Soon after the formation of the first Alumni organization of medical schools from Pakistan, KEMCAANA, there was a talk about bringing all physicians of Pakistan in the US under one Umbrella. Representatives of graduates of different medical schools got together in Michigan in 1976 and all agreed to form APPNA

A year after the formation of APPNA there was another meeting in Godfrey, Illinois at the house of Dr. Sadiq Mohyuddin regarding the role of individual alumni organizations. Some founding members of APPNA thought that after the formation of APPNA as an Umbrella organization, there was no need for KEMCAANA or other alumni organizations to exist individually. This concept was fiercely debated and finally put to rest due to Dr. Ishaq Chishti's insistence on the relevance of alumni organizations as sepa-rate institutions

He felt that the ties of fraternal love that bound the alumni body could only strengthen APPNA. Thus KEMCAANA survived as a separate vibrant organization with main emphasis on its interaction with the alma mater. As a result other alumni organizations also became active in pursuit of delivering to their alma mater and at the same time more activity gradually build up from these platforms to strengthen APPNA

The local chapters of APPNA have evolved over the years in several states with our chapter now being 6 years old. Although The Greater St. Louis chapter has over the years seen a lot of activity but the membership strength could be better. Just as in the central APPNA where alumni from all medical schools are represented it will be great if we engaged the alumni from different schools in the local chapters to make concentrated effort to bring their members to the unified platform and learn from each others experience.

We can start here from St. Louis and encourage creation of local alumni representatives to be responsible for bringing in their peers for active involvement without losing the focus of a unified chapter with the goal of reaching out and giving back to the community as a well disciplined group

Best Regards,
M. Haseeb, MD, FACC