Note from Nayan Shah, AAPI Convention Chair: 

President Obama	Federal CTo Aneesh Chopra
Atrium at Day	Former representative Billy Tauzin

We are very excited about our forthcoming convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin at Gaylord National Harbor on June 23 to the 27th of 2010, and have planned a fantastic convention!

In June of 2009, when Dr. Vinod K. Shah took over as President of AAPI, he first called a meeting right in Orlando, Florida with some of his closest friends and confidants; among those in the meeting were his brothers Dr. Umed K. Shah and Dr. Anil K. Shah, his friends, Dr. Dhiren Shah and Avani D. Shah, his son, Amish Shah, and his nephews Vipul Shah and Parag Shah. We all got together in his suite and listened to him articulate so clearly and passionately that this is going to be an exciting opportunity to take part in a great organization, that we have a lot of work in the year ahead of us, and he will need to take a lot of time off from his practice, and for us to look after the patients. This would allow him to concentrate on some of the things which he had thought about, while we need to really work in supporting him, particularly for the convention.

The five specific things he vowed to accomplish:
• To meet with President Obama within his first 90 days to discuss about graduate medical education funding.
• To meet with legislators for Medicare Reimbursement cuts which have been looming over the heads of physicians.
• To energize young physicians to take an active role in AAPI and work towards increasing membership.
• To have AAPI election reform.
• To have a “robust convention.”

After meeting with him and discussing these points, we had a meeting amongst ourselves to think about how we would make an exciting convention. We created our plan based on five themes:

1. Friendship and Camaraderie.
2. Unity in Diversity – A Celebration of India.
3. Public-Private Partnership
4. Our Future Is In Our Hands.
5. Until We Meet Again.

Friendship and Camaraderie
AAPI is like a large family and we felt that we need to have this be the first event. We decided to greet the Executive Committee members, the Board of Trustees, and some of the guests who arrive early on Wednesday evening by inviting them to a cruise on the Potomac with the host committee from our local area. We thought that this would bring people together so we could discuss the next four days - this was our first thought process.

Gaylord National ( day)

The second day we wanted to really bring the best of our culture in unity and diversity. So we really thought on this theme. We again thought about what criteria are needed for a successful convention.

1. Continuous Medical Education. Most physicians go to medical meetings to get an education. So we created a partnership with the industries. We talked to Kristin Guzak of MLI and Lionel Philip of Inside Edge Consulting, to create a needs assessment and apply for industry support for an excellent educational program. I am pleased to inform you that rather than 6 or 8 hours, we will be able to provide 18 hours of CME activity on some of the most critical topics such as prevalence of heart disease among Indians. How do you protect yourself from sudden cardiac death? How do you address the issue of the women’s health? The topics of Diabetes, Hypertension, and Hyperlipidemia were also raised. So we created a rigorous educational program.

2. The second important thing is to build upon our legislative relationships. Being near Washington, DC. we thought that this would be the most appropriate time for us to go to Capitol Hill. We met with the Chief of Staff of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at his home, and discussed about the year’s activities and the convention. At that time we decided to have an event on Capitol Hill. I am pleased to tell you that we will have very prominent people such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House and Senate Majority Leaders, many senators, and the chair of India Caucus and Congressmen to have a legislative conference. We are planning on having 11 busses, where 550 people will travel to Capitol Hill and spend 5 hours in the afternoon to have a genuine dialogue with legislators. This is the first time a convention will take a delegation to Capitol Hill and we are expecting a lot of media coverage for that because Healthcare Reform is such an important issue. We are 100% with our legislators and our President in terms of providing quality, cost effective care based on the use of technology to reduce duplication of services, reduce medical errors and provide the best possible care. America is blessed with the finest institutions, and right in our neighborhood, we have places like Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland and MedStar Health.

Gaylord National Fountain

Gaylord National (night)

Gaylord National Lobby

Governor Martin O Malley

Unity in Diversity – A Celebration of India
When we arrive back at the Gaylord, we will talk about “Unity in Diversity – A Celebration of India”. We all come as first generation individuals from various parts of India, and we want to bring out the best of our cultures. Thursday evening, we will have a Rajasthani folk dance, Gujarati Garba, Punjabi Bhangra, South Indian Kathak and Manipuri. It will be a fantastic show where some of our guests and friends will come and participate in activities highlighting the best of our cultures – although we have different ethnic backgrounds in India, we are all united with one purpose – to practice the best medicine in one of the finest societies in the world. We are blessed with the amount of support we have received.

A Public – Private Partnership

The third theme is “A Public – Private Partnership”. Healthcare Reform was a buzz word and our legislators and President worked very hard in finalizing Healthcare Reform. One of the provisions in Healthcare Reform is an Accountable Care Organization or ACO, where a large group of physicians can come together, create a partnership with an institution, and go to CMS to develop a public – private partnership. To that end, we were fortunate to have Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius accept our invitation to come and meet our gathering on Friday over lunch and speak on public – private partnership. Along with Kathleen Sebelius, we are fortunate to have Federal Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra and Federal Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra speak. We are expecting an enormous crowd to listen to this unique presentation.

We have also developed an excellent relationship with industry leaders and have the strongest support ever from companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronics, Biotronikik, St. Jude, Fortis Healthcare from India, Apollo Healthcare, and Novo Nordisk. Companies which have cutting edge technology and a remarkable commitment to research and development, their principals ,and CEO’s and members will be coming with us and will unveil the monogram which was prepared by Pfizer to address the issue of diversity in healthcare – how the Indian population is vulnerable to metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease, and how we can intervene.

We have invited CEOs of large hospital systems, such as Ken Samet from MedStar Health, and J. Knox Singleton from INOVA, along with many other CEOs from across the country to come and participate in a unique talk on how hospitals and physicians can work together in partnership with state and federal government to promote a proactive care based on prevention rather than treatment offor diseases. We will also have participation from the National Institute of Health in terms of research and how physicians can participate.

As you may or may not know, the AAPI Charitable Foundation is one of the flagship projects within AAPI. We are running 18 clinics in India and 10 clinics in the United States where we provide free medical care for at least 1 million patients every year. In an effort to encourage our youth to continue to participate in charitable activities, we invited Sean Penn to come and give a presentation on his efforts and commitment towards mankind – particularly his part in helping those affected by the terrible earthquake in Haiti, and also his experience with some of the physicians from our organization We are fortunate to have Rajiv Shah, the recent appointee of President Obama to head USAID. Rajiv will talk about how the United States is playing a global role in improving mankind, whether it is in Africa, India, or Pakistan. This will be an extraordinary opportunity for us to meet with someone of our background who is heading one of the most prestigious and committed organizations to improve the well-being of the those outside of the United States.

We will also have Billy Tauzin, the Chairman and CEO of PhRMA. The pharmaceutical industry has been remarkable in its commitment to the betterment of our society. Many physicians may not be aware that a lot of free medications and support are given by pharmaceutical companies. Billy Tauzin will speak about the roles and relationship between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry, and how we can improve the well-being of our society. I met with Billy personally, with Dr. Vinod K. Shah; when we met with him, we were so moved and touched because he speaks with such passion about how he has perceived the healthcare profession. He spoke particularly about the dedication of physicians and how roles can be developed within the pharmaceutical industry.

In addition to the aforementioned guests, we are hoping that astronaut, Sunita Williams, will be there. Meera Shankar, our Indian Ambassador to the United States is doing a remarkable job in Indo-US relations and will be joining us at our convention. We will be recognizing the lifetime achievements of Ambassador Meera Shankar, Sunita Williams, and former AAPI President, Dr. Kalpalatha Guntupalli, who is now president of the American Association of Chest Physicians, an extraordinary achievement by a woman of India. Our first lady, Dr. Ila V. Shah, will also be honored. She has done remarkable work with the Rotary Foundation in doing many projects. Her last project was screening 10,000 females in Kutch, offering over 1,000 surgeries and discovering 46 cancers. Our Women’s Achievements Awards ceremony will be fantastic!

On Saturday night, we will have a Gala Banquet with prestigious guests such as Steny Hoyer. Our AAPI President has met with President Obama personally, and has invited him to join us at what will prove to be the best AAPI convention in its 28 year history! We are hoping that because we are in Washington D.C., President Obama will grace us with his presence at our convention.

We have planned remarkable entertainment activities. Those activities are geared towards the young, old, and middle aged – activities that will entice physicians born and brought up in India and their children.
• Wednesday night we will have the Gohil sisters from London come and sing while we are cruising along the Potomac.
• Thursday night we will have Nayan Rathod & Group bring ethnically diverse melodies with Rajasthani folk dance, Gujarati Garba, Punjabi Bhangra, South Indian Kathak, Manipuri. Also Thursday evening will include melodious Ghazals and Sufis with Anita Singhvi.
• On Friday evening, we will have a remarkable event with Shreya Goshal, who is a fantastic singer and has won many national awards and will mesmerize music lovers.
• Saturday we will have the golden voice of Shankar Mahadevan, who will “rock” the audience! He is a gifted, talented individual who sings old melodies and new songs with a grace you can perceive only by being in the audience and dancing with him.

As you can see, we are excited about this convention and we have worked very, very hard.

Thank you very much.
Nayan Shah, MD AAPI Convention Chair