President's End of Year Review (May 13, 2008)

Snehal Desai, MD

Hello, my name is Snehal Desai and I am the current president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin – Medical Student, Resident and Fellows Section. I would like to provide you with an update of MSRF activities as today marks one year of my term.  As you may know, my term exceeded a full year because of the way conventions were arranged. Therefore, myself and the board will focus on convention related issues for until June 28, 2008, at which point my term will finish. This has been an outstanding year thanks to  the help of my dedicated board members-we have made great strides as a section of AAPI and am proud of our accomplishments. The yearly status on our current projects is as follows:

Membership recruitment/chapter development: AAPI-MSRF has hosting professional networking events across the US in the following cities: New York City, Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, Washington DC, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Chicago. These networking events have been well-attended and generated  enthusiasm to form local chapters. As as a result of this nationwide recrutment drive, AAPI-MSRF has expanded by 1875 new members (a 23% increase since May of 2007).

Mentorship database: AAPI-MSRF launched a new web-based mentorship database aimed at facilitating networking among our members. Over 2000 profiles have been created on the system including medical students, residents/fellows, and young physicians. This database enables our members to interact with each other to setup  away rotations, collaborate about potential research opportunities, and ultimately enhance residency/fellowship matching. Additionally, an anonymous online messaging system has been developed that allows messages to be sent among registered members without revealing e-mail addresses.

International Medical Graduate (IMG) Support: AAPI-MSRF has finished contacting individual hospitals and academic centers to build an externship database. The online database will be available on June 1, 2008 in the members section of our website. The goal of this project is to provide resources for international medical graduates seeking rotations and residencies in the United States.  Additionally, AAPI and  St. Georges University (Grenada) worked together to form an academic scholarship program (Scholarship information in AAPI Journal).

National Service Project: This year's service project is focused on educating South Asians about Bone Marrow donation. This project is a joint-venture between AAPI-MSRF and South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters (SAMAR). We have developed a brochure that educates the South Asian community on the need to donate, the process of donation, and the importance of responding once a match is made. In order to increase our distribution within the South Asian community, this brochure will be translated in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Bengali in the following year. At each of our networking events, we have conducted a bone marrow drive and goal is for local chapters to continue these effort throughout the year. Also, the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), in conjunction with AAPI-MSRF, is proud to sponsor two $1000 scholarships for community outreach aimed at raising awareness about the donor program. 

Be The Change Day: On October 6, 2007, six flagship cities with established local chapters of AAPI-MSRF participated in Be the Change Day, an annual national day of community service hosted by SAALT (South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow). This event honored individuals and community groups who believe in the values espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders who have devoted their lives to public service and civic engagement. MSRF members volunteered by conducting health fairs in various citiies. Members of the community were educated on the health risks and screened for high blood pressure and diabetes. In addition, a women's health brochure was distributed that outlined the risks of cervical, breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer in the South Asian community. With the help of SAMAR, a bone marrow drive was held in conjunction with the day's activities. Over 1000 individuals benefited from the free health services provided by AAPI.

Legislative Day: This year AAPI held two legislative days (September 26, 2007 and April 23, 2008).  AAPI-MSRF was well represented and spent a full day on Capitol Hill supporting a platform that consisted of maintaining 20/220 medical school loan deferment pathway, reforming IMG visa policies, increasing residency/medical student positions nationwide, and protecting physician reimbursements. 

International Meetings: AAPI-MSRF sent delegates to the inaugural Indo-US Healthcare Summit held in New Delhi on December 14 & 15, 2007 and Pravati Bharti Divyas in New Delhi on January 7-8, 2008.  AAPI attended private meetings with Indian Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, President Mrs. Pratibha Patil, Health Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, and several additional leaders of India who all consistently praised AAPI's work back in the USA as well as in India. (Read More in AAPI Journal)

AAPI Women's Healthcare Summit: For the first time in AAPI's quarter- century long history, a healthcare summit was held that was devoted exclusively to the health concerns affecting women.  This summit was held in Houston, TX on March 1st, 2008 and was focused on educating both physicians and the community at large. Women's health topics that were addressed included diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental health, cancer, and post-menopausal issue. Additionally, this summit marked the first time in AAPI history that a national meeting was chaired by MSRF.

Pharmaceutical Industry: I have had the privilege to meet with Worldwide leadership of both Pfizer (August 19, 2007) and Johnson & Johnson (May 7, 2008).  These companies and others have provided tremendous support to both AAPI and AAPI-MSRF this year.  I am working with the industry to fund an India fellowship in both Tuberculosis and Diabetes.  The interest and response from these companies for these efforts has been quite favorable.

Snehal Desai, MD
Past-President, Houston AAPI-MSRF
President, National AAPI-MSRF
Radiation Oncology Resident
Baylor College of Medicine