Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, incoming AAPI president, left, with outgoing president Dr. Kiran Patel. (Photo: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia)

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: The incoming president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) believes it is time to develop medium-term plans for the organization to function more efficiently and grow to its full potential. Speaking to News India-Times, Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, who has been a practicing rheumatologist in Dallas, Tex., since 1987, said AAPI, one of the most influential Indian-American organizations in the country, needed restructuring.

“We have decided to develop a three to five year plan,” Dr. Lakhanpal said in an interview before leaving the convention early due to a family emergency.

“We are looking to a functional reorganization of AAPI. We want a very strong office. An external organization has evaluated and given us recommendations. We are going to appoint a Task Force and they will come up with recommendations. We will have a Governing Body meeting in October.”

Walter Andersen, who was formerly with the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and is currently at the South Asia Program at Paul Nitze School of International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, at the convention.

The physicians body, which ostensibly meets the needs of some 38,000 Indian-American physicians and 10,000 medical students around the country, has gone through a tough housekeeping year, according to chairperson Dr. Vijaya Appareddy, who in her year-end report points to a “rocky start” with a financial crisis from the losses incurred both from the 2002 Chicago Convention as well as the negative growth of the Patron Fund. But those have evidently been overcome.

Regardless of a few bumps on the road, Dr. Lakhanpal noted, “In 21 years, we have gone from a grassroots organization to a very mainstream organization. All major organizations, like the American Medical Association, recognize us. We have physicians in all 50 states. I don’t think we have realized our potential. We will do that by partnering with local chapters.”

Some of the issues most relevant at this point in time, Dr. Lakhanpal noted, were malpractice insurance, centralized credentialing for foreign medical graduates around the country, changes in pharmaceutical guidelines, and, politically, to be very active in building the India Caucus in the U.S. Congress.

From left, Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) and his wife Ingrid with Dr. Navin Shah, urologist from Maryland and former AAPI president, at the convention. Rep. McCollum is running for U.S. Senate from Florida.

“The AAPI is tackling bread-and-butter issues like reducing medical malpractice insurance premiums, we support President Bush’s Medicare plan, and we support the J1 visa plan and support sending our young physicians to underserved rural areas in the U.S.,” Dr. Lakhanpal stressed.

He also pointed to young physicians as the key to growth. “We realize young physicians are the future of medicine and the future of AAPI. So we are making efforts to groom them. Young physicians will sit with us during restructuring,” he said.

Dr. Lakhanpal has practised at the Rheumatology Associates of Dallas since 1987. After graduating from Colvin Taluqdar’s College in Lucknow, India, he went on to receive his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) from the King George’s Medical College, University of Lucknow. He received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Lucknow University and completed his medical residency at the Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospital, King George’s Medical College, Lucknow. Dr. Lakhanpal also completed a residency in internal medicine at the Memorial Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and did the rheumatology training at Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School in Minnesota.

Dr. Sharad Lakhanpal, incoming president of AAPI, right, with Dr. Shailendra Kumar, urologist from Maryland at the convention. (Photos: Ela Dutt)

Since 1984, Dr. Lakhanpal has held numerous academic positions at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He is a fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological and Chemical Research (India), Journal of Indian Rheumatism Association, and Inside Insight Medical Bulletin. He also serves on the editorial review panel of the Annals of Internal Medicine and the Journal of Rheumatology.

Dr. Lakhanpal’s work in rheumatology and arthritis has been published in over 90 medical journals and newsletters, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine and the Journal of Rheumatology. Listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World Millennium Edition, 2000, his name has appeared in the Best Doctors in America book since 1996. He is a founding fellow of the American Rheumatism Association.