Saeed, Author at Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America

AKUAANA Hajj 2026 packages

August 21, 2025 By Saeed

Dear AKUAANA family,

AKUAANA is proud to collaborate with Universal Brothers (Pvt Ltd), and offer 5% discount on their Hajj 2026 packages on Pakistani passports to AKUAANA members and their immediate family members. AKU alumni across the globe, including those living in North America, UK and Pakistan, are eligible for the discount.

Please note that to receive the 5% discount on all Hajj packages, this Hajj registration form needs to be filled out.

Fields with a red asterisk are required fields, such as name of pilgrim, next of kin
In the Company’s Name / Organization field, please enter ‘AKUAANA’
Home address and CNIC/NICOP/Pakistani Passport number are optional

The Pakistani government is ensuring early enrollment due to last year’s Saudi / Hajj visa issues. There are more than 25 packages available to choose from, through Universal Brothers. After deliberations, these preferred packages with various price ranges and options were selected for AKU alumni. The enrollment period is from August 25, 2025 through September 25, 2025 with confirmed spots, and afterwards subject to availability.

On behalf of the AKUAANA Executive Council, have a safe and spiritual journey.

AKU Alumni Association of North America Inaugural Meeting and Gala, 2025

June 22, 2025 By Saeed

Dear Alumni,

The AKUAANA Inaugural Meeting and Gala, 2025 is taking place from September 19-21, 2025 in Houston, Texas at Marriott Sugar Land.

With over 1000 AKUMC alumni in practice in USA, the three-day event is expected to be a large, first-of-its-kind event with attendance by physicians from not only North America, but also overseas international graduates and practicing physicians with their families. The meeting will include academic sessions, networking events, a formal gala, and wellness activities.

Alumni interested in attending this exciting event can register here.

For those interested in sponsoring the event, further details can be found on the event sponsorship page.

President, AKUAANA: Faisal Wasi
Meeting Chair: Mirwat Sami
Meeting Co-Chair: Nooruddin Punjwani

Soliciting Feedback regarding Proposed Amendments to the AKUAANA Constitution and Bylaws, 2024

May 6, 2024 By Saeed

Dear AKUAANA Members,

As the Executive Council of AKUAANA, we are requesting the approval of the revised Constitution and Bylaws of AKUAANA reflecting the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Aga Khan University signed on February 4th, 2023.

The Executive Council has unanimously approved these revised Constitution and Bylaws of AKUAANA. The revisions were deliberated upon and incorporated with unanimous recommendations from the Constitution and Bylaws (CABL) committee, chaired by Dr Atif Shafqat ’93 and Board of Advisors (BOA), chaired by Dr. Faisal Qureshi ’93. The Executive Council sincerely appreciates their active participation and is also very thankful to Dr Shafqat’s and Dr Qureshi’s input along with that of all other members of the CABL and BOA for their advice and expert input during this process.

Primarily the main objectives of the proposed revisions are to:

create an alumni association that partners with our Alma Mater, The Aga Khan University to help promote the collaborative vision, mission and objectives in North America
AKU will provide operational and administrative assistance to AKUAANA
AKU alumni who reside in North America will automatically become members of AKUAANA
AKUAANA will create autonomous regional chapters under the umbrella of AKUAANA
AKUAANA will become a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and will also continue to work with the Aga Khan Foundation USA to promote the welfare of the alumni

Please review the revised CABL and we aim to get your vote for approval on July 5th, 2024, at the Alumni Annual Meeting. It will also be shared via Facebook and on email. Your participation is essential in building our Alumni Association.

Regards,

Executive Council, AKUAANA
Faisal Wasi, President | president@akuaana.org
Hina Hussain, Secretary | secretary@akuaana.org
Aqueel Hussain Pabaney, Treasurer | treasurer@akuaana.org
Abdul Waheed, Immediate Past President

Dr. Bakht Roshan nominated for ‘Public Health Champion Award’ by State of California’s Madera County

April 19, 2021 By Saeed

Dr. Bakht Roshan is a graduate of AKU Class of 2000 and an Infectious Disease specialist affiliated with Madera Commonity Hospital (MCH), Madera, California. In order to prepare for the COVID-19 surge, MCH formed a committee which was led by Dr. Roshan. This committee remained instrumental against challenges of COVID-19. Dr. Roshan also spearheaded the efforts to secure, promote, and prescribe monoclonal antibody treatment to COVID-19 patients. In recognition of Dr. Roshan’s exemplary leadership for combating the COVID-19 pandemic, Madera Department of Public Health has selected Dr. Roshan for the esteemed “Public Health Champion Award”.

Addressing the Board of Supervisors of Madera County, Dr. Roshan acknowledged the support from his family, the administration of MCH, Madera Department of Public Health, and his fellow physicians serving on the MCH COVID-19 committee.

Dr. Roshan and other AKU alumni continue to make us all proud of their wonderful achievements.

Dr. Tahseen Mozaffar wins prestigious NIH grant

April 11, 2021 By Saeed

Dear AKUAANA Family:

One of our own has made us immensely proud yet again.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has awarded a 5-year, $4.2 million grant to study sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM), which affects aging adults causing asymmetric muscle weakness and severe disability, to Tahseen Mozaffar, MD, an alumnus from the AKU Class of 1989. Dr Mozaffar is a lifetime member and past president of AKUAANA, and currently a professor of neurology, orthopaedic surgery, and pathology and laboratory medicine, and director of the Division of Neuromuscular Disorders and the UCI-MDA ALS and Neuromuscular Center at University of California Irvine’s School of Medicine. Dr. Mozaffar was on faculty at AKU from 1997-2000, and has been on faculty at UC Irvine since 2000.

sIBM is currently untreatable and poorly understood and this research project aims to provide a detailed characterization of sIBM disease progression over a two-year period and explore biomarkers associated with the disease, along with their influence on disease behavior and progression. This study will be the largest of its kind, enrolling 150 subjects, with a planned two-year follow up, the longest duration to date. This funding will enable to conduct the observational study needed to study the disease phenotype, explore factors that influence disease progression and behavior, and ultimately direct future clinical trials designed to uncover potential treatments. Dr. Mozaffar is one of the international leaders in translational and clinical research in rare and ultrarare neuromuscular disorders, and advises the NIH, non-profit disease foundations, and many pharmaceutical companies on translational research in these diseases.

Please join AKUAANA in congratulating Dr. Tahseen Mozaffar on this amazing feat.

Dr. Nushmia Zia Khokhar appointed to Umoja Biopharma as Chief Medical Officer

April 10, 2021 By Saeed

Dr. Nushmia Zia Khokhar, from the Class of 1997, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer of Umoja Biopharma, a biotechnology company based in Seattle, WA.

Dr. Khokhar is an accomplished oncologist who has spent a significant portion of her career overseeing the transition of novel cancer therapeutics from discovery to clinical development. Prior to joining Umoja, Dr. Khokhar was the Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development at Autolus therapeutics where she played a critical role in advancing the company’s autologous T-cell products and clinical programs. She also held numerous roles at Janssen Oncology, leading several successful clinical trials, directing the Phase 3 registration trial of Yondelis in soft tissue sarcomas, and serving as the Global Clinical Leader for the breakthrough therapy daratumumab (Darzalex) for hematologic cancers. Dr. Khokhar completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with a focus on pharmacology and molecular therapeutics. She did her residency in Internal Medicine at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. prior to completing a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.

Umoja Biopharma is advancing a new approach to immunotherapy by retooling a patient’s immune system powered by an integrated in vivo cellular immunotherapy platform. Dr. Khokar aspires to harness a powerful immune response in the body to directly, safely, and controllably address cancer.

AKUAANA would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Nushmia Zia Khokhar and wish her continued success.

AKU Alumnus Dr. Adeel Butt appointed to the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Health, Pakistan

April 4, 2021 By Saeed

Dear Alumni:

It is with great pleasure that we share with you the news of the appointment of Dr. Adeel Butt, Class of 1990, to the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Health in Pakistan. The Board of Governors is entrusted with the authority to oversee the governance, operations and mission of one of the most prestigious institutions in Pakistan. The members of the Board of Governors are appointed through a cabinet decision approved by the Prime Minister through the framework laid out in the Presidential Ordinance No. XVIII of 2020 to re-organize the National Institute of Health. Dr. Butt is joined by two other esteemed AKU Faculty members, Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta and Dr. Asim Beg on the NIH Board.

This appointment affirms the commitment of the Government of Pakistan towards improvement of public health and research in the country. It also highlights the key role AKUMC Alumni and Faculty are playing in shaping the future of healthcare in Pakistan through their dedicated volunteer work.

Dr. Adeel Butt is a life member of AKUAANA and APPNA and has been a pioneer of numerous programs and initiatives in APPNA. He was the main force behind The Aga Khan University Medical College Alumni Association of North America joining APPNA and served as AKUAANA’s inaugural president on the APPNA Executive Council. Over the last 23 years, Dr. Butt has chaired numerous APPNA Committees including the Communications Committee as its inaugural chair, Membership Committee and the Research, Education and Scientific Affairs (RESA) Committee. In fact, he has chaired the RESA Committee for a record 7 years and is also serving as its current chair.

Dr. Adeel Butt is listed among the world’s top 2% most influential scientists in the prestigious peer-reviewed “Stanford List”. He is also a Fulbright Scholar, Yale-Johnson and Johnson Scholar in International Health, a National Talent Pool Scholar, IDSA Training Faculty Scholar, and the recipient of the US National Institutes of Health Career Development Award, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) Excellence in Research Award, HMC Qatar Excellence in Health Services Research Award, Pakistan Society of Hepatology’s Distinguished Academician Award and multiple other national and international awards. Prof. Butt has lectured extensively around the world as a visiting professor and has published over 195 peer reviewed papers with more than 15 papers on COVID-19 and its impact.

We wish the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Health and Dr. Butt success and assure AKUAANA’s support to all activities and programs that will improve the health of the Nation.

Regards,

Faisal H. Cheema
President | AKUAANA

On behalf of AKUAANA EC [President: Faisal Cheema | Secretary: Abdul Waheed | Treasurer: Tauseef ur Rehman | Immediate Past President: Namirah Jamshed | Ex-Officio Member: Abdul Basit Saeed]

AKU Alumnus Dr. Khaver Kirmani joins Methodist Children’s Hospital and Women’s Services as Chief Medical Officer

April 2, 2021 By Saeed

Dr Khaver Kirmani, from the Class of 1993, has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer for Methodist Children’s Hospital and Women’s Services, San Antonio, TX.

He joins from Arizona, where he served as a practicing Neonatologist for more than 25 years and as the Chief of Pediatrics at Banner Children’s at Desert for the last four years. He engaged in targeted quality and process improvement projects, as well as patient safety improvement processes. He led his teams to improve inpatient length of stay and decrease ventilator date in Pediatric ICU. Additionally, he guided and implemented a physician ordered-respiratory care therapist driven inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) protocol in the NICU which resulted in a 78% decreased utilization of iNO. During this time, he also completed his MBA and Masters in Leadership.

Dr. Kirmani is now transitioning to Executive Physician Leadership to affect healthcare quality, patient safety and process improvement more broadly, rather than one patient at a time. He has experience with various leadership roles and nonprofit organizations and has worked alongside national organizations and the state legislators to improve regulations and bills affecting the care of pregnant women and newborns.

Congratulations to Dr Kirmani, and we wish you the very best with your new role!

Regards,

Faisal H. Cheema
President | AKUAANA

On behalf of AKUAANA EC [President: Faisal Cheema | Secretary: Abdul Waheed | Treasurer: Tauseef ur Rehman | Immediate Past President: Namirah Jamshed | Ex-Officio Member: Abdul Basit Saeed]

AKUAANA announces Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy – Commitment to Raising Awareness & Supporting AKU Alumni

March 17, 2021 By Saeed

Dear Alumni:

By now, you may have heard the unfortunate news about Dr. Azam Ali, an alumnus of AKU Class of 1988 and one of the top ophthalmologists in Pakistan who became a target of belligerent violence (Video Links one and two).

Joining hands with APPNA, a joint statement was issued by AKUAANA in this regard to raise the voice and condemn such violence against healthcare professionals. We are grateful to APPNA’s President, an alumnus of AKU Class of 1999, Dr. Rizwan Khalid, for his prompt action. Several other letters and communications are underway in this regard.

Since addressing such matters requires coordination of efforts, thus to achieve optimum results in an efficient manner, the AKUAANA Executive Council (EC) has decided to set up an Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy, which will remain dedicated to matters of social justice that are close to the heart of membership of AKUAANA. This ad hoc committee will present its report during the AKUAANA Annual Meeting (July 2021) and thereafter with mutual consultation, its status may be changed from an ad hoc committee to a permanent standing committee within AKUAANA, with the composition of its members changing from time to time. Dr. Syed H. Jafri has kindly agreed to Chair this ad hoc committee while Dr. Syed Bakhtiyar will serve as Co-Chair.

On behalf of AKUAANA EC, I am announcing the AKUAANA Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy as follows:

AKUAANA Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy, 2021
Members
Name	Class
Syed H. Jafri	2001	Chair
Syed Shahyan Bakhtiyar	2016	Co-Chair
Sohail Noor	1992
Lara Zuberi	2000
Sumbul Ali	2005
Volunteers
Farwa Ayub	2016
Romesa Ibrahim	2016
Abdul Basit Saeed	2007

The AKUAANA EC will not only be a part of this ad hoc committee but shall remain committed to offering all the support this Committee may need in raising the voice and fulfilling all other goals it sets surrounding any issue involving our alumni.

If you have a passion for social justice and would like to volunteer your valuable time to such causes, please reach out to the Chair of Ad Hoc Committee on Advocacy, Dr. Jafri, at shrjafri@hotmail.com.

Regards,

Faisal H. Cheema
President | AKUAANA

On behalf of AKUAANA EC [President: Faisal Cheema | Secretary: Abdul Waheed | Treasurer: Tauseef ur Rehman | Immediate Past President: Namirah Jamshed | Ex-Officio Member: Abdul Basit Saeed]

Joint statement by AKUAANA and APPNA regarding recent violence against healthcare professionals in Pakistan

March 14, 2021 By Saeed

APPNA and AKUAANA strongly condemn the recent violence perpetrated against Dr Shahnila and Dr. Azam Ali at Liaquat National Hospital.

Dr. Azam Ali is a well-respected Ophthalmologist in Karachi. A graduate of AKU, he has trained and taught scores of medical students, residents and fellows. This heinous and abominable act against such highly respected physicians cannot simply be ignored. We demand an immediate investigation into the incident and that those involved be immediately held accountable. We also request the Provincial and Federal Governments to ensure a safe working environment for healthcare professionals across Sindh and Pakistan.

Given a long history of targeted violence against healthcare professionals in Pakistan, we strongly demand that concrete steps be taken towards upholding the rights of physicians, and providing the security required to practice medicine with diligence and expertise, and without fear of harassment and threat to life.

Faisal Cheema, MD
President, AKUAANA

Rizwan Khalid, MD
President, APPNA

Joint statement by APPNA and AKUAANA against violence

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