Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, an eminent cardiologist based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been named as one of the 14 members of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Kerala-born Zachariah, 51, a key Republican fund-raiser for President George W. Bush, is the lone South Asian in the 15-member commission, which is dominated by Chinese Americans, the largest and most influential Asian group in the United States.

Besides Zachariah, it includes five Chinese Americans, two of them from Taiwan, three Koreans, two Samoans, and a representative each from the Filipino, Vietnamese and Japanese communities. The President’s Advisory Commission was set up by former president Bill Clinton in June 1999 to recommend measures to increase participation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in federal programs where they are currently underserved.

The commission also studies ways to foster research and data collection on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including information on public health. Bush extended Clinton’s order appointing the commission in June this year, and last month named a new commission, replacing the one constituted by his predecessor.

Though the commission is nonpartisan, both Clinton and Bush, in their choice of nominees, named Asian Americans who actively supported them in their presidential campaigns. Charmaine Manansala, senior policy analyst on the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, was quoted as saying recently in a news weekly that a chairman of the 15-member commission would be named soon. Members of the commission serve two-year terms from the date they are sworn-in.

Zachariah was quoted as saying that he would not like to comment on his appointment till he received more details on the charge of the commission. However, he said that he was concerned about the issues of reverse discrimination against Asians in college admissions and health-care access. Currently a member of the Florida Board of Medicine, Zachariah is an expert in cardiac diseases. He is director of cardiology at the Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, where he has worked for more than two decades. Besides being one of the top contributors to the Bush presidential campaign, he has also donated generously over the years to philanthropic causes.

He is said to be one of the biggest donors to the American Heart Association and last year he donated $11 million to help build a new heart and vascular center at Holy Cross. The center will house the Fort Lauderdale Heart Institute, of which Zachariah is founder president. Over the years Zachariah has received many honors, among them the Ellis Island American Legends Award in 2000.