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Youth Hold Key to AAPI's Future

R S Shankar

About five or six years ago, the only young people seen at the convention of the Indian physicians in America used to be the sons and daughters of the participants. For most part they wore glum expression, and often complained that they were dragged to the convention by their parents.

But in the last three years, visitors to the annual convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin have been seeing smiling faces of young Indian Americans. They have also been seeing these young men and women in leadership roles. For many of them are medical students and many have just started their medical careers.

At the 1999 annual AAPI convention in Anaheim, California this week, the young leaders of tomorrow who are represented will be full-fledged participants, says Dr Sanjay Jain, the president of AAPI-Medical Students and Residents convention chair.

"But for these young men and women would AAPI have any future at all," asks Dr Sudhr Parikh, an outspoken AAPI leader, who wants the association to focus more on the new generation of Indian American medical students and doctors.

"This is a sensitive generation," says Dr Navin Shah, one of the founding members of AAPI and a former president of the organization. "We ought to give them a bigger role. We should understand their concerns are not the same as those of immigrant doctors who were worried about discrimination at job and other concomitant issues."

Many of the young AAPI leaders have at least one doctor parent. Shah's son is with Duke University, one of the top medical establishments in America. Several AAPI-MSR chapters have come up at top universities across America.

"We intend not only to connect with each other, to share our professional pride and achievements but also to help the Indian community at large," says Dr Ritu Bapat, an AAPI-MSR leader. "We are also involved in a number of voluntary programs in India."

Several young Indian American doctors and medical students, who were either born here or raised here from very early years, believe their parents got involved in charitable works in India because they felt they owed something to the country of their birth.

"Some of them felt plain guilty that they had left India behind them," said Dr Shesh Mudugal. "So they gave to charities and AAPI clinics in India. Of course, they could have given much more," he adds after a pause.

But the new generation at AAPI looks at charitable endeavors from a different perspective. They do care for what is happening in India, they say, but they are also concerned about health care and volunteer work in other parts of the world, including the inner cities in America.

"In many ways we are acting like world citizens," says Bapat. "We are not involved in Indian charities alone. Some of us have gone to central and south American countries and volunteered in public health activities. Many of us are involved in health care programs in poorer parts of our cities and towns."

AAPI-MSR members also work along with Indian student and professional groups to have joint programs. A few months ago they took the initiative in hosting a health symposium in conjunction with the Network of South Asian Professionals of Washington DC.

"AAPI-MSR has laid an excellent foundation for their future," says Kalpalatha Guntupalli, the outgoing president of AAPI. "It is good to know that the future is in good hands."

At the New Jersey Medical School a few months ago, Minal Vazirani, Neil Sanghvi and Vikash Modi joined hands with the Indian Student Association to host a forum: 'Addressing AIDS Epidemic in India'.

They heard not only American but also Indian experts including Nazleen Bharmal and Shilpa Rao from VISIONS Worldwide on the epidemic.

"The older generation of Indian doctors were in some way inward looking," says one young doctor who asked for anonymity. "They were new immigrants and naturally they were too concerned about paying back their loans, getting job securities, and making a quick fortune."

"It is not that we do not want to make money or have a wonderful life," she continued. "But we consider ourselves Americans. And we are not going through the anxiety the first generation of Indian doctors went through. We are not worried about our accents or our social etiquette. We look at things from a different perspective."

"We also feel that we can give back a lot to the Indian American community," she adds. "In a way, we feel that we are giving back something to our parents who made many sacrifices for us."

The AAPI-MSR chapters, for instance, are involved in organizations that deal with the problems of domestic violence and abuse of South Asian women; they help the National Bone Marrow Registry find minority donors, and they take part in free clinics for indigent Indian immigrants.

For more information about AAPI-MSR contact Minal Vazirani at Vazirani@umdnj.edu or msr@aapiusa.org; or call AAPI headquarters, (518) 463-3369.

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