YPC
Over the past five years, I have actively contributed to the education of students, medical residents, physicians, and nurses in Pakistan through RESA, MERTI, and YPC. However, my most defining impact has come through APPNA’s Young Physicians Committee. As Chair in 2023 and Advisor in 2024, I had the privilege of working alongside a dynamic and visionary team that propelled the committee to unprecedented heights. Together, we not only met—but exceeded—our goals, solidifying the YPC’s legacy and advancing its mission in ways that will continue to shape the future of APPNA.
Residency Match 2023: We witnessed a sizeable increase in the number of young Pakistani physicians who matched for the training spots in the US, which increased from 300 to 600. Most of these young physicians were helped with their visa processing by the members of the APPNA YPC and APPNA Advocacy Committee. We extended free membership of APPNA to all the applicants and added more than 200 new members in training.
Program Directors’ Advisory Group: For the first time, we created an advisory group of 20 Pakistani program directors from the US, that provides mentorship to our young physicians.
YouTube Monetization and Digital Educational Resources: One of the threats to APPNA was insufficient investment in projects that create sustainable funding for the organization. As a chair of the YPC, I reached out to my counterparts in the RESA and MERIT committees earlier in the year to combine our efforts in creating an online repository of all the educational lectures that we offer through APPNA. We resolved to combine our separate YouTube channels to increase our subscriber base and public views to monetize one channel for all education committees. I am happy to report that in the first 5 months of the year, we added more than 600 new subscribers and 1,000 public views, which helped us Monetize our channel.
Mentoring: In addition, we added 4,000 new members to APPNA YPC Facebook group in 2023 and started a WhatsApp mentorship group for the fellows. Our selfless volunteers provided 24/7 mentorship through these portals.
Webinars and Seminars: APPNA YPC worked with most of our alumni and chapters in 2023 to conduct several webinars and seminars. Our most successful seminar was during APPNA’s Annual Summer Convention in Dallas. More than 75 young physicians attended the Summer Convention APPNA YPC seminar. We had a panel of five program directors from different specialties who participated in the interactive Q&A session with the applicants and judged their posters and oral presentations. We published the research proceedings from the meeting during our Fall meeting in Houston. This digital publication was also distributed as an inaugural edition of the APPNA Journal of Medicine. It can be accessed through this link:
https://appna.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/APPNA-YPC-Research-Proceedings-2023f.pdf
Observership Program: Our Observership subcommittee put together a state-of-the-art program that provided around 150 Observership placements.
Mock Interviews: Our Mock interview subcommittee, with the help of 120 volunteers from APPNA, conducted around EIGHT HUNDRED 1:1 mock interviews.
APPNA YPC Resource Guide for Trainees: We revised and published the updated APPNA YPC Road to Residency guide after 4 years, which can be accessed through this link:
https://appna.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/APPNA-YPC-GUIDE-2023-.pdf
Medical School Admissions Seminar: APPNA YPC collaborated with NAMA, under the leadership of Dr. Mujtaba Qazi, to arrange the first ever Medical School Admissions Seminar during APPNA Fall Meeting in 2023.
APPNA YPC Research Travel Award: APPNA YPC initiated the Research Travel Award for medical students and trainees. These travel awards were given out to 13 top abstract presenters in the APPNA YPC poster session during our Summer Meeting Convention. This travel award covers the cost of travel, lodging, and attendance at the APPNA Annual Convention for the awardees. We established the research endowment fund with $10,000 seed money which will continue to provide travel scholarships to young physicians from Pakistan. Please donate towards this project by using the following link:
https://portal.ideasregistration.com/Donation/Donation?id=159
APPNA YPC – Tahira Khatoon Loan Program: APPNA YPC also initiated the APPNA YPC - Tahira Khatoon Loan Program. This program provides financial assistance to needy medical graduates from different universities in Pakistan who want to pursue postgraduate medical education and training in the United States of America. We secured $145,000 for the program in 2023, and which started the endowment fund of $200,000 in 2024 when I was serving as the YPC advisor. Please donate towards this project by using the following link:
portal.ideasregistration.com/Donation/Donation?id=160
I encourage all the medical students and aspiring residents to join the APPNA YouTube or APPNA YPC Facebook group, please use the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/308140919099/.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@appna_org
Let’s Shape APPNA’s Tomorrow, Together.