A message from Dr. Imran Qureshi

Assalam Akaikum

As we approach the middle part of summer, I look forward to those of you joining us in Park City, Utah for our annual conference.

Over the last few years IMANA has continued to grow and it has been my privilege as president to both be a part of that process and have an upfront seat to watch the great work of our organization, volunteers, staff, and board members. As all good things come to an end, my term as president ends this summer.

After my last seven years of serving on the executive committee in various roles culminating in the presidency, I hope I have been at least a small gear in the IMANA machine. But I can say with absolute sincerity that whatever I may have contributed to IMANA, IMANA has contributed much more to me. Working with and learning from my colleagues has been incredibly rewarding and Inshallah leaves me in a better place from where I started.

Dr. Nabile Safdar has worked by my side for the last few years and will be our new president. He will bring an insightful and academic flavor to our leadership structure with his own professional background as an academic radiologist.

Our new Vice President, Dr. Marium Husain, has been a dedicated IMANA board member as well for the last few years and the leader of our student/resident and education committees before that. Her passion for the organization will continue to suit IMANA well.

I would like to thank Dr. Saquib Lakhani, who served on the board for the last year and will now transition into a focused role on our IMANA Medical Relief team, where he has helped run and grow the SaveSyria project.

As it is with every good organization, newer members join leadership and bring fresh ideas. With the growth of IMANA, we saw newfound interest from members who wanted to join our leadership team and we had one of our only elections in recent memory. We had four exceptional candidates, all of whom have spent time and effort making IMANA what it is. I thank all of our members for helping select our newest board members (and I secondly thank our candidates for not running on a “MAKE IMANA GREAT AGAIN” campaign).

With that, I would like to thank Drs. Labib Syed and Umbereen Nehal for the work they have done and continue to do for IMANA involving medical relief, CME, public policy, and our AED project. I look forward to their continued contributions.

As for our two new rookies, I would like to introduce Dr. Syed Rahman and Dr. Anam Tariq onto our Board. I’ve had the pleasure of working with both in the recent year on a SaveRohyinga relief mission with Dr. Rahman (goes by Mohseen) and on our Education committee with Dr. Tariq as we implement new ideas and strategies to grow our student mentorship program.

Dr. Rahman will serve as our new secretary and Dr. Tariq will take over the reigns of treasurer. I look forward to seeing them grow into their roles and then continue to help guide and direct the organization over the upcoming years (no pressure). I myself will find a beach to retire on and join our ex-ex President Dr. Asif Malik (just kidding, but it does sound appealing).

I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks!