Meet Our President!
IPOF President, Dr. Shahnaz Fatteh’s Message
Dear IPOF Members!
I am humbled, excited and honored to represent the Indian Physicians of South Florida as your President. I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support!
I want to recognize past presidents, the board of trustees and executive board members for their dedication and leadership which has made IPOF so successful over these past 33 years! IPOF is recognized by our medical peers as a leading organization in healthcare in South Florida!
It is my mission to continue this devoted service to our community and to promote ongoing academic, philanthropic, social and leadership engagement in the medical community.
As Indian physicians our spirit of perseverance, resilience and hard work has helped Indian physicians to become leaders in medical education. Many IPOF members hold faculty positions in medical schools, are involved in GME training of residents, chair fellowship programs, and are in leadership in local hospitals. It is exciting to see involvement of IPOF physicians in mentorship of upcoming medical students, residents and fellows! Our next generation of younger physicians will help continue our goals. Let us always be there for them and assist them as they launch their careers and welcome them to our IPOF family!
My experience in leadership has been extensive. I am the Past President of the Broward County of Medical Association in 2020 during the COVID crisis. Of course, this was a major crisis worldwide and I had the opportunity to work with public health authorities, local leaders such as our mayors, hospitals and state leaders in decision making for response to the COVID pandemic. I helped with fundraising for PPE as well as starting the vaccination drive.
I continue in active leadership in both the BCMA serving as Board of Trustees, Chair and at the Florida Medical Association, as an active delegate for more than 10 years and serving in Finance and Administration Committee as well as the Women’s Forum and the PAC board.
As an Allergist and Immunologist, I served as the President of the American Association of Allergists and Immunologists from Indian (AAAII), at both the American Association of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (ACAAI) for 4 years (2017-2021). I currently continue to serve in committees at both AAAAI and ACAAI and have scholarly publications in the field of Allergy and Immunology. I have been Clinical Director of the Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program at Larkin Community Hospital since 2017, having served as a founder of the fellowship and program director from 2012-2017. I also am on Leadership BOD for the American Lung Association and have been active for many years with the American Medical Women’s Association, serving as past president of the South Florida chapter.
I, along with my husband Faiz, joined IPOF as life members as soon as we came to South Florida in 1996. We had just must the founders of this amazing organization, the late Dr. Rajendra Gupta and his wife, Dr. Shoba Gupta. They shared the mission and vision of IPOF to help Indian physicians start their practices with a wider goal of helping Indian American physicians everywhere. We also became AAPI lifetime members with similar vision.
Over the next years, IPOF will continue many projects that have been initiated and approved by our past Executive Leaders.
These include:
- Mentorship – Continued mentorship and engagement with our medical schools to establish chapters of IPOF medical student organizations with the purpose of supporting externships, missions and academic scholarship.
- Healthcare Partnerships – As more clinical residency programs and fellowship programs become established in our community, many IPOF members are active as program directors, residency chairs and teaching faculty. Continued support of engagement and promotion of academic scholarship through a research publication link will be set up in the IPOF website to showcase these efforts.
- Female Leadership – IPOF will continue to support female physicians as they often face challenges of life/ work balance. As a mother of two, now grown children, I remember the daily challenges of raising children, schools, after school and home life, while maintain and growing a practice. The lessons learned by many of us can be shared and help younger female physicians as they traverse their family/ work careers. I look forward to help IPOF have strong links with other organizations such as the FMA Women’s Group, the Female Indian Physicians of Florida and the Broward County Medical Women’s Association. These organization have a similar purpose and working collaboratively will help us continue to succeed as women physicians.
- Health Equity and Menta Health Initiatives – IPOF will continue support and access for mental health issues for Indian physicians improving dialogue of this very important issue that affects many physicians. Health equity and access to care issues for our patients will also be focused. Importantly, IPOF will be having increased discussions with payors addressing challenge with prior authorizations, referrals, reimbursement, which all directly affect improved patient care.
- Young Physicians Group – The future of IPOF rests in improving membership and helping our young Indian physicians! Please reach out to new physicians in our community with a warm welcome and encourage joining IPOF! New physician recruitment events will be set up throughout the year with activities such as Panthers game, Heat Game, Gulfstream Park events, Pickle ball!
- FIT DOC – I started the FIT DOC initiative since exercise helps overall with so improvement in both physical and mental fitness! The first FIT DOC event was successful and loads of fun! We will be rotating locations every 2 months to promote improved health in our physicians!
These are some of the projects IPOF Executive Team has identified as priority for the upcoming years.
I invite all IPOF members to join and sign up for committee spots!
It is with our combined effort and dedication that these goals can be achieved!
We are instilled with strong Indian heritage and values and I am certain that IPOF will continue to serve the South Florida community with excellence!
I want to give a special thanks to our immediate Past President, Dr. Alka Singh, MD for her outstanding service these past two years.
I greatly appreciate all of your guidance and support during the next two years!
Warm Regards,
Shahnaz Fatteh, MD
IPOF President
Cell: 954-682-2415
Email: docfatteh@gmail.com
Our Mission
The mission of the Indian Physicians of Florida is to serve Indian American Physicians to allow them to excel in patient care, teaching and research and to pursue their aspirations in professional and community affairs. With over 250 members in South Florida, we offer many opportunities benefiting the Physicians. CME Credit Seminars, Informative Lectures by well known doctors, Health Fairs, Disaster Relief, Family Events etc. are few of the commitments that we offer to our members. Our association with AAPI Charitable Foundation is committed to serve people in distress in South Florida as well as in India.
Our goal is to further IPOF’s mission, along three key dimensions.
1. Healthcare & Societal Reform
Collectively, Indian American Physicians are one of the biggest stakeholders in the current healthcare system, with one in seven patients currently managed by us. This is an incredible matter of pride and also a great responsibility. We need to be a driving force for the change we seek in our healthcare system. We must be involved and be vocal to fix a system that too often doesn’t serve the needs of ignored communities.
2. Healthcare Partnerships
We need to develop new innovative partnerships around Academics & Research, providing a solid foundation of science for better patient outcomes. We must reinvigorate industry partnerships & programs, for example by building on our core mission by partnering deeper with AMA , AAPI, FMA and other medical and specialty organizations to work in tandem for common goals.
3. Female Leadership in Healthcare
This year, IPOF will leverage the power of our purpose and networks to help address specific challenges women face: these include the dual roles balanced by female physicians – at work and at home, and their increasing role in the future of Healthcare. Finally, we must recognize that if we are not growing, we are dying. We must continue to ensure that our heritage remains rich and strong through our second generation physicians and those who come after. Also, we will strive to increase our membership by inviting others to join and by manifesting the
strong message of power of unity.
Thank you Dr. Alka Singh for all your hard work and dedication to IPOF Organization!