Our Journey

Although the first batch of JSMU graduated in 1978-1979, it was not till 1984-85 when bulk of graduates came to USA for higher education and better opportunities. Most of the graduates landed in New York where they used to socialize with friends from JSMU in their free time. One such gathering was the first Birthday party of Dr. Zubair Badshah’s son where he invited few of his friends from JSMU. Those who attended were Aftab Ahmad, Ahmad Mustafa Hasan, Faiq Hameedi, Nadeem Haque, Rafi Malik, Saeed Akhtar, Sajid Ahmad, Naheed Ahmed, Shahab Siddiqui, Shamim Najeebi, Shaukat Siddique, Zafar Ahsan and Zubair Ali.

The idea of an Alumni Association was conceived during this birthday party at Maimonides Medical Center apartment, 950 49th Street #4a, Brooklyn, New York on Aug 19th, 1989. This idea was very well received by all those who were present in that party and excited everyone else who was living in North East at that time.

The first meeting was held at Residence hall in Maimonides Medical center reserved by Dr. Saeed Akhtar where the wives did all the cooking for all the attendees of the meeting. The above mentioned graduates attended the meeting. The other participants of this meeting who drove from faraway were Javed Suleman, Rizwan Naeem and Khalil Khatri. Faiq Hameedi was selected as President and Javed Suleman as Treasurer. Initially, the term of the office was for two years.

The constitution written by Dr. Khadim was approved at a meeting held at Dr. Aftab Ahmed’s house. This meeting was attended by Zafar Ahsan, Sajid Ahmed, Zubair Badshah, Malik Rafi, Faiq Hameedi, Ahmed Mustafa, Saeed Akhter, Javed Suleman, Aftab Ahmed, Abdul Hakeem, Rashid Siddique, Salim Zaidi, Yaqoob Sheikh and Qadir Memon. Around that time, some of these meetings were also attended by graduates like Nadeem Kazi, Anwar Malik, Kamal Haider, Hakeem, Joseph Emmanuel, Faheem Qureshi, Pervez Musarrat, Iqbal Zafar Hamid and few others.

First big meeting was in April or May of 1993 in a hotel in West Chester, NY. It was a complete success with all the necessary characteristics: food, friends, music and a lot of dancing.
In June, 1994, Sindh Medical College Alumni Association joined APPNA. This was the first expansion of the Executive Council of APPNA since the inception of the Association. JSMU was the first medical College among all the Medical Colleges established in 1970’s and later to join APPNA.

Initial mission was to establish network in order to assist the new graduates as well as guide those who were seeking residencies. As the membership grew, they were able to help each other. For the initial few years after affiliation, 5 to 10 JSMUians used to show up for annual meetings. One of the regular attendees was a couple from Houston/surrounding area, Saeed Akhter (Psychiatrist) and his wife, a pediatrician.

Over the period of years, Alumni went through great transformation from a Residence hall meeting and meal cooked by wives to five star hotels and fancy meals. It’s all due to hard work and dedication of every JSMUian.

As the membership grew, the differences among members grew. JSMUAANA went through some tough times. These differences in thinking and opinion were healthy and constructive as everyone was working for the same cause, to make JSMU Alumni, the most vibrant organization with clear vision and mission. Nobody wanted to hurt the association. By the end of 1999, the members got together, discussed their differences out and started working as one Alumni organization. There has been no looking back since then.

Sindh Medical College Alumni Association of North America has been in existence for more than twenty years. It keeps very close contact with Sindh Medical College and JSMU Alumni of Pakistan. JSMUAANA, along with JSMU Alumni of Pakistan organizes Annual JSMU Winter Meeting in Karachi every December, coinciding with APPNA Winter meeting.

JSMUAANA’s help and support to JSMU and Pakistan’s health and education center is no secret to anyone. Some of the highlights are: