and social entrepreneurship and Dr. Madhu kalyan for his services in Pulmonary and critical care medicine to Northwest arkansas.

They also recognized 2 students for achievement in extracurricular activities; Pooja kalyan who won the silver medal in Junior ladies category 2018 US Nationals Figure Skating Championship and Sojas Wagle, who won the 2017 world brain bee championship

NWA AAPI donated $2500 each to Bentonville police department and Rogers police department at the event. They also awarded $1000 Scholarship to 4 high school students Casey Castoe, Sam caskanett, Claire Freeman and Alondra Altamirano

The Event concluded with colorful cultural program and a delicious Indian cuisine from Flavors Restaurant.

August 26, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) Grand 10th Anniversary Annual Event was a big success. It was a landmark event in healthcare in the State with Chief Guests including Governor Asa Hutchinson, COngressman French Hill and Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin. Health care executives from all major health care organizations (Arkansas Medical Society, Arkansas State Medical Board, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Foundation of Medical care) and hospital systems (UAMS, Baptist, CHI St Vincents, CAVHS, ACH, ST Bernards, Mercy Health System) graced the event. There were over 200 Indian American Physician members and 150 guests who attended the event. Charity donations of over $15000, Scholarship donation of $20000 to 15 high school students and $2000 of research Pilot grant was given at the event. Annual Excellence awards to physicians who made significant contribution in Academics and community service were also given. All the past presidents of AAPI Arkansas were honored and the 10th Anniversary Member Directory was released at the event. There were 4 cultural performances from various regions of India followed by delicious Indian cuisine from Bawarchi in Dallas. With an elaborate display our our legacy, unity, strength, commitment and our culture, we have laid a new foundation and opened new strong path of further growth and success. AAPI Arkansas sincerely thanks all our members, guests and sponsors for making this event a success.

August 26, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) is proud to announce the 2019 Governing Body members

President: Aravind Rao

President Elect: Naveen Kumar

VP- Activities: Srinivas Gokarakonda

VP- Membership: Chandra Lingisetty

VP- Charities: Supriya Jambhekar

VP- Pharmacy Liason: Raghu Reddy

Secretary: Manisha Singh

Treasurer: Prajwal Chevireddy

Executive committee:

Nidhi Jain

Shree Gopal Sharma

Arpana Edala

Kalyan Koneru

Suman Pela

Rohan Samant

Prasad Padala

Nithin karkala

Suman Siddamreddy

Tarun Pandey

Chaitanya Musham

James Thomas

Anil Badhwar

Nihit kumar

August 15, 2018

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Anusha Majagi is the winner of this years first and ever Pilot grant as a part of our Research Initiative. She will be receiving a sum of $2000 for her pilot proposal "Diet And Health In The Asian Indian Population In Arkansas". The award will be presented during the AAPI 10th anniversary event on the evening of Saturday, 25th August, in the Statehouse Convention Center. It is expected that the study is completed in one year and the results will be presented at the next annual meeting in 2019.

July 30, 2018

AAPI Arkansas would like to congratulate our Scholarship Winners for this year. The Awards will presented by our Governor Asa Hutchinson at our 10th Anniversary Annual Event on August 25, 2018.

Maresha Jackson
Claros Luis
Kilah Wolcott
Sanjana Padala
Sarah Douglass
Abigail Vandervate
Abrah Jones
Alesia Clay
Chanicia Gaines
Destiny Taylor
Evelyn Perez-Garcia
Kaila Neyland
Mar'yah Jackson
Shauntajah Conway
Trinity Thompson

July 27, 2018

AAPI Arkansas would like to congratulate our Annual Excellence Award Winners for this year. The Awards will presented by our Governor Asa Hutchinson at our 10th Anniversary Annual Event on August 25, 2018.

Academic Excellence
Appalanaidu Sasapu MD (UAMS)
Sowmya Patil MD (UAMS)
Community Service
Balamurugan Appathurai MD (ADH)
Native Arkansan
Steve Collier MD (ARcare)

July 26, 2018

AAPI Arkansas donated 286 pieces of lightly used uniform and school supplies for 150 students to Pulaski County Special School District. Thank you for all those donated.

July 19, 2018

AAPI Arkansas conducted the Mental Health in Indian Americans lecture at Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen. It was the 4th in the series of Health awareness lecture as part of our Community Health Initiatives on our 10th Anniversary. We had over 60 guests attend the lecture. Expert speakers were psychiatrists from UAMS and VA- Dr. Nihit Kumar, Dr. Purushottam Thapa, Dr. Prasad Padala and Dr. Srinivasa Gokarakonda. They discussed broad range of mental health issues affecting different age groups including Depression, Anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Memory problems and psychosis. They discussed the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and some treatment options for those illness especially how to identify the symptoms and when to seek medical care. They addressed the stigma associated with these disorders and how to avoid them.

Please check the link below if you or someone you know want to screen themselves for a mental illness. http://screening.mentalhealthscreening.org/uwscc Please consult your personal physician or a psychiatrist if you have any concerns.

June 28, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) hosted to Annual Welcome dinner at Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen in coordination with UAMS HR and Immigration Department. Over 20 Foreign Medical graduates in training (Residency and fellowship) and several Indian American Physicians in practice who moved here recently attended the event. Ms. Karen Whatley, Executive Director of Arkansas State Medical Board was also present. Several of our affiliates attended the event and helped the new physicians in town.

June 13, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) organized a Health Aware lecture FOOD FOR THOUGHT! GO VEGAN! as part of our Community Health Initiative on June 13, 2018. Dr. Meenakshi Budhraja, a gastroenterologist for 30 years in Little Rock and Ms. Connley Weeks, a Certified Vegan Nutritionist from the Digestive Wellness Clinic discussed the benefits of Plant based diet in preventing chronic diseases like Coronary Artery disease and Diabetes. The talk was hosted at Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen which has been voted the Best Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurant in the Arkansas Times' 2018 Readers Choice Awards.

May 24, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) Governing body members met with Dr. Nate Smith Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Director and State Heal and Dr. Gary Wheeler, Chief Medical Officer, ADH to discuss partnership opportunities in several projects to promote healthcare of Arkansans.

May 19, 2018

AAPI Arkansas is proud to support "Save Indian Farmers" which is a non profit organization dedicated to improving lives of farmers and their families in India with innovative approaches. AAPI Arkansas donated $5000 to them at their Annual fund raising concert SAFAR2 at UALR on May 19, 2018. We hope this donation will help them succeed in their new initiative Project Jal aimed at Borewell Recharge for over 200 farmers in several drought affected areas in India. www.saveindianfarmers.org

May 18, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) Hot Springs had their First Inaugural Annual Event on May 19th 2018 with 12 member physicians at Clarion Hotel on lake Hamilton.

The Chief Guest at the event was Hot Springs City Mayor Pat McCabe. Other guests were CHI Hot springs President Tony Houston, CMO Dr. Doug Ross and National Park Medical Centerâ€™s Director of Physician Services Richard Grisso, Cardio thoracic surgeon Dr. Warren (National Park Med Ctr), Urologist Dr. Lai (National Park Med Ctr).

AAPI (Arkansas) Governing Body Members Dr. Senthil Raghavan, Dr. Srini Gokarakonda and Dr. Naveen Kumar attended the event as well.

AAPI Hot Springs presented Charity donation of $1000 to Hot Springs Police Department Officer Joey Williams and Assistant Police Chief Mr. Chris Chapmond, $1000 to Garland County Undersheriff Jason Lawrence and $1000 Hot Springs Fire Department Commander Ty Harris.

They also presented High School Scholarship donation of $1000 each to Ms. Grace Tedder and Ms. Maddie West (Lake Hamilton School District), Ms. Kayla Grabinski and Ms. Aliza Cabibi-Wilkin (Hot Springs School District) and $2000 to Lakeside School Districtâ€™s Assistant Prinicipal Mr. Anthony Brunett.

The event was supported by Sponsors Amgen, Pfizer, Gilead, and AstraZeneca and the Food was catered from Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen in Little Rock.

May 9, 2018

AAPI Arkansas President Senthil Raghavan and Past President Naveen Patil met with Arkansas Foundation of Medical Care (AFMC) Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chad Rogers to discuss partnership. AFMC is one of our Affiliates for 2018. AFMC is a leading Quality improvement organization in Arkansas providing premium quality services to hospitals and providers.

May 9, 2018

AAPI Arkansas governing body met with Baptist Health System CEO Troy Wells to invite their leadership to our Annual event. We also discussed partnership in physician recruitment and orientation. Baptist Health Physician Partners (BHPP) Executive Director Herbert Hahn was also present at the meeting and expressed interest at the meeting. Our VP of Members Chandra Lingisetty is one of the Board of Managers in BHPP.

May 8, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas)/Don Roberts Elementary School Initiative:

Turn used shoe to clean water: Thank you for those who participated.

Indu Soora Sowmya Patil Sabitha Govindarajan Sruthi Totakura Kalpana Padala Anu Kunthur Priya Mendiratta Supriya Jambhekar Shalini Mugimane Swaroopa Mulahalli Roopa Samant Shimsha Jain

We donated over 200 pairs of lightly used shoes. Because of your donation, the Ozark Water Projects, will be providing affordable footwear and a cup of clean, fresh water to the needy in Africa. We wholeheartedly thank all the families that donated for the good cause, and are looking forward to bigger participation in our future projects.

May 5, 2018

AAPI (Arkansas) Batesville had their First Annual Event on May 5th 2018 at the Batesville Community Center.

The Event was a big success with 20 physicians including residents from the Batesville Internal Medicine program attending. It was hosted by Dr. Anathan Vijaya Deskian and Dr. Jyothi Chaudhury. Chief Guests at event were Batesville City Mayor Rick Elunbaugh, White River Medical Center Chief Medical officer Dr. Doug Bernard and Director of Outpatient clinics Mr. Robert Wright. AAPI (Arkansas) Governing Body Members Dr. Naveen Patil, Dr. Senthil Raghavan, Dr. Rohan Samant and Dr. Naveen Kumar attended the event as well.

The Event began with a lecture by Batesville Representative Dr. Shailendra Singh about 'Overview of Rheumatology' followed by speeches by the Chief Guests. Mayor Elunbaugh shared his commitment to promote the health of community and is excited to work with AAPI Batesville towards that goal. He was the main force behind the city's State of the Art $23 million Community and Fitness Center where the event was held.

AAPI Batesville presented Charity donation of $1000 to Batesville Police Department Chief Alan Cockrill followed by Scholarship donation of $1000 each to Batesville High School Students Mackenzie Carter and Elizabeth Devazier. Batesville School Superintendent Michael Hester was present during the event.

Event was supported by Sponsors Amgen, Abbvie and Jansen and Food was catered from Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen in Little Rock.

May 4, 2018

AAPI arkansas met with Little Rock School Superintendent Mike Poore to discuss the Scholarship program. AAPI Arkansas currently provides Merit based and Need based High School Scholarship. We also discussed Partnering with LRSD EXCEL program in mentoring High School kids aspiring to go into medical profession.

May 3, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members met with Arkansas BCBS Senior executives. We discuss educational opportunities for our physician members on the recent Value Based Compensation Initiative ( VBCI). ARBCBS is a major sponsor for AAPi for 2018. We also discussed about collaborating with ARBCBS in offering preventive and disease awareness education to Indian American community as a whole.

May 2, 2018

AAPI Office bearers met with CHI St Vincent System CEO Chad Aduddell at his office to welcome him to our Annual Event. Several of our members work at the CHI System in Little Rock and Hot Springs and we discussed opportunities for partnership to benefit those members.

April 30, 2018

AAPI Governing Body Members along with UAMS Physician members met with UAMS Interim Chancellor Stephanie Gardner to invite her to our Annual Event. We also discussed our current partnership with UAMS HR and Immigration Department in doing our Annual Welcome Dinner in June 2018 for new house staff and faculty.

April 26, 2018

AAPI supported the community talk â€˜Ayurveda-Antiquated or State of the Artâ€ by Prof Rama Jayasundar along with other Indian American organizations in the city.About 50 people attended the lecture and was well received in the community.AAPI Arkansas President Senthil Raghavan presented an honararium to Prof Jayasundar

April 26, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members along with some of the members working at Arkansas Childrens Hospital met with the Hospital CEO Dr. Marcy Doderer at her office, to discuss potential collaboration on various activities that can be mutually beneficial, and invite her to our 10th Anniversary Annual Event

April 24, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members met with the Arkansas Medical Society President, Mr. David Wroten, to discuss potential collaboration on various activities that can be mutually beneficial and especially to discus AMS Tort Reform Initiative. AMS President and Board members were invited to our Annual Event

April 23, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members along with Chair of the Charity Committee met with Lisa School Superintendent Dr. Faith Bogerty and Ms. Luanne Baroni , Principal of Middle School, to discuss our Scholarship activities and invited them to our Annual Event

April 21, 2018

AAPI President Elect Dr. Aravind Rao and VP Membership Dr. Chandra Lingisetty presented awards to winners at the Annual Friends of India Table Tennis Tournament, which was supported and cosponsored by AAPI

April 18, 2018

AAPI Arkansas is committed to improving the health and healthcare of the Indian Americans in the state. To accomplish that goal we launched our new Community Health Initiative this year on our 10th Anniversary. As a part of the initiative. we are doing disease awareness lectures by our own Physican members who are subject matter experts. First of the series was â€˜Diabetes in Indian Americansâ€™ conducted by Dr. Nidhi Jain, Dr. Madusudhan Budhraja and Dr. Balamurugan Appathurai and moderated by AAPI President Dr. Senthil Raghavan and VP Activities Dr. Naveen Kumar. It was well attended by about 40 Indian Americans.

See below the information that was presented at the lecture

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B61xd6lN4dpVb1hUZUpsdUpSMzFwUUtpTnVqX1ZvQXE3Z2ow

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Z9Mohe1LH7_D5WNVXfzJPqGAqfXU0C-Y

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_4BozNkWGZyU2tBZiqGjx8ZXREuhY0xx

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CkU4xlJ6EXP5romt9W5ghfEpeFzCIZ8o

April 16, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members along with some of the members working at Central Arkansas Veteran Health System Hospital met with the Hospital Medical Director Dr. Margie Scott at her office, to discuss potential collaboration on various activities that can be mutually beneficial including recruitment, and orientation of new trainees/faculty

April 11, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members met with the Arkansas Hospital Association CEO Mr. Bo Ryall and VP Quality and Safety Ms. Pamela Brown , to discuss potential collaboration and invited them to our Annual Event

April 9, 2018

AAPI Arkansas Governing Body members met with Executive Director of Arkansas State Medical Board Ms. Karen Whatley, to discuss potential collaboration to help with our membership drive and engagement activities

March 28, 2018

AAPI Arkansas is proud to be a supporter of Little Rock Police Department since 2015. AAPI Arkansas presented a donation of $5000 to Little Rock Police Department Foundation on March 28, 2018 at their Annual Fundraiser breakfast

March 3, 2018

AAPI Arkansas is proud to be a big supporter of Bollywood Nights benefitting Harmony Health Clinic. We donated $4000 to support the mission of Harmony clinic in providing free healthcare to the underserved

AAPI Arkansas Contributes $32,000 Towards Nepal Earthquake Relief Funds

After the recent major earthquake disaster in Nepal, your organization, AAPI Arkansas took an immediate and unprecedented fund raising effort to help the earthquake victims. With tremendous support and generous donations from the members, nonmembers, as well as several contributions from the local community we were able to raise a total of $32,000 For the purpose of transparency to all our members, I am enclosing the details of all the donors and where the money is being sent. Please click here to see the donor details. AAPI Arkansas being a 503(c) (3), all your donations are tax deductible and by now you must have received the confirmation letter of your donations. If you have not received the letter, please contact us. To make sure, your dollar is efficiently utilized to help quake victims, the executive committee after review of all the details and input from us, has decided to send the money to two different hospitals in Kathmandu, Nepal who are engaged in providing medical care for the earthquake victims.

USD 27,000 Is being sent to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Kathmandu Nepal. This is a tertiary care not for profit public institution, 440 bed University hospital with over 300 faculties, many residents, and fellows and is one of the major hospital in Kathmandu involved in the forefront of taking care of the earthquake victims from around the country. We believe that the money sent here will be appropriately utilized. The website for this hospital is teachinghospital.org

USD 5,000 is being sent to Hospital and Rehabilitation center for disabled children (HRDC), Kathmandu, Nepal. This is a not for profit hospital with 10 physicians and actively involved in taking care of the disabled children with the needed surgery and rehabilitation with an outstanding appreciation for the job they do. We believe that the money sent here will be appropriately used for the quake victims. The website for this hospital is hrdcnepal.org

September 20, 2014. Annual Meeting was a huge success...

AAPI Arkansas Annual Meeting 2014 began with Dr. Abdullah Mubarak's speech on Hepatitis C followed by a lecture by the Director of the Arkansas Department of Health Dr. Nate Smith on Public Health in Arkansas. Our Chief Guests Dr. Joseph H. Bates, Dr. Joseph Beck also graced the occasion and inspired our members with their presence. Our 2014 President Dr. Naveen Patil discussed the State of the Association and our 2015 President Dr. Balan Nair laid out plans for the future of the association. The event was attended by about 175 physicians and health care professionals. Our members greatly enjoyed the musical concert by Chakrafonics group. We would like to thank our exhibitors and 2014 AAPI Arkansas office bearers and committee members for organizing the event.

September 24, 2011. Fall Meeting 2011 was a grand success...

AAPI Arkansas Fall Meeting 2011 was a grand success. The meeting began with Dr. Puru Thapa's speech on Depression followed by a lecture by Dr. Naveen Patil on Latent Tuberculosis. Our Chief Guests Honorable Senator Mark Pryor and AAPI USA Vice President Dr. Jayesh Shah also graced the occasion and inspired our members with their speech. Our President Dr. Ladly Abraham discussed the State of the Association and laid out plans for the future of the association. We would like to thank our special guest Mr. David Delie, President of Wellspun for his presence. The event was attended by about 110 physician members. Our members greatly enjoyed the muscial concert by Omkar and his group. We thank all the committee and members who worked to put this event together. Please call us or email us if you have any questions or comments.

June 21, 2011. AAPI (Arkansas) booth at UAMS Housestaff orientation

AAPI (Arkansas) Governing Body members Dr. Sara Tariq (President-Elect) and Dr. Naveen Patil (Secretary) staffed a booth at the UAMS Housestaff orientation week on June 21, 2011. Several new residents and fellows of Indian Origin visited the booth and learned about the organization and the services we provide.

December 10,2010. AAPI (Arkansas) featured in AAPI USA Journal

AAPI (Arkansas) Fall Meeting 2010 honored by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe and First Lady Ginger Beebe has been featured in National AAPI Journal Winter 2010-11 Edition. Thanks to our secretary Dr. Naveen Patil for wiritng the article. Please use the link below to view the journal and refer to page 53 for the article. AAPI USA Journal Winter 2010-11

October 28, 2010. Indian Physicians make the Arkansas Times Arkansas' Best Doctors 2010 list

AAPI (Arkansas) congratulates the following Indian Physicians for making the Arkansas Times Best Doctors 2010 list in their respective specialty. The doctors in the list were nominated by fellow physicians through online and mail survey conducted by Arkansas Times. Dr. Rajesh Sachdeva (Cardiology) Dr. Ritu Sachdeva (Cardiology) Dr. Ladly Abraham (Pulmonology) -our 2010-11 President-Elect Dr. Sudhir Shah (Nephrology) Please click the link below for further detailsArkansas Times Best Doctors 2010

September 25, 2010. AAPI (Arkansas) Fall Meeting 2010

AAPI (Arkansas) Fall Meeting 2010 was one of our best events so far. We had a record 150 physician members attend the event. Our Guest of Honor, The Honorable Governor Mike Beebe gave an inspiring speech emphasizing impact of the Indian Physicians on health care in the state. First Lady Ginger Beebe also joined us and enjoyed the Indian cuisine and the entertainment show after the program. We are grateful to have them at the event. AAPI (Arkansas) honored our co-founders Dr. Jayesh Shah, Dr. Narendar Gorukanti and Dr. Simon Abraham and the members who made it to the "Top Physicians 2010" list published by Arkansas Life Magazine; Dr. Sara Tariq, Dr. Kamal Patel and Dr. Anil Badhwar. AAPI (Arkansas) donated $1000 each to the community organizations, Dorca's House and Autism Speaks to fulfill our continued commitment to charitable activities. Clinical lecture was given Dr. Sudhir Shah, Professor and Director of Nephrology, UAMS, about Acid-Base disorders and we also had Mr. James Renk, President, National Bank of Arkansas speak about the benefits they offer to our members. We are very excited about the growth and success of our organization. We strongly urge you to continue to be a part of this organization.

June 26, 2010. New Residents/Fellows Welcome Party

AAPI (Arkansas) had a welcome party for the Indian Physicians who will be starting their residencies and fellowships in July 2010 in UAMS. The event was held at our President Dr. Govindarajan's residence. Several residents departments including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Radiology attended the event with their family and had a chance to network with several committee members who attended the event with their family. We are planning to have similar welcome party every summer.

April 11, 2010. BAPS Temple Health Fair

AAPI (Arkansas) participated in Health fair for Indians organized by and at the BAPS Temple in North Little Rock. We provided routine Health care and preventive care counseling to several Indian residents residing in Arkansas. We look forward to organizing and conducting more Health fairs like that to promote the health of all the residents in the state. We urge our members to come forward and support us in this cause.

April 17, 2010. Spring Meeting 2010 was a great success

AAPI (Arkansas) Spring meeting 2010 was a successful event. We had about 140 attendees at the event including 80 physician members, and 10 medical students. There were 15 new members who joined the organization. The meeting started with Cancer Screening speech by Dr. Rangaswamy Govindarajan. Our Guest of Honor, Mayor Mark Stodola then gave a wonderful speech about the importance of our organization, and new services offered by LR city for the residents. Our president Dr. Narendar Gorukanti then presented a hand carved elephant statue as a souvenir to the Mayor. Dr. Naveen Patil gave a brief presentation on our charity donation in India, followed by business meeting by Dr. Senthil Raghavan. Our president then conducted the committee elections for 2010-11. We had delicious south indian dinner catered by Woodlands from Memphis. Some of our members kids performed after the dinner including Sajal, Sreecharan and Divya. Dr. Ladly Abraham did an amazing job being the host of the event. We had several drug sponsors and also a boutique sponsor from dallas who were present at the event. AAPI (Arkansas) would like to thank all the members and sponsors for making the event successful

March 28, 2010. Charity work in India

AAPI (Arkansas) has donated 4 High Speed Ultrasonic Nebulizers, 1 Pulse oximeter and 240 cans of Pulmodose Nutrition Supplies to SDS TB Sanatorium and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bangalore, India. Dr. Naveen Patil with AAPI (Arkansas) directly worked with Dr. Sashidhar Buggi, who is the Director of TB sanatorium to assess needs and coordinate the procurement and dissemination of the donated supplies. The TB Sanatorium has more needs including safe and hygienic water supply. AAPI (Arkansas) is accepting donation to install water purifiers in the hospital. If you are interested in donating contact us by email. AAPI (Arkansas) will continue to look forward to avenues to donate to the needy institutions in India to accomplish our goal of improving health care in India.

November 17, 2009. AAPI (Arkansas) volunteered to give Flu shots to Indians at BAPS Temple

AAPI members were present at the BAPS Temple in Little Rock on November 16, 2009 and gave Seasonal Flu shots to Indians.

November 2009, Fall Meeting '09 was one of the best events we had so far...

Our Fall Meeting had a great turnout. We had about 80 physician members participate with their spouses and kids. We also had 11 sponsors. Attendees found the speeches by Dr. Patil on H1N1 influenza and Mr. Chacko on Financial Planning very useful. We had exciting time with Jeopardy by Dr. Kharod followed by exceptional DJ and dance organized by Dr. Bharany. We look forward to entertaining all members in our upcoming events.

October 2009, AAPI (Arkansas) is proud to announce its newly redesigned website.

The website has a lot of information about our activities and events. We have also made it very interactive and we have member-only pages with important information like our financial status and Member directory. Please read through all the information, sign up in the website and leave us your comments.

October 2009, AAPI (USA) President Dr. Vinod K. Shah meets with President Barack Obama in Washington.

Dr. Vinod Shah pleaded with President Obama for increased residency slots for medical graduates while extending AAPI's support to his healthcare reforms. Presenting a letter on behalf of AAPI in a stylishly prepared book containing Quotes by President Obama and rare photos of him, some of which were shot by Dr. Shah, Dr. Shah explained on behalf of AAPI, being a U.S. citizen and sharing kinship with 2.8 million Indians in the US - 60,000 of whom are medical professionals - he would like to express great pleasure and profound gratitude for providing genuine leadership at such a crucial moment in the history of the nation. Dr. Shah was accompanied by Congressman Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader who introduced Dr. Shah as president of AAPI and his close friend. Dr. Shah also invited President Obama as a chief guest to the annual convention of AAPI June 23-26, 2010 in Washington.

May 2009, SPRING SUMMIT '09 WAS A BIG SUCCESS...

Spring Summit '09 was the ?rst event for AAPI (Arkansas) in the year 2009 and it turned out to be a big success. Indian Physicians from all over the state participated along with their families and enjoyed the event. There were physicians from Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, Camden, Marion, and Little Rock. About 30 new members joined the organization during the event. It was a great opportunity for all the Indian Physicians to interact and get to know each other.