President Trump to appoint Indian-American to important post

- ADVERTISEMENT -

President Donald Trump announced his intention to appoint Dr. Vijayalakshmi Appareddy of Chattanooga, Tennessee to be a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities for the remainder of the two year term expiring May 11, 2019. The White House made the announcement March 30.

Dr. Appareddy has served in previous administrations as well. She is a psychiatrist with a medical degree from Osmania Medical College, NTR University of Health Sciences, Hyderabad, where she graduated with high honors and several awards, including four gold medals, the the American Telugu Association (ATA) says on its website.  She came to the U.S. in 1983.

According to ATA, Dr. Appareddy became the first Indian American woman to be appointed to a presidential commission in the history of the United States when former President George W. Bush selected her to be on the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation (PCMR), a nineteen member advisory commission.

Dr. Appareddy also had obstetrics and gynecology training from Osmania. She received a fellowship for child and adult training from Mount Sinai Medical School, New York, and completed her residency in Adult Psychiatry Training Program at Elmhurst General Hospital.  She was also a Chief Fellow in the Child Psychiatry Fellowship Program at Mount Sinai Hospital. According to her Facebook account, Dr. Appareddy is a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist at Tri State Psychiatric Service since 1992.

She is an author, and was a clinical assistant professor of Psychiatry at Brown University Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, and also the medical director of the residential unit of Columbia Valley Hospital, Chattanooga, TN.

She has been involved with numerous community organizations as well as professional associations, including the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), and the American Medical Association.