APPNA celebrated its 40th anniversary and held its annual winter meeting at Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) in Lahore, Pakistan. It was the very first time that the meeting was not held at multiple medical colleges, and all events were held at AIMC campus as Allama Iqbal Alumni Association of North America was celebrating it 20th anniversary. AIMC holds a yearly conference called AIMCON, so this year both conferences were combined into one mega event to celebrate together. The APPNA delegates were received with a warm welcome and the love, care, and jubilation that APPNA members received will be remembered for years to come. 

The APPNA MERIT committee arranged a half day event on December 18th at Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC), in collaboration with RMC Alumni Association. The Army Medical (AMC) Rawalpindi, National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) and Army Medical College Alumni Association (AAA) also had a one-day (December 19th) event planned with APPNA MERIT committee for faculty development, medical education, training, and strategic planning for mutual cooperation and collaboration between APPNA, NUMS, AMC, and AAA. The event at RMC was a half a day scientific session presented by APPNA and local faculty.

The event at AMC was very well organized; APPNA delegates were invited to the AMC campus where AAA had arranged a very warm welcome, a cozy evening and a very elegant ghazal program. Maj. Gen. Saleem Ahmad Khan and his faculty welcomed APPNA delegates. We all were touched by their hospitality and it was made evident that our relationship with AMC, NUMS and AAA is not going to be a short one. APPNA members were very impressed with AMC's highly accomplished faculty and their great emphasis on establishing modern learning technologies and bringing their educational infrastructure to the international standards, especially the standards practiced in USA. 

The next day APPNA members all gathered at AMC's Ayub Auditorium for a very busy program. The inaugural session was presided by Prof. Dr. Shabbir Ahmed Lehri, who highlighted the challenges Pakistan and Medical Dental Council are facing regarding the mushroom growth of medical colleges in Pakistan and keeping up with the standard of medical education especially in private medical colleges as some of the owners of these colleges have been trying to make them a lucrative venture. At the inauguration session, APPNA President Dr. Sajid Chaudhary gave a brief overview of APPNA educational and philanthropic activities in Pakistan and around the world. Following the inauguration and enlightening lecture by Lt. Gen. S. M. Imran Majeed a series of lectures were delivered to a jam-packed auditorium about faculty building, advanced medical education & training challenges and opportunities in USA for medical graduated of Pakistan. The session was concluded with one to one meetings among the different sub specialty counterparts from both sides. 

Dr. Atique Mirza, APPNA Annual Winter Meeting Chairperson and Past president APCNA accompanied Lt. Gen. S. M. Imran Majeed to meet Commandant/Chief Executive Officer Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) Ma. Gen. Safdar Abbas and discussed opportunities for future collaboration for improving medical education, clinical training and providing cardiovascular healthcare to general population of Pakistan. We looked into the options of Association of Pakistani descent Cardiologists of North America (APCNA) holding interactive scientific sessions at AFIC for exchange of knowledge and also collaborating with NUMS to improve healthcare opportunities in Pakistan. At the end of the day, APPNA President Dr. Sajid Chaudhary, AAA President Dr. Irfan Mirza and NUMS representative signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate and assist in medical education, clinical training and transfer of knowledge for enhancement of standards of medical education and general population healthcare opportunities in Pakistan. 

In Lahore there was APCNA/APPNA two-day symposium of cardiovascular diseases at Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). This cardiovascular symposium was organized with the joint efforts of Jinnah Hospital Lahore (JHL) and Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore (SZH) with the unequivocal support of Prof. Dr. Nadeem Hyatt Malick Chief Executive PIC, Prof. Dr. Zubair Akram, Head of Department of Cardiology Jinnah Hospital, Lahore and Prof. Dr. Amber Malik, Head of the Department of Cardiology Shaikh Zayed Hospital. 

At PIC, the first day (December 20th) was dedicated to scientific sessions. Dr. Sajjad Ahmad, Assistant Professor of Cardiology at PIC, moderated the event. Prof. Dr. Nadeem Hyatt Malick, Chief Executive PIC, APPNA President Dr. Sajid Chaudhary and Dr. Atique A Mirza, Past President APCNA, inaugurated the event. Local & APCNA faculty delivered the state of the art lectures. The second day (December 21Ist) was dedicated for workshops Dr. Farhat Mahmood conducted an electrophysiology workshop and he also performed hands on electrophysiology complex procedures for multiple days with local faculty members.

APPNA festivities started on December 21st at AIMC with CME and workshops at AIMC auditorium in the morning and in the various medical & surgical wards followed by a grand inauguration ceremony presided by Mr. Gohar Ejaz, along with Principal AIMC Prof. Dr. Rashid Zia, Ex-Principal Prof. Dr. Mahmood Shaukat, Principal SIMS Prof. Dr. Mahmood Ayaz, AIMCAANA President Prof. Dr. Saad Usmani, APPNA President Dr. Sajid Chaudhary and Past President of APCNA and Founding President of AIMCAANA Dr. Atique Azam Mirza. Refreshments followed the inauguration ceremony, along with the planting of trees by the APPNA President and local faculty. Prof. Dr. Rashid Zia invited Mr. Gohar Ejaz and APPNA delegates to visit the site of prospective Skills Laboratory, which will be funded by the generous donation of Mr. Gohar Ejaz and AIMCAANA is being persuaded by AIMC to provide operative assistance. 

Dr. Saad Usmani, AIMCAANA President, promised that the project will be presented to the AIMCAANA project committee and will be happy to take the ownership of the project once it is duly approved.  APPNA delegates went to one of the most modern wards of JHL, which is run by Prof. Dr. Shafique Cheema. The APPNA members were very impressed with the operations of this unit. APPNA President distributed the bonus checks to the ward employees financed by philanthropic efforts of Mr. Gohar Ejaz.

The CME and various educational workshop activities continued three days with full participation from graduates and undergraduates of AIMC and various local institutions. AIMC faculty and students arranged a fun filled gala for APPNA delegates at AIMC campus. 

The next day, December 23rd, APPNA President met Prof. Dr. Zafar Ullah Chaudhry President College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan along with Dr. Atique Azam Mirza and Medtronic Team, Senior Director Mr. Rana Rasheed from Medtronic Head Quarter in Minneapolis and Ms. Dania Choucair, Director Clinical Research and Medical Education MEACAT Region to sign a MOU between APPNA and CPSP to collaborate and assist in medical education, clinical training and transfer of knowledge for enhancement of standards of medical education and general population healthcare opportunities in Pakistan.

Medtronic mutually agreed with CPSP that it would be opening a state of the art simulation-training center for cardiovascular procedures at College of Physicians & Surgeons of Pakistan Lahore regional Center. The other subspecialty simulation procedures will be added gradually. The collaboration was made possible by long standing efforts of Dr. Atique Azam Mirza, Past President of APCNA; APCNA team has been working on this project enthusiastically over the past many years.

APPNA banquet dinner was arranged at Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore in the evening. Mr. Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana was the chief guest at the occasion. Prof. Dr. Zafar Ullah Chaudhry was a guest of honor at the banquet. Nearly 400 hundred guests attended the dinner. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Faisalabad Institute of cardiology Prof. Dr. Anjum Jalal, CEO PIC, Prof. Dr. Nadeem Hyatt Malick, Vice Chancellor Fatima Jinnah University/ Director and Councilor CPSP Prof. Dr. Khalid Masood Gondal, Principal SIMS Prof. Dr. Mahmood Ayaz, Bishop Mano Ramal Shah, Samina Peerzada and Usman Peerzada attended the event among other local academicians, dignitaries and celebrities. The event was highlighted with the address of APPNA President, CPSP President and Governor Punjab. The surgeons for APPNA projects MUSKAAN and Cornea transplant were honored with commemorative shields for their services. APPNA President presented a shield of honor to Governor Punjab. The Governor of Punjab awarded shields to the organizing committee. The program ended with delicious Lahori traditional food and a music program presented by Sara Raza and Abbas Ali. The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by the APPNA members and our local guest until late at night.

On Sunday December 24th, more than eighty APPNA members went for Walled Lahore city tour on three coasters. We arrived at Delhi Gate, from where we all went on feet through the streets of Lahore and visited Shahi Hamam and other local historic monuments such as Musjid Wazeer Khan. Badshahi Mosque, tomb of Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Lahore Fort. Members returned with fond memories to be shared with our loved ones and friends who could not accompany us to this exciting trip to Lahore. We all said good-bye to each other with a promise to come back to Lahore sooner rather than later. Many people asked when we would have our next meeting at Lahore, even AIMC faculty asked when we would be back, and we said very SOON!!

Dr. Atique Mirza, MD

Chair APPNA Winter Meeting 2017