Author: MAMCOAANA Webmaster

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