During my presidency, I stand committed to uphold the mission and vision of the founding fathers of IAPA:  ‘To pursue learning and research to address bicultural mental health needs of the Indo American community and to enhance professional and social cohesiveness among its members’.

I salute architects of IAPA for laying a strong foundation and creating an environment for staying connected. My hats off to all past presidents of IAPA  for their demonstrated leadership  and unique contributions  for sustained growth of IAPA.

I have identified a few goals that I would like to work on, over the next two years, on this ready platform. These include:  (1) Enhance growth of  IAPA members, more specifically younger generation including residents, fellows, and early career psychiatrists as they are future of tomorrow; (2)  Integrate IAPA chapters into a collaborative mode of functioning and reaching;   (3) Increase  IAPA  resource networking at various levels;  (4)  Step up fundraising  activities and (5) Nurture and grow existing relationships with our sibling organizations  (e.g. Indian Psychiatric Society , Indo-Canadian Psychiatric organization, British Indian Psychiatric Association, American Association of Physicians of India). My aspiration is not to bring all these goals to fruition by the end of my 2- year term  but to set course so that the future leaders can carry IAPA torch to higher planes.

I am confident that I will be able to make immediate headway as I have a very strong team to work with including: President-elect - Dr. Ashwin Patkar; Secretary - Dr. Dilip Patel; Treasurer - Dr. Meena Ramani; Councilors – Drs. Ranga Ram, Bhargavi Devineni and Bhagirathy Sahasranaman; Early Career Psychiatrist Representative – Dr. Durga Roy; Members-in-training Representatives – Drs. Mannan Shah and Raman Baweja; Editor – Dr. Amit Chopra. Small groups have been formed to work on the goals with the team members leading or co-leading the groups. I am also very fortunate to have an excellent Board of Trustees (BOT) who have not only been my mentors thus far but are also thought leaders and visionaries. They are Drs. Manoj Shah, Nalini  Juthani, Jagannathan Srinivasaraghavan  (Ashok Van), Ramaswamy Vishwanathan (Vis), Asha Mishra, Surinder Nand, Shivkumar Hatti and Rudra Prakash.

Finally, my confidence to succeed stems from the blessings from my parents, love & support of my husband, Narsima,  and my two children Veena and Harsha.

I look forward to working closely with all of you.

Vani Rao, MD
President, IAPA

As always, do not hesitate to contact any of the IAPA office bearers with questions and/or comment