Dow Link The

The
Dow Link
PRESIDENT
M. Azim Qureshi, MD.
Hershey, PA
qureshi1963@gmail.com
SECRETARY
Danish Saeed, MD.
Palmerton, PA
danissaeed65@hotmail.com
TREASURER
Syed Faisal Jafri, MD.
Kansas City, MO
sjafri@yahoo.com
PRESIDENT ELECT
Sajid M Zafar, MD.
St. Louis, MO.
sajidzafar@yahoo.com
PAST PRESIDENT
Sajid M Zafar, MD.
St. Louis, MO.
sajidzafar@yahoo.com
COUNCILORS
Amir Jamal, MD.
Los Angeles, CA
miskinza@aol.com
Kanwal Awan, MD
Fulton, MD
K.s.awan@gmail.com
Mashood Qadri, MD
Chandler, AZ
Mashood@yahoo.com
M. Irfan Aslam, MD
Melborne, FL
Irfanaslam_md@yahoo.com
Deeba Sayed, MD
Madison, WI
deebansyed@gmail.com
Hussain Haideri, MD
Kansas City, MO
haideri@att.net
M. Razi Sayeed, MD
Brampton, ON (Canada)
razisayeed@yahoo.ca
Shagufta Naqvi, MD
Houston, TX
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
S. Mansoor Abidi, MD
Toledo, OH
masoor64@gmail.com
Dow Graduate Association of North America
www.DowAlumni.com
Newsletter: Volume 1 • Number 1 • February 2014
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
My Dear Fellow Dowites,
I
t is my privilege and honor to serve as your president this
year. Two years ago you put your confidence in me when
you elected me as DOGANA President-Elect by an over
whelming majority.
This year we are committed to unite DOGANA by promoting
the culture of mutual respect and tolerance. Our organization is
growing and we will build the institutions and infra-structure of
the organization. We will work closely with allied organizations like
EnDow, APPNA and other alumni of Medical schools in Pakistan.
DOGANA is starting a Loan Program for young dowites who need financial assistance. The
committee comprises of DOGANA Executive Council and dowites from general membership with
a confirmed track record of proven leadership. We will award up to ten loans per year to help young
dowites to start their career in medicine in North America. The recipients are expected to repay their
loan within three years after starting their residency training.
We are also celebrating and recognizing the achievements of our female colleagues this year through
“Women of DOW” theme. This will be the theme of 11th Philadelphia on May 22-24, 2014. More
female dowites will be in the leadership position this year.
Serving young dowites will be the front and center of DOGANA policy this year. We will help young
fellow dowites with “Host a Dowite” program. Under this program we will request our membership
to open their door for a night or two for young fellow Dowite when they come for residency
interviews. Many DUHS students seek clinical experience to improve their chances in securing
the spot for residency training. We will structure the Electives and Observer-ship program. The
procedure to seek elective/observer-ship will be simple and user friendly. We will continue DOGANA
House in Detroit and expand our collaboration with other Alumni and APPNA to provide
accommodation to the dowites at subsidize rates.
DOGANA will also join forces with APPNA to support J1 Visa Bera-Meadows Bill. At the same
time we will help dowites to get J1 visa clearance so they can start their training on time.
We plan to share medical knowledge with DUHS. A recognition Award program will be started
for DUHS Faculty. DOGANA will give two cash awards to the DUHS faculty. One award will be
for best published original article in a peer reviewed journal and the second for seed money for an
original research at DUHS campus. We will help DUHS library get institutional subscription for
journals in different fields of medicine. The Hand on Training Seminar will continue and expand in
the area of pediatric gastroenterology. We will continue the Merit Scholarship for 4th year students
at DUHS.
DOGANA Retreat will be in Philadelphia on May 22-24th, Summer Meeting will be in
Washington DC in August with APPNA summer meeting, and Fall Meeting will be in Phoenix
Arizona on November 14-15 and Winter Meeting in Karachi on December 28th this year.
We are proud of our democratic values in DOGANA. I strongly believe in collective wisdom. With
your continued support, and positive criticism we will steer DOGANA in the right direction. I like
to recognize the efforts and leadership of Past Presidents and members of Central Councils through
this message as well.
Azim Qureshi
President DOGANA 2014
The
Dow Link
Dow Graduate Association of North America
EDITORIAL
Tariq Jawaid Alam, MD
C
hange is the only constant. This is a well know saying that
has proved its worth time and again. The sooner organizations,
institutions and individuals realize and embrace this, the better
they will be equipped to face new challenges and developments.
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 2014
EDITOR
Tariq J. Alam MD
CHAIRMAN
Naseem Shekhani, MD
COMMITTEE
Zeba Vanek MD, Urdu section
Hasan Ali Habib.
Abid Rasool.
Shahid Husnain.
Asif Cochinwala.
Shagufta Naqvi.
Zeba Venek
Mohammad Rais
Talha Siddiqui
ARTICLE SUBMISSION
DOGANA publishes quarterly newsletters.
We encourage all Dowites to please
submit their articles for the publication
throughout the year. We are also seeking
class news, meeting information or any
news that you would like to share with
other Dowites. Articles to be submitted
by email to linking-dow@gmail.com, in
Word document, or plain email format will
be acceptable. The Editor reserves the
right to edit all the submitted material.
Within our scope of activity, something that has not been fully enforced
to reflect changing times is the method of examination that students
of Dow Medical College have to face. Initially the examination in medical colleges consisted of
essay type questions and answers that promoted rote concept. It devoid the minds of young medical
students from challenging themselves and promoted the use of unfair means of passing examinations.
Multiple choice questions were then introduced that gave the students two choices. Either true or
false. Guesswork was a routine to tackle majority of those questions and students stood 50% chance
of excelling even if they had not prepared themselves for the exam.
The concept of choosing the correct or best answer was by far the only means of challenging the
mind and reflected the depth of the topic and knowledge that a medical student possessed. This
system was developed by examination authorities in the UK, US and Canada and other western
nations. Unless the student had not read and understood the concept, it would be difficult to choose
the correct answer. At times, all given choices might be correct and in that case, the best possible
answer or option had to be chosen.
To develop a bank of such questions required dedication and time by the faculty. Key and important
concepts have to be chosen and a question is then formulated so that important points are not missed
that a student should know. This led to the development of Department of Medical Education in
many colleges and universities as it was thought that formulating challenging exam questions and
asking the students to answer those, would reflect their ‘hold’ of the topic.
Dow Medical College, did develop a Department of Medical Education but it seems that proper
attention and resources were not allocated. Students of DMC have repeatedly expressed their
apprehension that challenging questions are not prepared by faculty so when they attempt licensing
examinations like the USMLE, they face problems.
The idea of medical education is to acquire knowledge, but it should be able to challenge the mind
and make the students choose the best option in a given situation. Unless we do not adopt and
embrace new methods of examination, we will not be able to compete with changing times.
FOR ADVERTISEMENTS
For advertisement rates, submission and
schedule please email:
linkingdow@gmail.com
Faculty development will need to go hand in hand. Full time faculty in adequate numbers in
each department will need to be ensured if we wish to see our graduates perform at par with their
contemporaries in the ever changing and dynamic world of medicine.
DISCLAIMER
DowLink is a Quarterly Newsletter, a
publication of Dow Graduate Association
of North America. The newsletter is
dedicated to providing useful information
to the members and the readers in
general. The views expressed are those
of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the official position of either
the editor or the association.
ABOUT THE EDITOR: Dr. Tariq Alam is a 2005 graduate of Dow Medical College and practices
neurology in St. Louis, MO.
CORRESPONDENCE
Naseem A. Shekhani, MD
2325 Dougherty Ferry Rd, #203
St. Louis, MO 63122
TEL: (314) 822-2491
Web site: www.dowlaumni.com
ISSUE FEBRUARY 2014.
With Best Compliments
From
FARID U. QAZI, MD
Dublin Hematology & Oncology
207 Fairview Park Dr
Dublin, GA 31021
(478) 275-1111
DOGANA CENTRAL COUNCIL 2014
M. Azim Qureshi, MD
President
M. Asif Mohiuddin, MD
President Elect.
Danish Saeed, MD
Secretary
Sajid Zafar, MD
Immediate Past President
Syed Faisal Jafri, MD
Treasurer
Syed Mansoor Abidi, MD
Executive Director
The DOW LINK • Januar y 2014
DOGANA CENTRAL COUNCIL 2014
The
Dow Link
Dow Graduate Association of North America
Kanwal Awan, MD
Councilor, Eastern Region
Shagufta Naqvi, MD
Councilor, Mid West Region
Mashood Qadri, MD
Councilor, Moluntain Region
Hussain Haideri, MD
Councilor-at-Large
M. Irfan Aslam, MD
Councilor-at-Large
Deeba Sayed, MD
Councilor-at-Large
M. Razi Sayeed, MD
Councilor, Canadian Region
Amir Jamal, MD
Councilor, Western Region
Support
APPNA
Foundation
The mission of APPNA FOUNDATION is to
create social responsibilities among Physician
Community of Pakistani Origin in USA, Pakistan
and elsewhere and participate in Health
Education and Health care related projects.
AWAITS APPNA COUNCIL APPROVAL
Chairman: Naseem Shekhani, MD
Committee members: Nasir Gondal, MD Ahsan Rashid, MD
With Best
Compliments
NASEEM A. SHEKHANI, MD
2325 Dougherty Ferry Rd, #203
St. Louis, MO 63122
Ph (314)-822-2491
Dr. Irfan A. Khan DOW 1978
By: M. Azim Qureshi, MD
A brilliant dowite who is not among
us anymore.
If one had been, for any length of
time, in Dr. Ziauddin University
hospital, one must have noticed a
sober looking man with trimmed
beard, casually but elegantly dressed
storming up and down in the
corridors, with purpose dedication
and commitment, that gentle-man
must be Dr. Irfan Ahmed Khan MD.
He always seemed to be in a great hurry, now we understand why;
he had a very short life. He died on 11th of December 2013;
and what a remarkable short life it had been. He lost his battle to
pheochromocytoma. The life of Dr. Irfan is the story of success,
achievement and accomplish-ments. He achieved all his goals he
set for himself, but he had to struggle every step of the way to
reach where he wanted to be. Life was not sympathetic with him,
and threw a lot of hurdles in his way, but he managed to overcome
those with absolute resolve.
It is very difficult to describe anyone’s personality in words; especially a person like Dr. Irfan A. Khan who was a simple man but
highly complex character, silent but highly vibrant, plain but with
all the colors of rainbow, nonconformist but with highest standard
of values and morality, unsocial but huge followings and fans club;
and down to earth but cradle of knowledge and understand-ing.
Why he touches so many hearts? Why he inspired so many people?
Why he was loved so widely? It is hard to explain, but what we
know that he was admired and respected both as a physi-cian and
as a person. In many senses he was a very naïve person, he couldn’t
understand the ways of world but at same time had unique insight
and understanding of life. Sometimes he was deeply sadden and
pained in his personal life but he never complained, silence was
his only reaction; professionally, though, he would not tolerate
any carelessness, inefficiency or below standard attitudes. He had
no prejudices what so ever. His only biased was against ignorance
and incompetence.
Medicine was his passion. The more mysterious and complicated
the disease the more involved and engross he would be. He loved
challenge. Most of his patients were critically and terminally ill.
He managed their illness with utmost care, and passion. His diagnosis and management was remarkable. Reading was his past
time. Other than medicine his topics of interest were religion,
psy-chology, history, language, literature etc. He loved listening
classi-cal music.
He was born on 16th January 1954 in Wah Cantt, a small town
near Rawalpindi. He completed his initial education from there.
He passed his Matriculation examination from Surgodha Board
with First Class First position. Then he migrated to Karachi in
1969 with his family due to severe health condition of his father,
who died shortly after arriving to Karachi. He got admission in DJ
Science College and passed his Intermediate Examination again
with First Class First position from Karachi Board in 1971. In
spite of 1st position he was had troubles in getting admission in,
then, DOW medical college as he did not had Domicile of Sindh.
It took more than a month for him to arrange proper documents
for his admissions. His tenure in DMC was again brilliant. He
passed his MBBS examination with his usual First Class First
position in 1978. After graduation he took full responsibility
of supporting his family. He resumed his academic career after
his family settled down. He went to USA for post-graduation
in Internal Medicine in 1995 and returned 1998. His true love
was his mother. He devoted his life for his patients and family.
He never married. After return-ing
from America he joined Ziaud-din
University Hospital and teach-ing
and practicing medicine be-came
his life. As a professional, he was
a bril-liant physician and as an
academi-cian he was an outstanding
teacher. His knowledge medicine
was phe-nomenal. He never stopped
learn-ing and updating himself with
lat-est researches and breakthroughs
in the field of medicine. He used his
knowledge, skill and objectiv-ity to
diagnose, treat and manage his patients. His practice established
new standards of efficiency and morality. As a teacher he never
shied away from sharing his knowledge, experience and intellect
from his students. His lectures became most celebrated events
in the university’s academic life. Lecture hall was always over
crowded with pin drop silence. Stu-dents did not want to miss a
single word of what he said. He was loved and respected among
students in his life. Now he is a leg-end. The lecture hall where he
used to deliver his lectures is dedi-cated in his name. It is now “Dr.
Irfan A. Khan Lecture Hall”
It’s not possible to portray justifiably Dr. Irfan Ahmed Khan in
a short article. One of his students when asked to describe him
quoted Shakespeare “His life was gentle and the elements so
mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world
THIS was a man!!”
Dr. Irfan is not among us anymore but he will always be remembered as a genius professional, excellent clinician and loving person. WE MISS YOU DR. Saheb.
Dr. Irfan Khan with his friends in 1973.
The DOW LINK • Januar y 2014
11 ANNUAL
DOGANA RETREAT
TH
MAY 22-24, 2014
DOGANA RETREAT
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Chairman:
D89-1
SILVER JUBILEE
CELEBRATION
APPNA
PRESINTIAL DEBATE
CME
8 Hour ACCME accredited CME
WOMEN OF DOW
MEDICAL COLLEGE
HYATT REGENCY PHILADELPHIA AT PENN’S LANDING
201 South Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106 USA
T: + 1 215.521.6518 F: +1 215.521.6600
Copy/paste or type following link in search
window of your browser to
reserve your room
https://resweb.passkey.com/go/dowmed
(space is limited on discount negotiated rates)
SUPP ORT
Dow
Endowment
Fund
CONTRIBUTE
GENEROUSLY
Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America
The
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Dow Graduate Association of North America
6414 S. Cass Avenue
Westmont, IL 60559
Celebrate and recognize the
achievement of our fellow
female dowites
MUSIC
Two evenings of nonstop fun
• Tamsilee Mushaera
• Drama (Awam Ki Adalat)
• Fashion show
•Bazaar
• And much more