It’s been a gradual journey for Dr. Naresh Parikh, President-Elect of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) from being an ordinary member of AAPI to a regional leader, elected to be an executive committee member of the national AAPI, and now looking forward to lead the organization that he has come to adore.
“I had started working as an ordinary member in 1986 with Georgia Association of physicians of Indian Origin and was elected President of GAPI, and then rose to be the Regional Director of AAPI SE and had served as a member of the BOT of AAPI. And today, I am honored and humbled by AAPI members, entrusting the largest ethnic medical organization, representing the over 100,000 physicians of Indian origin, with the responsibility of leading it to newer heights.”
As the President of AAPI, “I will dedicate my time, energy and skills to maintain the integrity of AAPI and promote membership database and scrub data. We will work together encouraging and motivating more and more Physicians and Dentists to join AAPI and work towards increase in AAPI membership representing all sections, including, women, young and old, while providing enhanced membership benefits including liability insurance carrier, billing, collection company, cardiac remote monitoring, and credit card transactions through reputed banking services.” Our Mission and Motto for the upcoming year is “Keep AAPI Thriving with Balance, Unity and Pride”
Graduated from Nagpur Medical College in 1972 and a cardiologist by profession, Dr. Naresh Parikh is serving as the CEO of Georgia Clinic, a multi-specialty organization, founded in 1998, serving patients from dozen locations. A practicing Cardiologist in Atlanta, Georgia for 30 years, Dr. Parikh was instrumental in starting IPA in 2016 with 53 participating providers and has been active in DRS ACO. Dr. Parikh is also involved with Cigna Health Spring as a counsel to improve Hedis score and improve MRA scoring for Georgia Physicians.
Dr. Parikh been very active and leading several local and national level programs for AAPI in the past several years. He has been a Patron Member of the AAPI Charitable Foundation since 2006. His organizing skills were highly appreciated when he served as the Chair and Convener for AAPI annual convention in 2006. Dr. Parikh was the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan concerts and was instrumental in successfully raising money for AAPI.
Not satisfied with growing professionally and contributing and leading AAPI, Dr. Parikh has been generous with his time, talents and resources towards charitable causes for long. Dr. Parikh has been devoting time energy towards several noble causes across the US and in India.Dr. Parikh started Atlanta’s first Charitable Medical Clinic in 1996 and was the Medical Director for over 10 years. He has led and organized several healthcare fairs and contributed in fund raising events for AAPI in their mega shows by Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal and Hema Malini.
Dr. Parikh says, “It’s been an honor and privilege for me to be associated with AAPI because I recognize the tremendous potential and the lead role that is being played by AAPI in promoting friendship between India and the United States. As members of AAPI, we have not forgotten our roots and are engaged in several activities such as conducting Indo-US Healthcare Summit that has shown us a new trail in healthcare sector in India and will continue to pave way for new frontiers in public private partnership.” As the president of AAPI, which has been playing a major role in supporting noble causes around the world, Dr. Parikh’s goal “is to be actively engaged in the SEWAK project in India.”
In 2014, as the Treasurer of AAPI, Dr. Parikh had the honor of meeting with Hon. Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi to launch the Swasth India Portal. In the same year, he had sponsored the screening of the popular movie in Atlanta – “The Ship to Theseus” and helped to raise awareness about the need for organ donation. In 2015 Dr. Parikh sponsored the community reception of Vikas Swarap – writer of Slum Dog Millionaire, a winner of 8 Academy awards. Since 2017 onwards, he is serving as the President of Georgia Gujarati Doctors and Dental Association.
Dr. Parikh has been in the forefront in helping AAPI sign MOUs with Rajkot, Gujarat, India Thalassemia Major Koticha Foundation; and with Rajkot, Gujarat, India Kidney Research Foundation; and with AAPNA, BMANA – Formation of “SAPNA”.
Thalassemia Major is a devastating disease, prevalent in Southern part of Gujarat. India. An NGO, Koticha Foundation is doing an excellent service for the Community. AAPI has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) whereby, we have made an appeal to the Ministry of Health to make mandatory blood screening before marriage or high school/college admissions.
AAPI recently opened a charitable clinic in Panvel, Mumbai, MS known as Tara Clinic and is being sponsored by Naresh and Asha Parikh Foundation in collaboration with AAPI Charitable Foundation. This clinic is serving residents from the Panvel tribal community which is about 2 hours away from South Mumbai.
During a historical event on Jan 27th, 2018 in Miami, FL, Dr. Naresh Parikh along with Current President Dr. Gautam Sammader and AAPI Strategy Advisor Anwar Feroz Siddiqi, was installed as a Founding Member.
Dr. Parikh initiated a strategic and symbolic “Singing of MOU with Physician of Pakistani and Bangladesh origin with AAPI in Feb 2018 In Miami, Florida. This brings about a non-binding alliance of three south Asian physicians groups that will help support strategic and agreed upon programs that impact health and well being of South Asians, such as addressing the higher incidence of heart diseases in South Asians.
Dr. Parikh will form a national panel and advisory committee to help and guide the international medical graduates from South Asia. He wants to have an alliance of 10 percent of the nation’s doctors, the group can be more engaged in mainstream policy through the American Medical Association. Efforts will also include civic engagement in health fairs and providing telemedicine services to South Asian nations.
Dr. Parikh wants to address three key priorities for the year July 2018 to June 2019: Opioid epidemic and awareness, to be coordinated by Dr. Kavita Gupta and Dr. Sanjay Gupta; Lymphoma and Leukemia Research, under the leadership of Dr. Vinod Shah; and, the Silent Epidemic, TB in India, with a major focus at The Global Health Summit to be held from Dec 28th to 30th in Mumbai. Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, Dr. Manoj Jain of CDC and Chief Strategy Adviser, AAPI Anwar Feroz Siddiqi have been instrumental in coordinating this new initiative with the USAID through CDC Atlanta, GA and with various agencies in India.
In his efforts to make AAPI’s voice heard in the corridors of power, Dr. Parikh wants to continue “our ongoing and year around efforts to have a meaningful and convincing conversation with USA Lawmakers to increase Residency Slots for Physician of Indian origin that can help fill up slots and partner with USA in easing shortage of Physicians, particularly in underserved areas. This effort is being coordinated by Dr. Ajeet Singhvi who is very passionate about leading this initiative.
As the President-Elect of AAPI, Dr. Parikh was instrumental in launching of a new partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to end tuberculosis (TB) in India. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, signed last month in New Delhi and announced in Mumbai, AAPI and USAID will work together to utilize the 100,000-strong network of physicians of Indian-origin living in the United States to support health programs in India, engage AAPI’s network of private charitable clinics for TB awareness, detection and treatment, and explore opportunities for collaborations between U.S. and Indian medical schools to exchange cutting-edge health care solutions.
Speaking about the USAID-AAPI collaboration, Dr. Naresh Parikh, President-Elect of AAPI, said: “Elimination of Tuberculosis has been a matter of national concern for many years now. Through our partnership with USAID, we aim to bring American technical expertise to help strengthen India’s fight against TB. Also, we intend to bring in leading subject matter experts, introduce global best practices and cutting-edge business solutions that will complement and grow existing USAID programs in India.”
In his efforts to strengthen and lead AAPI to new heights, Dr. Parikh will work with the newly elected executive committee members, including, Dr. Suresh Reddy, the President-Elect; Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, Vice President; Anupama Gotimukula, Secretary of AAPI; and Dr. Anjana Samadder, Treasurer of AAPI.
As the President of AAPI, when he assumes office on July 7th in Dayton, OHIO, Dr. Parikh will “carry forward my duties of AAPI Office and keeping transparency, accountability and branding of AAPI. Under the current dynamic and dedicated team of executives, we strive to achieve higher standards for AAPI and to achieve our chosen agenda. I am committed to working with the AAPI Team to establish AAPI’s image in the US and globally.”