Dear IAMA Members:
First of all, I would like to wholeheartedly thank Dr. Ganchi, Founder of the association for his enthusiasm, persistence, and dedication. He has made sure that IAMA has continued to improve in its mission from its inception. We just finished our 24th Annual Meeting in the beautiful city of San Diego. The venue was excellent and liked very much by all participants.
Thanks to our local organizing committee, chaired by Dr. Ashouri, who did a wonderful job to see that this event was a success. In spite of a few last minute legitimate cancellations (sickness and death in the family); we were able to deliver a high quality CME course (as evaluated by participants), thanks to our dedicated members who kindly filled in for these canceled spots.
The CME event was very interactive and there was ample time for questions & answers. We had 97 registered participants and out of 55 CME qualified registrants for the course, only 35 turned in their evaluations. These members will receive their CME certificate soon. For those who forgot either to turn in or fill out their evaluations, please call IAMA office for the form to fill out and return them if you need a CME certificate.
This year we were honored to have three distinguished guest speakers Drs. Gharib, Ronaghy, and, Akbarnia and each of them touched upon very important subjects of interest for our audience. Our keynote speaker Mr. Mohammad Ehteshami, First Vice President of G.E., gave a fascinating, enlightening, and state of the art lecture that really defined for us the meaning of “Engineering the Impossible”. He and his wife stayed during the entire meeting and made a close bond with IAMA family. Mr. Ehteshami graciously accepted to be an honorary member of IAMA.
Thanks to Dr. Ghazi who made it happen. Everyone enjoyed the hospitality of Dr. Javedani, his wife and his personnel at Sufi Restaurant on Saturday night. The restaurant’s atmosphere, entertainment, taste, and quantity of food was excellent and liked by all of us. TRUST • COMMITMENT • STRENGTH & EDUCATION During our Young Investigator Luncheon, three top young presenters (medical student Arash Ataie, Dr. Pooria Hosseini, and Dr. Sara Aria) were awarded either Leila Armin or Dr. Mirzaei young investigator award, a certificate and, $500 each.
Seven other young investigators received travel grants and reimbursement for their hotel expense, young investigator luncheon award session and Gala dinner. This year’s generous donors for this great cause were Dr. Masood Khatamee and Dr. Mehrnaz Hadian. The reason for this is to make sure that our young colleagues who may not have the opportunity of staying at the main venue can be there so they will receive the maximum benefit from all the activities, enjoy networking, and get to know their senior colleagues.
I encourage our other senior members to consider contributing to this great cause. One of the highlights of our meeting was when Arman Raesian-Nejad, a young volunteer became impressed with this altruistic attitude of our members, he raised up and donated 1 week of his earnings to IAMA.
I was touched very much by his selfless action and I encourage other members who were not present in the Gala or did not contribute, do so now and specify what purpose they want their donation to be used for.
IAMA’s business meeting was held Sunday afternoon when Dr. Ganchi oriented members on Bam project. Our hardworking treasurer, Dr. Ataei gave a detailed report on the financial status of the association. The report will be available on the website for anyone who wants to see it. The Monday morning rap-up session included board members, trustees and chapter Presidents. Houston was chosen for next year’s meeting.
This will be the 25th anniversary of our beloved organization IAMA, already a very talented and committed local organizing committee is in full force to prepare another excellent meeting for our members. Please get yourself ready it is Memorial Day weekend, 2018 “mark your calendar”. During the meeting, we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries of several of our members. IAMA Javaan elected Anahita Hadioonzadeh as their President and Dr. Shahab Kahzanedari as Vice President. Congratulations to them and the rest of their board, we hope for a very active and energetic IAMA Javaan for future.
I cannot finish without thanking our wonderful volunteers for making life easy for everyone during the meeting.
Your humble President
Hosein Shokouh Amri
