Indian-American physicians from Queens and Long Island celebrate 24th Anniversary

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More than 600 physicians and their families as well as special invitees attended the 24th Annual Convention of the Queens/Long Island chapter of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin Nov. 23, in Huntington, Long Island. It was all about “Celebrating 24 years of Excellence.” The event was held at the Huntington Hilton.

The Chief Guest at the event was New York State Comptroller Tom De Napoli.

Five physicians were recognized at the annual convention, including Dr. Sharwan Bagla, Dr. BhuvneshSingh, Dr. Neil Mandava, Dr. Dilip Patel, and posthumously, Dr. Arvind Shah.

Dr. Sudhir Parikh, chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold, was also honored. “Thanks to Dr. Sudhir Parikh for his support,” Dr. Pandya acknowledged..

Famous cricketer Sachin Tendulkar sent a video message giving his best wishes for the convention with three bats for AAPIQLI to raise funds for the many charitable activities and Continuing Medical Education courses the organization sponsors.

President of AAPIQLI Dr. Himanshu Pandya, spoke about these activities over the last one year – the Galapagos Island CME tour this April where 8 hours of classes were held; the Jai Ho Sukhvinder Singh Live In Concert which raised funds for women’s empowerment and lukemia, lymphoma research as well as cardiac diseases among South Asians; The Women’s Affairs Committee which held a mental health seminar, Yoga Under The Stars, and Breast Cancer Awareness Walk in October.

Other activities of AAPIQLI highlighted at the event were the Health Fair, Young Investigators Research Competition for which 45 abstracts were submitted, the Annual CME in November.

“AAPIQLI usually donates our funds raised to charitable organizations,” noted Dr. Pandya, “For instance we are giving two summer scholarships annually for Indian medical students at Hoffstra Medical School, thanks to Dr. Ajay Lodha and Dr. Jagdish Gupta,” he added.

For the successful convention, the credit goes to Dr. Tarun Wasil, convention chair, Dr. Madhu Korrapati, chair, Board of Trustees, and the entire AAPIQLI team, Pandya said.

The entertainment was provided by Bhaven Shastri who kept the crowd engaged till after midnight.

“We got very positive feedback for the entertainment program,” Pandya said.

He also thanked other the National AAPI leaders for coming to the convention – Dr. Suresh Reddy, Dr. Seema Arora, Dr. Ravi Kolli, Dr. Sajani Shah, Dr. Sapna Aggarwal, Dr. Sameer Kapasi, Dr. Amit Chakraborty, Dr. Satish Kathula, Dr. Hemant Patel and Dr. Binod Sinha. “We are also thankful to Dr. Ajay Lodha, Dr. Jagdish Gupta, Dr. Krishan Kumar, and the entire EC (executive committee) for making this happen,” Pandya, adding, “Dr. Raj Bhayani, our incoming president, is dedicated to taking AAPIQLI at new heights. I wish him the best of luck.”

AAPIQLI is the largest chapter of AAPI (Association of Physicians of Indian Origin). It enjoys a strong membership base of about 875 patron members plus several hundred young physicians, including students, residents and fellows of Indian origin residing in the New York and Long Island areas, the organization says.