M. Masood Akbar, M.D. KE 1973
President KEMCAANA, 2010

Dear Kemcolians,

KEMCAANA is a vibrant, fraternal organization serving its membership in the US as well as the current students at KEMU for the last 35 years. This year marks a great milestone in the history of KEMU since the institution is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary. .

Over the years incredible people who to this day remain committed to its cause and maintain its core values have served KEMCAANA. It is our desire to carry on this mission of our predecessors and continue the progress of KEMCAANA. Dr. Haseeb as president worked very hard last year in accomplishing several goals we had set including finalizing the new bylaws and preparing a new logo and a mission statement. This year we are very blessed to have an outstanding team of officers and committee chairs. I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with.

I would like to give you midyear update of our progress.

In March, we held our 5th Annual KEMCAANA Retreat in Baltimore, Maryland, which was one of the most successful retreats to date. Amongst other activities, the highlight of the retreat was the development of a task force assigned to come up with suggestions in 3 areas. These include Institution Building, Projects in Pakistan as well as Projects in the US. I will request all of you to actively engage in any of these committees of your choice so that we may carry out this noble deed with even greater success.

Over the years, we have undertaken several important initiatives. Our scholarship program has been one of the most successful initiatives. I am pleased to inform you that this year we have expanded to 50 scholarships per year. In addition, we have also been able to steadily increase the amount of grant given to the scholarship winners. I am personally very thankful to all the donors and committee members who have contributed to the expansion of this program.

Our computer lab program has been an outstanding project, which has touched the lives of all the students and faculty at KEMU. Currently we have 56 stations in the main computer lab and are planning to expand it to double the number of computer stations, insha-Allah, later this year. In addition, we are providing computers with Internet connections to Boys and Girls Hostels. We are now deliberating on providing Wi-Fi access to all students

KEMCAANA visiting faculty program has worked really well since 2009. We are thankful to Dr. Nasir Siddiqi who did an excellent interventional radiology program at Mayo Hospital, Dr. Asif Masood, a professor of hematology oncology at University of Arkansas, did a 3 day program, Dr. Ghazala Hayatt, professor of neurology at Saint Louis University, did a 2 day program. All of these workshops were very well liked and appreciated by the faculty and house staff. If you wish to visit the Alma Mater as a faculty, please write to us in advance with the proposed area of education.

As you can see, KEMCAANA is deeply involved in providing many academic services in Pakistan. This year we are launching a premier project for students and graduates in the US. A residential facility, Doctor’s House, has been established in Philadelphia. It will be run under auspices of KEMCAANA to facilitate accommodation for young graduates while they are preparing for their exams or traveling to various parts of the country for interviews to seek residency positions. So far this year, 35 young doctors have benefited from this program and 3 of them have been able to obtain residency positions.

We had a very successful Annual Meeting in Dallas on July 2, 2010. It was heartwarming to see the active participation and generosity of all Kemcolians, which helped us to raise a significant amount of funds for various KEMCAANA projects during the Alumni banquet.

There are a lot of projects and noble causes that we can accomplish. Please visit our website to review various programs and sign up to help with any of your choice. Your contributions will be much appreciated by us and future generations of Kemcolians.

I would like to remind you that APPNA will be holding its winter meeting at KEMU as part of the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of KE from Dec. 26 to 29, 2010. Special plans are being made for this great event. I will request all of you to make plans to attend this very momentous occasion.

KEMCAANA is our family. We are here for each other. The greatest gift one can have is the opportunity to help the needy. We will continue to help the most deserving among our alumni and our Alma Mater. I want to thank all Kemcolians for their support and guidance. Long live KEMCAANA.


M. Masood Akbar, M.D.
President, KEMCAANA, 2010
masoodakbar2@gmail.com

President, KEMCAANA, 2009

Dear Kemcolians

Assalam O Alaikum!

On behalf of the Executive council of KEMCAANA, I wish you all a very Happy and a prosperous New year. As the President of the organization, I feel privileged to have a great team working with me both for KE and the membership of KEMCAANA.

A Holiday and Event Calendar is being mailed to the KE Graduates in the US as a new tradition. This will mark the continuation of ideas and projects of the previous leadership along with plans for moving a few steps forward.

Our recent visit to Lahore for the winter meeting of KEMCAANA amidst severe Political and national crisis was a unique experience. We met with the KE VC and Academic council along with the leadership of Punjab Government. I am pleased to inform the Alumni that these meetings proved to be very useful. We found both the KE administration and the Government very appreciative of our support and technical expertise.

KEMCAANA was formally asked to give opinion on various issues including the Mayo Hospital remodeling vs New building. KEMCAANA delegates visited the hospital. We found the hospital buildings unsuitable for repair and therefore suggested reconstruction in phases while maintaining the facade of the hospital and its main entrance with the stairs going on both sides. A five storey Surgical Tower is already under construction in front of the Anatomy Lecture Theater. Our team also made suggestions about some changes in the plans for this new building. All the recommendations will be given formally to the government in writing.

The KEMCAANA delegates also visited the College of Physicians and surgeons of Pakistan and met with the President of the college and had a detailed meeting with the local Regional Directorate. Formal presentation by the college of its FCPS program was presented before the delegates. I am delighted to report that the structure of training for FCPS has markedly improved. We offered our technical expertise in the areas of structured training and future cooperation in development of liaison with the US Universities.

We addressed the concern raised by Young Kemcolians here in the US that American Board Certification is not considered at par with other Certifications like FCPS, MRCP or FRCS. We were assured and shown documentation that this is not the case and PMDC considers the above mentioned certifications as all equal for the purposes of appointments in Medical Institutions.

The CME program held at KE on Dec. 23rd was well attended. The Highlight of our visit to KE this year was the Curriculum Reform Symposium which was a full day event held on Dec. 24th in collaboration with and active participation by KE students and KE faculty. Thanks to the hard work of Mubasher Rana, President KEMCAANA 2008 and Naheed Usmani KE 1980.The main focus was Problem based Teaching and gradually doing away with the current system of examination. The presentations by recent KE grads and KE students highlighted the weaknesses in the current system of medical education. They made some very good suggestions. Asima Ahmad, a medical student from University of Chicago presented her perspective as a student from US. This was complimented by presentations from Naheed Usmani , Assos. Prof. Univ. of Massachusetts and faculty from AKU, Dow University and Shifa Medical School. The President of PMDC was also invited who listened to the suggestions made and was very supportive of the proposed changes. The KE administration has placed a steering Committee that will include 3 Faculty members from US, one faculty member from each Basic science and Clinical departments of KE. It was agreed that begin with semester system should be implemented in the first two years along with clinical exposure for Integreated learning . The entire session of the Colloquium was video recorded and will be presented to the PMDC and KE for their records.

Two Workshops were held Ventilator Management / Acute Respiratory Care workshop was given by Maqbool Arshad, KE 1980 and another one on Vascular Trauma by Hassan Bukhari, KE 1962. Under the patronage of Dr. Bukhari a CME Program was also held for APPNA / Society of Family Physicians.

Further details of the Winter meeting will be soon posted at the website.

The upcoming 4th Annual Retreat will be held in St. Louis. This will be a great opportunity for doing class Reunions. The Strategic sessions will focus on various aspects of support for KE / Mayo and how the membership can get involved in the projects that KEMCAANA is committed to.

I, along with the Executive Council of KEMCANA and the Kemcolians in St. Louis will be eager to host you for a memorable retreat. This will Inshallah be a very productive event for our Organization, the membership and KE in particular.

We Can, We must, We will….. uplift KE and KEMCAANA.

Looking forward to see you in St. Louis.

Warm regards.

M. Haseeb KE 1980
President KEMCAANA 2009
cdhaseeb@msn.com


President's Report 2009

President's Message 2010