Eid Mubarak!
I hope all of you had a pleasant Ramadan and were able to get a break over Eid.
The Annual AKU reunion held at the APPNA summer convention in Orlando, Florida was a great success. We celebrated the 25th anniversary for the Class of ’88, and the 20th anniversary for the Class of ’93. We welcomed Dr. Farhat Abbas, Dean AKUMC, Dr. Saad Shafqat ’88, Dr. Anita Zaidi ’88, and Dr. Naseer Mehmood ’88 as speakers at the dinner.
I am pleased to inform you that we were able to successfully complete the election of the new Executive Council. As you are aware, the process was initiated several months ago. The positions of Secretary and Treasurer had single nominations. The position for President had two nominations. Prior to the reunion, an on-line vote was conducted. For the on-line component, only votes from dues-paying members were included. The final voting was conducted at the reunion dinner.
The new Executive Council, which will start its term in January 2014, is as follows:
- President: Faisal Qureishi ’93
- Secretary: Atif Shafqat ’93
- Treasurer: Shazia Hussain ’90
I would like to thank Treasurer Syed Jawad Sher ’97 and Secretary Amna Iftikhar ’90 for their priceless contributions to the previous Executive Council.
At this time I would also like to thank Atif Jalees Khan ’99 for his work establishing and managing our web presence. He will be transferring his responsibilities to Abdul Basit Saeed ’07. Thank you both.
Ms. Shain Amershi, who for many years has been the force that has kept AKUAANA on track, is leaving us to pursue other opportunities. We are indebted to her for all the work that she has put in to developing a database, establishing the website, handling affairs with APPNA, organizing multiple reunions, and making the Executive Council look good. She has been passionate in her support of the association, both in thought and action. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
As far as other business is concerned, as we came to the reunion, we had record membership. If your dues are not current, I would encourage you to see to it. Your contributions help to keep the association and the website running smoothly.
Also at the reunion, we proposed and agreed to formalize the process of setting up host-committees for events. It was established that:
‘For all APPNA associated AKUAANA events, after the APPNA host committee has been established, all AKU alumni on said committee will be asked to join AKUAANA host committee for that event. This group will select one point person for purposes of communication with Executive Council. In the event the group does not select this person, the Executive Committee will do so.’
As always, we are looking for alumni to contribute to the website with blogs, opinion pieces, news etc. Please, let those ideas out onto paper (or screen) and share them with us!
In APPNA news – an anonymous donor, alumnus of Nishtar Medical College, has pledged to match up to $1,000,000 for donations to a newly established scholarship fund. Within the fund, each participating medical school will have a sub-account. A minimum of $10,000 from alumni is required to receive a matching contribution from the donor. The scholarship monies are allotted at the discretion of the particular alumni group and their medical school. I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to be able to give back to our Alma Mater. Please review the information at this link on the APPNA website.
In news from AKU – the Pakistan- Middle East chapter is in the last phase of its establishment. There is an election scheduled for later this month, after which the association will be fully functional. Our sister association is led by a President (Saad Shafqat ’88), Vice-President Under-Graduate (Saniya Sabzwari ’92), Vice- President Post-Graduate (TBD), and Vice-president Graduate (TBD). The Steering Committee (Chairman Hasnain Zafar ’91, Secretary Anita Zaidi ’88) has done a fantastic job with sorting through the very complex task of University and region-wide nominations and elections. They have been ably assisted by Abdul Haq Wahedna, Manager Alumni Affairs. We look forward to an excellent relationship with the association.
That’s all for now.
Engage, participate, own.
Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan ’92
President, AKUAANA
