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President's Message |
Dear ATMA Members,
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As the new President of ATMA it is my pleasant duty to congratulate Dr. Tamilarasi Kannan for her leadership last year. On behalf of ATMA, I thank the North Carolina convention team for their hard work in organizing an exemplary convention. Let me also thank the outgoing officers, Dr. P. Arumugam (Chairman of the Board)and Dr. Geetha Pandian and Dr. Jayanthi Sirithara (board members) for their leadership and dedication. This past year has been an year of healing for ATMA. Contentious groups have come together for the common purpose of advancing the organization. While I played a role in this healing process, it is the entire leadership and individuals involved that deserve appreciation. As a result the new bylaws were drafted and approved at the recent general body meeting. It promotes more open elections that empowers our members to install new and younger members to leadership.
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Let us welcome the following new officers: Dr. Balu S.Mani: President-Elect; Dr. Jay Gopal: Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Dr. Seetharam Adimoolam and Dr. N. Rangaswamy: Members of the Board of Trustees. It was quite a task to find people to serve in leadership positions, we had to coax some people to accept to serve. That situation needs to change, we need more volunteers to become leaders of ATMA. How about serving on a committee this year and more involvement in the future?
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Listed below are some of the agenda items for this year.
1. Increase membership. I hope it's a membership that is younger. Please recruit your friends and colleagues and their children in medical professions. I believe that the ideals of ATMA and the future action plan has something for everyone to like and build upon. The children of the Tamil Nadu Medical Alumni can benefit from our connections to Tamil Nadu; cultural and educational.
2. More ways to communicate with the membership. Soon you will see a new improved website . You will see JATMA and PULSE publications on the website and by email soon. Please respond to surveys and ballots as you receive them and make this effort in more democratic organization come to fruition. May be a secure blog for discussion about how to improve ATMA for the future. Let us know what you think, your opinion matters for the health of the organization. Please call (708-275-5039) or email at "cpalani@yahoo.com".
3. Educational exchange with Tamil Nadu. We have established excellent relationship with Dr.Mayilvahanan Natarajan, the Vice-Chancellor of MGR Medical University. The first item is our combined International CME on the 7th and 8th of January 2012 in Chennai, as a part of the Universitiy's Silver jubilee celebration. Dr.Vellore Parithivel is co-ordinating that effort, please mark your calendars and book the airline tickets. In addition, we hope to have educational exchanges at all levels (volunteer opportunities for our young students with possible aspirations in healthcare career, medical student and resident elective rotations, faculty visitor exchange etc). We appreciate the excellent medical training that we received in Tamil Nadu. As a give back, we wish to impact healthcare delivery in Tamil Nadu. For example, establishing an EMT training program. Dr. Balasubramaniam, former President of AAPI, from California has accomplished a lot in training EMT personnel throughout India and he will spearhead ATMA's efforts in this regard in Tamil Nadu with full backing from Dr. Mayilvahanan. Promoting protocol driven healthcare delivery in Tamil Nadu is a part of this effort.
4. Redoubled efforts at charitable activitie, see Chairman's message. Please visit the Charitable activities section of our web site and you will see the extent and variety of support ATMA has given so far. Accomplishing any charitable activity is only limited by availability of funds and volunteers. Fortunately our members have both of these in abundance. Our hope is to unleash that capacity.
5. The Next Convention: The plan is to conduct the 2012 convention in Boston. Dr. Prakash Rau has gracefully accepted the responsibility as the convention committee chairman. It will be in August 2012, we will confirm the exact dates as soon as arrangements are made.
In concluding, thank you for this privilege
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Yours Sincerely,
C.K . Palani, MD
Riverside, Illinois
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 The Chairman's "Autumn" Message 
Dear At(h)ma NanbargaLae,
VaNakkam! On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to express my gratitude for choosing us to serve ATMA. We consider this a great honor, privilege and an opportunity and assure you, we will give you and the organization our best.
"ATMA was found to enrich our cultural, social and educational values and to help the needy in USA and abroad in peaceful and/or in disaster times". For many of you, either this mission as a whole and for others, some specific aspects of the mission may have attracted to join ATMA. Whatever the reason you had, you would have found your needs are being met, especially when you attend the ATMA meetings. To its members and their families ATMA has been a destination for charity, education, alumni gathering, networking, meeting new and old friends, recognizing the outstanding professionals for their achievements, participating in cultural activities and so on.
We have made a tremendous progress year after year fulfilling the vision, mission and the goals of ATMA. To-date we have:
- Donated about half a million dollars for the needy in USA and abroad, successfully launching more than 20 healthcare projects.
- Conducted close to 80 hours of Continuing Medical Education, in USA and in India.
- Brought close to one thousand health care providers of Tamil origin together to net work, enrich and exchange cultural, social and educational values.
- Established 12 chapters all around USA and have conducted 7 National Conventions and 3 International Educational Meetings.
It is estimated that there are at least 6000 physicians of Tamil origin living in USA. This is in addition to other affiliated health care providers. If only we can unite all these physicians and affiliates under the wing of ATMA, we can achieve a lot more. I am confident under the able leadership of ATMA's President, Dr. C.K Palani, the President-elect and the Membership Committee Chairman, Dr. Balu Mani and others including the Chapter Governors, we will reach a new height in 2012.
Finally, my request to you is, if you are not an ATMA member, please become a member today. If you are already a member, please make sure your friends become members.
Thank You,
JayJGopalMD
Jay Jagadeesan Gopal, MD., FAAP
Email address: jayjgopalmd@gmail.com
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