Dr. Lalith Savla took over the reigns of the Indian Medical Association of New England(IMANE) as the President for 2005 at the  annual meeting  held  at the Dedham Hilton on Sunday November 20th 2004.
The event conducted under the leadership of the President Dr. Onaly Kapasi was marked with dignity and grace with attention paid to every detail. The décor provided by Shobha Shastry of Alankar event planners provided the right ambience. In an unusual move, Dr. Kapasi invited not just the current committee members but also past presidents and trustees to the podium. Newton Mayor David Cohen was the guest of honor. The evening was inaugurated in an Indian style with the lighting of the lamps by the members at the guest table.

After a warm welcome by Dr. Kapasi the focus of the evening quickly shifted to recognizing and honoring the work of several distinguished doctors who are part of IMANE. Distinguished community service award was presented to two members. One was presented to Dr. V. Saini, who is the founder of Project Pacer and has spent personal time, money and talent and placed cardiac pacemakers in patients in India, Guatamala Nicaragua and many other developing countries since the early 80s. The other award was given to Dr. Victor Saldhana who is the president of the rotary club that has contributed medical services to developing countries. Distinguished physician award was given to Dr. Raj Goyal, full professor at Harvard for his excellence in academic medicine, and medical education for the past three decades.

“The past year has been very exciting for IMANE” said Dr. Kapasi as he presented his annual report. In 2004 IMANE added 109 new members.  In keeping with the mission to promote medical education, they organized the first Journal club. The spring and summer meeting were ACCME accredited. They also sponsored an Osteoporosis survey for the Indian American community.

Charity and service are an integral part of IMANE’s mission. During 2004, IMANE sponsored the Waltham free clinic. The clinic, which is open every Monday evening, is served by doctors who volunteer their time. The clinic has been officially recognized by Tufts University for providing Community service rotation for its students. IMANE also sponsored health fairs in Providence Rhode Island, at the Boston Hatch Shell and in Worcester. Drs. Kunwar Singh, Apurv Gupta and Mike Daly were presented special service awards for their services to the Waltham Free Clinic and other IMANE sponsored charitable projects

IMANE members presented leadership awards were presented to the Dr. Onaly Kapasi (President) and Dr. Shreekant Chopra, Chairman of the BOT for all their work this past year.

Dr. Lalit Savla was sworn in ceremoniously as the new President and he promised to exapnd on the work of the previous committee.  Dr. Kapasi gave his farewell address by personally thanking and recognizing every one who had helped IMANE and the committee during his tenure. Dr. Kapasi ended his speech on a sweet note where he thanked and acknowledged his wife Dr. Chandramukhi Kapasi, as his personal trainer. A gourmet dinner and dancing ending the evening which was grand  - a fitting tribute to doctors who work so hard to take care of our most precious procession – our health.

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