CHICAGO: The Indian American Medical Association of Illinois (IAMA) hosted an exclusive education program to bring awareness about Cardiovascular diseases and Diabetes in Asian Indians at the Waterford Banquets and Conference Center in Elmhurst, on October 9.
The event was attended among others by IAMA Past Presidents and invited dignitaries including Dr Gopal Lalmalani, Dr Vemuri Murthy, Dr Mitra Kalelker, Dr Rohitkumar Vasa, Dr Fulambarker.
The growing epidemic of heart disease and the high mortality rates among Asian Indians was the theme.
Speaking on heart-related problems including hypertension, heart attack, coronary artery disease, Dr Samir Shah stated that coronary artery disease is the number one cause of death in America. The South Asian community in the United States has a three to five-fold increase in CAD. Obesity, lack of exercise, high cholesterol, and hypertension can quietly damage the body for years before symptoms develop. With the goal of bringing awareness in our community this event was organized.
This event was sponsored by Wealth Planning Network. This was followed by keynote speech by Dr Sumita Chowdhury, a cardiologist trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, at Boston. She pointed out the common myth that only men get heart attacks. She focused on heart attacks among women and the risk factors that are associated with it such as poor diet, physical inactivity, obesity and metabolic syndrome, smoking, hypertension, stress and diabetes. She mentioned that triglyceride levels are normally high in the Indian American community which causes potential risk of heart disease.
The next presentation was given by Arcot Dwarakanathan MD, who is the Medical Director at St. James Diabetic Center, Associate Professor at Rush University and Associate Professor at Midwestern University. He spoke about Diabetes in South East Asians. He referenced many studies that were done to identify why South Asians are more prone to diabetes and the risk factors. There was a Q & A session after his speech and the audience asked several pertinent questions about diet, cholesterol level and diabetes screening.
The evening concluded with dinner and informal socializing. This event brought attention to both medical and non-medical community members about the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and exercising to avoid cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
IAMA-IL Executive Committee has Dr Samir Shah: President, Dr Tapas Dasgupta: Secretary, Dr Sreenivas Reddy: Treasurer and Dr Hemlata Bakane: Immediate past President.
Asian Media USA
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