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AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Task Force calls for unprecedented fundraising for flood victims

September 5, 2017 By Saeed

Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America (AKUAANA) Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund: Let’s make a difference!

Dear alumni and friends,

Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented flooding and its catastrophic aftermath calls for urgent help. Southern Texas is home to approximately 100 AKUMC Alumni. While some AKU Alumni’s homes were flooded and several had to follow orders for mandatory evacuations, other AKU Alumni have already set highest examples of civic duties by opening their homes for friends and assisting other flood victims.

AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Task Force has carefully deliberated the means by which to support and help those who are affected. Alumni directly affected were thankful for our outreach to them. They felt confident that they could cope with the damages and suggested that any fundraising efforts be extended to community in general.

The Task Force has recommended that AKUAANA, with the help of fellow Alumni, offer support to the City of Houston. As the initial phases of disaster recovery continue, this next phase of Community Development will support the local community and provide opportunities for long-term engagement. Mayor Sylvester Turner and County Judge Ed Emmett have established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund that will accept tax-deductible flood relief donations for victims affected by the recent floods. The fund will be housed at the Greater Houston Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity.

We have set an initial goal of $50,000/- – to be raised within 15 days due to the immediate need.

Suggested Minimum Donations

$500 [Practicing Physicians]
$100 [Fellows]
$50 [Residents]

Please note that all donations will be TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

PAYMENT OPTIONS

Credit Card: (Preferred)

Visit: https://ghcf.org/hurricane-relief/
To track our collective effort please MENTION AKUAANA IN THE FUNDRAISING CODE

Check

Write checks to: GREATER HOUSTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
For (MEMO): AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund
Mail to:

AKUAANA
C/O Faisal H. Cheema
1711 Old Spanish Trail, #130
Houston, TX 77054

We are confident and hope that all AKU Alumni will support us in this great opportunity to give back to our fellow citizens of our adopted homeland.

AKUAANA HURRICANE HARVEY TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Current Executive Council: Habib Chotani ‘95, Rehan Khan ‘94, Amber Syed ‘94, Namirah Jamshed ‘96
Incoming Executive Council: Noor Afshan Khan ‘96, Faisal Cheema ‘00 (Houston, TX)
Houston-based AKU Alumni: Abbas Jafri ‘97, Azam Kundi ‘92, Nooruddin Punjwani ‘95, Athar Qureshi ‘96, Homayon Sidiq ‘92
AKUAANA Web Manager: Abdul Basit Saeed ‘07
APPNA Secretary: Rizwan Khalid ‘99

AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Task Force: 08/30/2017 Update

September 1, 2017 By Saeed

Dear alumni and friends,

The AKUANNA Hurricane Harvey Task Force continues to work hard to assist those affected by the flood. Following is an update of our meeting last night which included the Alumni residing in Houston.

PHASE 1 – Assuring safety of, and offering immediate assistance to our alumni

With the assistance of the Houston Alumni, other alumni and AKU, we have identified those who reside in the affected area including Alumni, Fellows and Residents. We are also in the process of identifying any AKU medical students in Houston for electives.

94 Alumni have been identified who live in Houston or surrounding areas. Only 15 AKU alumni remain that we have been unable to contact. At least three Alumni have significant damage to their house. All three are safe, Alhamdulillah.

Alumni in the area continue to provide accommodation for any who need assistance.

PHASE 2 – Medical Volunteering

We are proud of our AKU Alumni who are assisting in rescuing people locally, and providing medical care at the local medical centers.

Additionally, AKU Alumni have volunteered in the local cities to assist with medical care for the evacuees at the Convention Center and others are raising funds through the city and local mosques.

APPNA continues to provide opportunity for volunteering as well for the same purpose.

PHASE 3 – Public Donations

AKU Alumni have donated to multiple organizations to assist with flood relief. With our assistance, APPNA is able to provide food bags for those affected and seeking shelter.

The AKUANNA Hurricane Harvey Task force, with the Houston Alumni’s help, is also identifying any further funding needs for the local community. We will keep you updated regarding this effort.

Thank you to all those who have assisted us in making this happen, especially the alumni in Houston. We are proud of what you do.

Stay Safe.

AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Disaster Task Force

AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Task Force

August 29, 2017 By Saeed

Dear alumni and friends,

Hurricane Harvey has brought devastation to Texas of a magnitude not seen before. It has affected many, including our AKU Alumni and the Pakistani community. As the storm continues, our thoughts are with them and all affected by the hurricane. A large number of people are displaced and seeking shelter in other cities. Hospitals are being evacuated in an effort to keep patients and the vulnerable safe.

The AKUAANA Executive Council had an emergency meeting tonight, which was also attended by the incoming Executive Council. We were also able to get a few Alumni from Houston on the call, including Nooruddin Punjwani (’95), Faisal Cheema (’00), Athar Qureshi (’96) and Rizwan Khalid (’99). An AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Task Force has been formed on an urgent basis, which is in communication with alumni in the affected areas around the clock, and are working on supporting our alumni who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey. The Task Force has formulated a working plan, divided into two phases.

PHASE 1 – Assuring safety of, and offering immediate assistance to our alumni

AKUAANA’s immediate response is to make sure our alumni are safe and to help them in any way possible in this difficult situation. AKU Alumni residing in Houston have volunteered in helping other AKU alumni with immediate relief including accommodation. Nooruddin Punjwani ’95, Athar Qureshi ’96, Faisal Cheema ’00 have volunteered to help in this regard. Any AKU alumni in need of help or who would like to volunteer, please contact me directly at president@akuaana.org

We are also developing a list of all the AKU alumni in Houston and surrounding areas. We would greatly appreciate if alumni living in the affected areas who get our message to please reach out to us with their information and also give information of other alumni in their area. This will help AKUAANA’s current efforts to reach out to our alumni by calling them individually, and making sure that they are safe or whether they need help and assistance.

PHASE 2 – Medical Volunteering

Some of us may want to participate in medical volunteering. For those who do, one option available to us is through APPNA via their Medical Corp Volunteer Program which may include medical assistance or distribution of goods etc. To sign up as a volunteer, please visit: APPNA Medical Corps Volunteer Registration for Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief (link expired).

PHASE 3 – Public Donations

If you wish to support relief efforts in the region you can donate through APPNA and indicate your AKU alumni status at:

https://www.instantreg.com/appnatemplate2/public-donations-2017

There are several reputable organizations accepting contributions. These include:

American Red Cross
United Way of Greater Houston
The Dallas Foundation
SPCA of Texas

Our thoughts are with the AKU families and thousands of people who have been directly impacted, as well as with those whose families and friends live in the region.

Stay safe.

AKUAANA Hurricane Harvey Disaster Task Force

Habib Chotani: President, AKUAANA

Namirah Jamshed: President Elect, AKUAANA

Rehan Khan: Secretary, AKUAANA

Amber Syed: Treasurer, AKUAANA

Noor Afshan Khan: Incoming Secretary, AKUAANA

Faisal Cheema: Incoming Treasurer AKUAANA (residing in Houston)

Athar Qureshi: AKUAANA member (residing in Houston)

Nooruddin Punjwani: AKUAANA member (residing in Houston)

Abdul Basit Saeed: Web Manager, AKUAANA

Annual Alumni Meeting, 2017

July 16, 2017 By Saeed

Dear Alumni,

Congratulations on a very successful AKUAANA Reunion in Orlando, FL on Friday July 7th, 2017. We again hosted one of the largest gathering after Washington, with over 200 participants and graduates from every class from 1988 to 2014. The classes of 1997 and 1992 celebrated their class milestones.

This year our Dean, Dr Farhat Abbas could not attend but did send us a video message.

The General Body Meeting was separated from the Reunion Dinner and was held just prior to the start of the Reunion Dinner. This was done to allow for alumni-only discussions and crucial decision-making. The General Body Meeting was an alumni only session. Current progress of AKUAANA was presented, including the Treasurer’s Report, increase in membership, new selection of Board of Advisor and AKUAANA project(s). Open discussion was held for new projects. Minutes of the General Body Meeting are available on the website.

We were the 4th largest group of alumni present at the APPNA convention and we remain the 4th largest component society at APPNA and the fastest growing in terms of numbers. The leaders of APPNA highlighted our continuing influence on the larger society when they visited with us during dinner. Rehan Khan ’94 and Habib Chotani ’95 received the presidential award for the APPNA National Food Pantry Project.

After a lively dinner, we sang and danced the night away with Rabat Fateh. The classes of 1997 and 1992 hosted their private celebrations on Saturday. The evening banquet was very well attended, highlighted by a great performance by Atif Aslam. Please visit our Facebook Page to view pictures from the reunion, tag yourselves and like the page as well.

The next reunion will be held on July 6th in Dallas , Texas.

We look forward to seeing you there, and remember to buy tickets and book hotel reservations as soon as they become available.

Thank you again!

Our best regards,

Habib Chotani, President
Rehan Khan, Secretary
Amber Syed, Treasurer

February ’17 Update on AKUAANA Initiative for 2016: The Ibrahim Haidri Outreach Clinic

February 10, 2017 By Saeed

Dear Alumni,

The AKUAANA Executive Council, after working for well over 6 months with consensus, decided to partner with AKU to support the “Ibrahim Haidri Outreach Clinic” in Karachi, Pakistan. The clinic will provide treatment for anemia in pregnant women, directly impacting infant mortality and perinatal morbidity. Our AKU Alumnus Anita Zaidi, ’88 is helping us at the location. Our estimated cost to support the clinic is $17,000 per year.

I would like to especially thank Mohsin Ali, Aneel Chowdhary and Namirah Jamshed (all from ’96) who helped the Executive Council in reviewing the project specifics. Their input was vital in moving the project forward. In fact, the Class of ’96 took the lead and adopted the project for their Class Gift. Additionally, I would like to thank the Class of ’94, who helped in the vetting of the project and gave us major insight.

As a first step, on May 21st, 2016 at the Regional AKUAANA Reunion in Virginia, we did a silent auction of paintings from renowned Pakistani artists. These paintings were acquired by support of a number of sponsors, and luckily we were able to jump start the project by raising $5,800.

Since the start of the project, we have collected $68,895 till December 2016. The project was officially launched on August 15th, 2016 at the Ibrahim Haidri site. As per our understanding and commitment with the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, a six-monthly impart report for the project will be shared with the donors by the end of February, 2017.

The AKUAANA Executive Council is looking at the alumni to support AKUAANA in moving this project forward, and hope you can help us in this endeavor.

Click here to send your donation directly to AKU. While donating, please don’t forget to designate the donation to “AKUAANA fund” and to mention your year of graduation under the Donation Information section.

Let us show the power of our alumni body and help fund this project!

Habib Chotani: President
Faisal Qureshi: Immediate Past President
Rehan Khan: Secretary
Amber Syed: Treasurer
Abdul Basit Saeed: Web Manager

Volunteers for Regional AKU Reunions, 2017

January 25, 2017 By Saeed

Dear AKU Alumni,

We are looking for volunteers across US and Canada who can help coordinate regional reunions for AKU Medical College Alumni.

The role of the coordinators will be to help invite AKU Alumni within an approximate 100-mile radius of the venue. They would also be instrumental in arranging the program details for the event.

To clarify, the coordinators will not be financially responsible to host the events. For example, the arrangement can be made at a restaurant and people can pay for themselves. If any coordinator wants to host any event themselves, they are welcome to do so but there is no obligation to do so.

In 2016, successful mini reunions were arranged in Minnesota, Dallas, Northern Virginia, St. Louis, Atlanta and the New York / New Jersey area. Snaps from these reunions can be viewed on our Facebook Page.

This year, we are looking for volunteers so we can have similar and even more successful events in the US and Canada.

The reason for having these mini reunions is to promote not only social and professional networking, but also to explore the future of our alumni body and collaboration in possible future community and charitable projects (in the US or Pakistan) using the AKUAANA platform.

We hope that you consider becoming a volunteer to expand the number of local reunions. If you would like AKUAANA or its officers to help in anyway, please feel free to reach out to us.

Thank you.

Habib Chotani
President, AKUAANA (2016 – 17)

AKUAANA President’s Message to Alumni: January 2017

January 15, 2017 By Saeed

It has been another great year for AKUAANA, the Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America. Our website, AKUAANA.org and Facebook page have both become excellent resources for our alumni members. We have some of the youngest professors, most successful academicians and brightest entrepreneurs in the country! We have featured many prominent alumni on our website/Facebook page and this has been a runaway success.

Our membership continues to flourish and Lifetime Membership has increased significantly. The number of recent graduates who are now actively participating in AKUAANA has grown, which is a great success as we have been able to engage our fresh graduates. There are currently over 1900 AKU graduates in North America and our goal is to bring as many of these graduates into the AKUAANA family and harness their incredible potential. We continue to grow and mold our association to tackle the most pressing issues of our times.

Last year we had a great meeting in Washington DC. Our medical college Dean, Dr Farhat Abbas and our beloved professor Dr Zulfikar Bhutta were in presence. The official signing of class gifts to AKU by the Class of ‘89 ($250,000) and Class of ‘90 ($500,000) took place. We were actively involved in various activities at APPNA including the CME and young physician coaching. This year for the first time in the 39-year history of APPNA, an AKUAANA Lifetime Member ran and won the election for Secretary APPNA. Rizwan Khalid, Class of ’99, will be the APPNA Secretary for the year 2017. This is a great achievement from our alumni body.

For community building and networking, regional reunions were held at 6 locations throughout the US (Minnesota, Dallas, DC/Maryland/Virginia, St Louis, Atlanta and New Jersey) and this has been directly tied to the incredible efforts of the local alumni.

We now have a functioning Board of Advisors. Their roles are defined by our Constitution and Bylaws Committee and have been approved by the General Body.

We also have started a charity project with AKU, Karachi, Pakistan. In the past, many individual projects have been done with AKU and outside AKU (like TCF) by various graduating classes. The AKUAANA Outreach Clinic Initiative at Ibrahim Hyderi, Karachi, Pakistan, is the first AKUAANA project that has been adapted by various graduating classes. This project will focus on treatment of anemia in pregnant females in the area. We have already collected approximately $70,000 for this initiative to date and the outreach clinic is fully functional since August, 2016.

As we look to the future, our hope is to leverage our individual successes and use AKUAANA as a platform to launch larger philanthropic endeavors. We will continue organizing regional reunions throughout the US and help grow the organization. We also hope to collaborate further with AKU and APPNA on its various platforms.

To do so, we will continue to engage our alumni and give them a platform to bring forth their ideas and eventually a mechanism to give these ideas life. Clearly, none of these goals can be accomplished without active alumni involvement. This participation has to begin with becoming an AKUAANA member and then active participation in all the decisions that we have to make over the next 25 years. We start the membership drive this month, so please join us, encourage others and get excited about the possibilities!

We thank you again for this opportunity to serve the organization and hope that we can live up to your expectations. If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, please reach out to any member of the team.

AKUAANA Administration, 2016 - 17
Designation	Name	Class	Email Address
President	Habib Ahmed Chotani	1995
Secretary	Muhammad Rehan Raza Khan	1994
Treasurer	Amber Hameed Syed	1994
Web Manager	Abdul Basit Saeed	2007

Best wishes,

Habib Chotani, 1995
President, AKUAANA (2016-17)

Annual Alumni Meeting, 2016

August 21, 2016 By Saeed

Dear Alumni,

Congratulations on a very successful AKUAANA Reunion in Washington, DC on Friday August 5th, 2016. We hosted one of the largest gatherings in Washington, with over 180 participants and graduates from every class from 1988 to 2014. The classes of 1996 and 1991 celebrated their class milestones.

The reunion was very well attended by University leaders including Dr. Farhat Abbas (Dean, AKU Medical College), Mr. Zahir Janmohamed (Director General, Resource Development). Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta also attended the meeting. In fact, Dr Bhutta has just received the Pride of Performance by President of Pakistan.

The General Body meeting was separated from the Reunion Dinner and was held just prior to the start of the reunion dinner (minutes available). This was done to allow for alumni-only discussions and crucial decision-making. The General Body meeting was an alumni only session. Current progress of AKUAANA was presented, including Treasurer’s report, approval of constitutional amendment, increase in membership, new selection of Board of Advisor and AKUAANA project(s). Open discussion was held for new projects – APPNA merit lecture series (AKUAANA members to commit for 10 lectures in a year) lead by Rehan Khan ‘94, PGME Conference at AKU for career counselling in October 2016 lead by Junaid Razzaq ’94, volunteer/internship opportunities for AKUAANA members children at AKU Karachi.

We were the 3rd largest alumni present at the APPNA convention and we remain the 4th largest component society at APPNA and the fastest growing in terms of numbers. The leaders of APPNA highlighted our continuing influence on the larger society when they visited with us during dinner. Rehan Khan ’94 received the award from the President of APPNA for his work on getting expedite visa approval for J1 applicants.

After a lively dinner, we sang and danced the night away with Sunidhi Chauhan. The classes of 1996 and 1991 hosted their private celebrations on Saturday the 6th. The evening banquet was very well attended, highlighted by Zikr Khan and his wife, address by Governor Terry Mcauliffe and entertainment by Rahim Shah and Fariha Pervaiz. Please visit our Facebook Page to view pictures from the reunion, tag yourselves and like the page as well.

The next reunion will be held on July 7th in Orlando, Florida.

We look forward to seeing you there, and remember to buy tickets and book hotel reservations as soon as they become available.

Thank you again!

Our best regards,

Habib Chotani, President
Rehan Khan, Secretary
Amber Syed, Treasurer

AKUAANA Outreach Clinic Initiative, 2016: a collaborative effort with AKU

May 31, 2016 By Saeed

Dear alumni,

Over the last several months, the AKUAANA Executive Council has been working on identifying a common project in Pakistan to adopt and support. We looked at various potential projects including those within AKU, as well as non-AKU programs like The Citizens Foundation.

We have kept the alumni in the loop by discussing with them via teleconferences (led by Rehan Khan ’94, Secretary AKUAANA), individual discussions, and sharing pertinent information on Facebook to keep this process as transparent as possible.

The Council, after getting input from the Alumni body, felt that as a first project of AKUAANA we should collaborate with AKU. In the future, however, we would also like to consider projects that may be outside of AKU, if that is what our membership recommends.

Some valid considerations voiced out by our alumni regarding doing a project with AKU included:

“We are from AKU and we want to give back to AKU!”
selecting a project that supports educational activity of AKU medical students
supporting primary care
having an AKU alumnus on the ground to help with the project
that the project not be outrageously expensive

We had multiple meetings and discussions with the Resource Department at AKU to identify a project that would have the above mentioned goals. Once we identified the project, we then worked with the AKU Resource Department on its details, especially its budget. Mohsin Ali, Aneel Chowdhary and Namirah Jamshed (all from ’96) helped the Executive Council in reviewing the project specifics. Their input was vital in moving the project forward. After an intense review and many discussions with the AKU Resource Department, we are confident with our choice and are now moving forward with the project.

The AKUAANA Executive Council, with consensus, has decided to partner with AKU to support the “Ibrahim Haidri Outreach Clinic” in Karachi, Pakistan. The clinic will provide primary care to women and children, with special focus on anemia treatment in pregnant women, directly impacting infant mortality and perinatal morbidity. Our AKU alumna Anita Zaidi, ’88 is heading the research program at the location, so we have feet on the ground as well. At a cost of $17,000 per year to support the clinic, the Council does not find this project to be outrageously expensive. Further details are given in this presentation.

As a first step, on May 21st at the Regional AKUAANA Reunion in Virginia, we did a silent auction of paintings from renowned Pakistani artists. These paintings were acquired by support of a number of sponsors, and luckily we were able to jump start the project by raising $5800.

Now the AKUAANA Executive Council is looking at the alumni to support AKUAANA in moving this project forward, and hope you can help us in this endeavor.

Let us show the power of our alumni body and help fund this project!

Habib Chotani
President AKUAANA

Faisal Qureshi
Immediate Past President

Rehan Khan
Secretary

Amber Syed
Treasurer

Abdul Basit Saeed
Web Manager

AKUAANA President’s Message to Alumni: January 2016

January 1, 2016 By Saeed

January 1^st, 2016

Thank you for nominating us as the leaders of your Alumni Association for the next two years. We would also like to thank our predecessors who have guided this association and made great strides in organizing AKUAANA.

There are roughly 2000 AKUMC graduates in North America and they represent the fastest growing segment of all medical graduates from Pakistan. Those of you who follow our website and our Facebook page already know how successful our graduates have been in their adopted homelands. We have some of the youngest professors, most successful academicians and brightest entrepreneurs in the country!

The last Executive Council of AKUAANA has made impressive progress; the membership has grown significantly, our tax-exempt status has been reinstated to 501(c)(7) status allowing our holdings to be tax-free, the Association’s constitution has been strengthened and a Board of Trustees has been elected. Over the next couple of years, the new Executive Council will continue working towards the goals set forth by our predecessors. We will continue working on improving our membership, work towards give a clear meaning for our Alumni body, and work towards getting more organized in the US. The new Executive Council have a bunch of new ideas to move our organization to the next level. We will be approaching our membership to share our ideas and also will seek new ideas.

To do so, we have to engage our alumni and give them a platform to bring forth their ideas and then a mechanism to give these ideas life. Clearly, none of these goals can be accomplished without active alumni involvement. This participation has to begin with becoming an AKUAANA member and then active participation in all the decisions that we have to make over the next 25 years. We start the membership drive this month, so please join us, encourage others and get excited about the possibilities!

AKUAANA Administration, 2016 - 17
Designation	Name	Class	Email Address
President	Habib Ahmed Chotani	1995
Secretary	Muhammad Rehan Raza Khan	1994
Treasurer	Amber Hameed Syed	1994
Web Manager	Abdul Basit Saeed	2007

Best wishes,

Habib Chotani, 1995
President, AKUAANA (2016-17)

Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America (AKUAANA) Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund: Let’s make a difference!

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