Indian American doctors organisation spearheads stem cell registration drive
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a non-profit organisation that represents over 35,000 Indian American physicians, has started an initiative for bone marrow and stem cell registration across the US. AAPI has partnered with America’s National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) to increase the Indian donor pool.
“Patients with leukemia and lymphoma need bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant to survive. Finding matching donors for cancer patients is difficult, especially for those of Indian and South Asian ethnicity. This drive, in which dozens of local AAPI chapter leaders, members and volunteers across the US have participated, is to increase the limited pool of donors and create awareness among more youth and adults to enrol,” Dr Satheesh Kathula, an oncologist based in Dayton, Ohio and the president of AAPI for the 2024-2025 term, told the Times of India.
“In the US, about 25% of the doctors are immigrants and of that number the majority are Indian Americans. Indian American physicians hold key positions not just in healthcare but also in research, academia and administration. Many serve in critical positions in underserved areas,” Dr Kathula, who has is a recipient of the US Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023-2024, said.
Started over four decades back, to fight discrimination against foreign doctors, in granting licences, by some US states, AAPI has emerged a prominent professional organisation working as a social, educational, political and advocacy platform for Indian American doctors, Dr Kathula said.
The AAPI Young Physicians section and AAPI Medical Students, Residents and Fellows section are focussed on Indian American medical and dental students, residents and fellows, and physicians-in-training. “We support and encourage the younger generation of Indian American doctors in many ways including communication, legislation, collaboration and education. Addressing the increasing shortage of physicians, we are trying to increase recruitment and encouraging more younger generation members to join our organisation. We provide opportunities for students, including those coming from India, to present research papers and have also been advocating for legislative reforms to ease the residency pathway for international medical graduates,” Dr Kathula said.
While AAPI is committed to promoting medical education and supporting young physicians’ knowledge base through continuing medical education, enhancing their careers, and empowering them to play a key role in healthcare advocacy and community service; the organisation also plays an important role in providing a channel between US law makers and its members. “AAPI advocates for policies that expedite green card processes for doctors on H1 visas,” Dr Kathula said.
He was at the helm in conceptualising and organising the AAPI Global Healthcare Summit in New Delhi last October and feels that the topics that were covered, including prevention strategies for cancer and heart attacks, role of lifestyle changes, and the integration of technology into healthcare, need to be addressed in India on an urgent basis. “AAPI has been engaged in harnessing the power of the Indian diaspora to bring the most innovative, efficient, cost-effective healthcare and preventable solutions to India,” Dr Kathula said about the summit, in which dozens of physicians of Indian origin participated.
He has held several leadership positions in AAPI and during the Covid pandemic, Dr Kathula led the initiative to raise $5.2 million to support healthcare services in India. “AAPI is the largest ethnic group of doctors in the US and Indian American physicians are contributing in several significant ways including in politics and influential posts in state medical boards and policy making,” he said.
