THANK YOU !

On behalf of the Chicago Convention Committee, I thank you for your support and participation. The Chicago convention was the result of three years of planning and hard work by a group of people who showed extraordinary leadership and sincerity. Drs K J Philip, Moly Mathew, Krishna Prasad, Isaac and Jaya Thomas, Manuel and Meena Joseph, P Hari, P and Lakshmi Venugopal, Korathu and Dolly Thomas, Prasad Thomas, Indira Nair, Sajan and Sajini Joseph, Isaac Parmpottil, John Mathew and Kochuthresia Nedumgottil are a few of them who were there right from the beginning. It was a long process but during the process Mariamma and I made a lot of new friends who made it an enjoyable experience. Throughout the planning process we had several committee meetings in Chicago which were more like family gatherings, and my only regret is that we are going to miss them.

 At the beginning of this process we were able to organize several fundraising parties across the midwest to raise money for AKMG's EMS project, and later, two Midwest AKMG  Regional Meeting and CME at the Willowbrook Holiday Inn in Chicago. The success of these events led to the sold out  AKMG winter trip " Palace on Wheels " in North India for eight royal days in Jan 2009. This year we had numerous regional meetings across the country. These meetings were well attended and filled with fun and gave the biggest boost to the Chicago Convention. I thank Mini and John Mathew of Fort Wayne, K C Joseph and Satish Sunder of Detroit, Manuel and Meena  Joseph of Milwaukee, Raju and Mary Kulangara of Atlanta, Ranjit Cherian and Jacob Joseph of  Washingtion D C, Mohan and Indira Kumar of Houston, Sam Edwards and Aravind Pilli of Orlando and Cecily and Jose Anto of New York City; for organizing these fun filled events.

We in Chicago wanted to present a memorable convention for you and we hope we were successful. Our Keynote speaker, Dr James Rohack, President of AMA and felicitation by Dr Vinod Shah, President of AAPI were exceptional.

The CME Committee, under Dr P Venugopal, Dr Koruthu Thomas and Ms Lakshmi Venugopal, organized two days of CME with maximum participation from young AKMG. Poster presentation for young AKMG, organized by Dr Sandep Nathan, was also successful and first prize winner was awarded $ 1500 and second prize winner was awarded $ 1000 cash prizes.

The Entertainment Committee, under Dr Manuel Joseph and Dr P Hari, presented very unique programs which included Campus Comedy by AKMG members, entertainment by top performers from Kerala, Classical Music Concert by Padmabhushan  Dr K J Yesudas and Music Concert by Biju Naryan and Rimi Tomy. In addition to this they presented the Grand Gala Entertainment, "Passport to the World", produced by our convention chair Dr K J Philip with rave reviews.

The July 4th fireworks cruise turned out to be a memorable event for all attendees, and the interest was more than we expected. Because of the Downtown location of the hotel we had great attendance from young AKMG members and we organized special events for them which include Second City Comedy Club and Trolley Ride. Our hope is they will all come back next year. I thank Dr Prasad Thomas and Ms Asha Varghese for organizing activities for the young AKMG. I also thank Achamma Varghese and Rose Mathew for organizing activities for women and Mr Jude Mathew and Mr George Puthumana for organizing all the sports activities.

The economic crisis and the current restrictions on Pharmaceuticals made our fundraising very challenging. In spite of all this, our convention had a surplus and will be distributed as per the bylaws. I thank all of our sponsors, especially our major sponsor Dr Indira Nair and Mr R K Nair. 

The AKMG Friendship award was given to Mr R K Nair for his support to AKMG for the past several years and the AKMG Merit Award to Dr Ambujam Krishnan and Mr Radha Krishnan for their outstanding service to the organization.

I thank you all for giving me an opportunity to serve and I wish our President Dr P C Punnen and his Vancour Convention team all success.

Wishing you all the very best and expecting to see you in Vancour next year.