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.

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]

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.

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

Dr Namirah Jamshed ’96, Associate Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Family and Community Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center has been awarded the Program Development Award for establishing and developing the Care of the Vulnerable Elderly (COVE) program. The award celebrates the innovation and collaboration that are foundational to the success of UT Southwestern Medical Center. It recognizes a group of clinical faculty and staff who have worked together as a team to create, develop, and sustain an innovative program that significantly advances the ability to improve the care provided to patients.

UT Southwestern’s COVE program (Care of the Vulnerable Elderly) was established in 2015 to serve patients ages 65 and older, and provide primary care for patients both at home and in assisted living facilities. These patients are referred by a UTSW clinic because they have difficulty performing daily activities or are challenged to come to their providers’ offices for medical appointments. COVE-provided care also helps alleviate some caregiver burdens.

Started with just 70 patients, the program today delivers care to nearly 350 seniors who live within 10 miles of UT Southwestern’s campus. Care is provided by an interdisciplinary team that includes geriatric-trained physicians, nurse practitioners, a registered nurse, a licensed social worker, and a clinical coordinator.

Proof of the program’s effectiveness is shown in the numbers: a reduction in Emergency Department visits, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits. One analysis indicated that compared to similar patients who did not receive home visits, UT Southwestern COVE patients had 12 percent fewer emergency room visits, nearly 35 percent fewer hospitalizations, almost 17 percent fewer readmissions, and 29 percent fewer specialist visits.

Because of its impressive success, UTSW’s COVE program has been invited to help develop national benchmarks for elder care, one of only nine programs tapped to participate in the effort by the Learning Collaborative for Home-Based Medical Care.

In Dr Namirah’s words, “The COVE team is humbled and honored to receive this award. We aim to provide high-quality patient care to the most vulnerable of our patient population. This requires not only an interdisciplinary approach but also significant collaboration with our specialists and patient caregivers. The program’s success is a reflection of hard work among the team and support from leadership. Central to this success are our patients and caregivers, who trust us with their care and allow us into their homes. The COVE team will continue to work above and beyond to provide the highest-quality care to our patients, as a reflection of the care provided throughout UT Southwestern.”

Source and photo credit: Program Development Award, CenterTimes