12/26/18
Hello Members!
As we go into the New Year, we need to reflect on the past year. Meeting old friends, seeing new places, accomplishing new goals. I have learned a lot in the past year as president and looking forward to the next year. I wanted to highlight our accomplishments in the past year and look ahead at our goals for the next year. I have enjoyed interacting with all of you and having fun at our events. Our goals of the TPAA is to continue our social and fund-raising events into the new year. I had the opportunity to attend the plaque dedication at Mt. Washington and conference in Boston for the new Thai Scholars fund in honor of the King. Approximately $250,000 has been raised so far. Hopefully, each year we can sponsor a student from Thailand to attend the Harvard School of Public Health through this fund. Also having the professors from Thailand come to do a full day lecture on topics pertinent to public health in Thailand is useful to discuss their current needs and challenges, additionally to exchange ideas. I am excited as we start the work out the selection process. The rural health project in Thailand is also going well. New equipment is being bought and donated to help the pediatric department at Maharat Nakom Chiangmai Hospital. We need to also continue to fundraise for this great cause. We had a good turnout at our conferences in San Antonio and Chicago. I look forward to meeting more members as I start my second year.
More challenges await TPAA. As we move forward with our organization, I am looking to make it simple and less complicated. There are some proposals that I wanted your input on as we move along in this process. I have engaged a lawyer here in Dallas to look at our structure and processes. From that, we will make TPAA an even better organization. More to come. Our members are what makes us viable. We want to continue to support our social, educational, and fund-raising activities as we go forward. Thank you all for helping make us strong.
Sincerely,
Sammy Srivathanakul MD, MBA
TPAA President 2018-2019