March, 2015
Dear AKU Medical College Alumni,
I was fortunate enough to visit AKU on a recent trip to Pakistan. I met with Dean Abbas and some of the leaders of the AKU Alumni Association, Asia Chapter including Saad Shafqat. We discussed many things, with the most important being the continued need for alumni involvement with AKU. Our alumni have a vested interest in the continued success of AKU, as it is a reflection our accomplishments.
Just as the alumni of Harvard University are active in the affairs of their alma mater, and are very proactive if the Harvard brand is threatened, so must we be wary of anything affecting the AKU brand. Whether we admit it or not, AKU has directly impacted our continued success across the globe and we have to take an active part in protecting its legacy.
I brought up many other aspects of the relationship with Dean Abbas and Saad Shafqat. Our keynote speaker from the 2014 Alumni Reunion Dinner in Washington DC, Dr. Dale Shaw (immediate past president of the Duke University Alumni Association) made some key points about enhancing the role of the University in ensuring a strong future alumni body. Perhaps the idea that most resonated with me was informing current medical students of their role as future alumni. One method to do this is to provide them with a life long ALUMNI.AKU.EDU email address. This email will help them identify themselves as AKU alumni in perpetuity. Other techniques that Duke University uses is to give medical students a certificate as a future alumnus of Duke on day one of their lives as medical students. We could emulate this and AKU could invite alumni back to AKU on an annual basis to give insights to medical students on life after graduation.
Finally, Dean Abbas and I discussed the creation of a dedicated mechanism to give back philanthropically to AKU. Using the Aga Khan Foundation (a tax-exempt organization) donation page, we will create an AKUAANA specific menu that allows alumni to donate to student support, patient support or research activities at AKU, Karachi. This will allow our alumni to show their support of AKU via a dedicated AKUAANA method that will help us determine the total impact of our alumni. The creation of this mechanism will streamline efforts for individuals or classes to make a combined donation. This is the first step in developing a long term AKUAANA endowment fund.
In summary, our continued involvement with AKU is critical to our mutual success. I hope that alumni are able to visit AKU on their trips to Pakistan and the AKU Alumni Office would be very happy to arrange a tour and meetings with the faculty. There are many opportunities to give back and continue to be proud AKU alumni.
Faisal G. Qureshi
President
AKU Alumni Association of North America