Talk with Dr. Sameer Kapasi from IMANE

4/7/2017
Razia Mashkoor talks with Dr. Sameer Kapasi. Dr. Sameer is a current president of IMANE.
Hello Sameer, congratulations for organizing the CME lecture & inviting us.
Q. Tell me about this event, ‘THE NASIR KHAN MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES?’
Our Continuing Medical Series is designated for 5 category 1 credits. The lectures provided a great forum for the medical community to meet, network, and learn more about each other while advancing our medical knowledge. The lectures are named after Nasir Khan, M.D., one of the pillars of the South Asian medical community, who was instrumental in furthering our organization.
Q. Before we jump to the formal questions, I would like to know a little bit about you & your family?
I am a Boston native, born and bred. After my education in the DC area and New York, I felt a duty and priority to return to my roots in Boston. Since I have been back, I completed my training at Tufts and the New England Baptist Hospital and then joined the world of private practice. My wife Sajani, a past president of IMANE, is the Chief of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Tufts Medical center. Sajani, and I have been married for nearly 10 years and live in Boston, where we are bringing up a 5-year-old and 8-year-old to be conscientious world citizens.
My parents, Chander and Onaly Kapasi, have taught me to work hard and be strong in the face of adversity.

Q. Being an IMANE president what is your feeling right now?
IMANE has been a boon to incoming Indian medical graduates and has always been relevant to them, as a way to network and gain like-minded friends in a foreign land. The landscape has slowly changed significantly so that now we are starting to represent Indian origin physicians who maintain a strong call to service in the community.
Q. How do you see this year as IMANE president?
Along with my amazing team, I look forward to growing our membership and building alliances with our community groups and businesses.
Q. What is your goal which you want to achieve this year for this renewed organization?
The IMANE team and I are working to increase the younger membership so that we can make IMANE sustainable in the future.
Q. What kind of support you are looking from the committee?
I think of it the other way around. How can WE help the community? As a group, we want to figure out how we can help the healthcare needs of our community and our local community in general.
Q. How about challenges? If they come, what it could be?
Our challenges are the same as every year: how can we continue to grow this organization and make it relevant to our physicians and other healthcare workers.
Q. As on May 13, 2017, is your first event. What kind of other events are you planning throughout the year?
We have weekly free health clinics in Waltham and Shrewsbury.
We are planning subsidized evenings out with IMANE, where we take nonmembers out to dinner. We are also planning a community service event in June with Cradles 2 Crayons, a local group that provides clothes and toys to lower income families. In June, we are partnering with UIA in a health, wellness and community fair. We also have our summer cruise in mid-July and will round out our year with the annual gala on November 18 at the Woburn Hilton.

Q. Any message would you like to give to our readers?
I encourage you to come to our events and talk to use to see how you can help! Our team is always available to arrange community lectures and/or health fairs. We have some amazing and accomplished members who are always happy to talk to aspiring members. We encourage everyone to come to our website: www.imanemd.org to join our organization and learn about what we do.
Thanks for giving me the time to tell you about our wonderful organization!
Thank you, Dr Sameer for giving us few minutes to talk about you and your work as IMANE president. We wish you a good luck for the year ahead.