Dear Nishtarians:

Assalaam-U-Alaikum!!

It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to Washington, DC for Nishtar Alumni annual 2008 summer meeting.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to work in this organization to serve as treasure, secretary, president elect and now President. 

As you know, Dr. Piracha has accepted to serve as Executive Director as he has so successfully done in the past.  Since officers change yearly, Dr. Piracha, as Executive Director, will supervise the continuity of the projects that were already started. 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Javed Iqbal who served the organization last year by successfully starting a educational conference room project at Nishtar Medical College.

This year we started several committees and asked Nishtarians to help Nishtar medical College in any capacity.  Dr. Gulam Qader is continuing to chair the Scholarship Committee and has 3-4 members on the committee.  Dr. Hamid Farooqi is chair of the Project Committee and Dr. Abdul Jabbar and Dr. Piracha on the Membership Committee.  These committees were created to distribute the work and get more involvement and to prepare the new leadership. 

As I mentioned in my previous correspondence, our financial fiasco is completely resolved and there are no outstanding accounts.  We only have three accounts now and are planning to close one and keep only two accounts with the endowment fund reaching close to $225,000.  We will continue to provide scholarships to deserving students of Nishtar Alumni.  We started with 10 scholarships and have increased to 15-20.  Construction of a conference room for ACLS and BCLS training at Nishtar Medical College is almost completed and we are planning to start another project this year.

I am certain the new leadership will continue the work started and will take on new projects which will be supported by all.

I am taking this opportunity to invite all members to the fall meeting in Pakistan where we will be planning a trip to Nishtar Medical College.  Our best efforts reside in a united effort.

I look forward to a very productive year.  I will try to be in touch with all of you by mail.  Please make sure that all forms are up to date regarding activities of the Alumni.

I would like to extent my heartfelt appreciation to all attendees and the local host committee for making this meeting memorable.

Inshallah we will achieve our goals together. 

Long live Nishtar Alumni and Medical College.  God bless Pakistan and America! Long live democracy!

Dr. Asif M. Rehman,

F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C., F.S.C.A.I

President Nishtar Alumni 2008