Immigration and Pediatrics Are in My Blood … the AAP Embraces Both

Abstract

My family wanted me to go to the United Kingdom for postgraduate training. I wanted to come to the United States because I believed that America offered the best training and the latest in medicine. My family relented.My family is no stranger to immigration. The paternal side of my family hails from Rajasthan, India. In the late 1400s our clan reverted to Islam and had to move. Being a martial race of India, we migrated to Kashmir as part of the Mughal military. The maternal side of my family were Kashmiri Pandits and had also reverted to Islam. My mother’s great grandfather migrated to present-day Kenya in the 1800s. In 1947, some of our family migrated to Lahore in present-day Pakistan.So coming to the United States, immediately after completing my education at King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan, was a fulfillment of my dream of exceptional training and to live in this great country. I trained at 4 outstanding pediatric institutions: Cincinnati, Akron, Cardinal Glennon, and St Louis Children’s hospitals. As I mentioned earlier, migration was not new to my family. Once I migrated, my parents followed me. My wife and I have family on 5 continents: North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.I always and only wanted to be a pediatrician. This was greatly influenced by my own pediatrician, who was so good with my parents when I got seriously ill as a 14-year-old and was in a coma for 3 days. Our pediatrician is a model that I try to emulate every day.I got engaged in organized medicine and found my professional home with the AAP, which has a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equality, and equity. What got me addicted to the AAP was that it not only advocated for pediatricians but, more importantly, also for children. I have had the privilege of serving on several task forces, sections, and committees of the AAP. Currently I serve as the AAP District X vice chair.I have served on 2 other editorial boards of AAP publications. I am having the most fun on the editorial board of PIR. I have used PIR as the main source for my general pediatrics board, which I still proudly maintain. I encourage trainees to do the same. During my travels, I have recommended to trainees around the world to use PIR for their ongoing education.