Our History
We are proud of our past and ambitious about our future.
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In 1970
The idea of forming the Dow graduate association was first brought by Dr. Inayat and Dr. Sultan Ahmed on the eve of the 2nd IMANA meeting in 1970 in Chicago.
In 1979
Several Dow Graduates attended the Association of Pakistani Physicians (APP) annual meeting at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI. Among those who participated in the meeting were Doctors Sultan Ahmed, Iltifat Alavi, Aziz Arian, Inayat Husain, Mujtaba Hussain, Rashid -Ul-Khari, Ikram Ullah Khan, Iftekhar Salauddin and Tariq Zafar. At that meeting, the idea of the Dow Graduates Association was conceived.
1980 … Washington DC
The general body appointed an Ad Hoc committee consisting of Doctors: Sultan Ahmed, Iltifat Alavi, Salim Chowdhry, Inayat Husain, and Pervez Liya’s Shah; with the charge that this committee came up with aims and objectives to write a simple constitution and collect demographic data of Dow Graduates in North America.
June 1981 … Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago, IL
The Dow Graduates Association was established as a social, fraternal, and non-political organization. A four-page constitution, including by-laws, was approved by the general body. Dr. Inayat Husain was elected the first President of the Dow Graduates Association.
December 1983 … Karachi, Pakistan
The annual symposium of the Dow Graduates Association was held at the Hotel Intercontinental. Many Dow Graduates Association’s members presented their scientific and research papers along with Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) faculty. The symposium was well-attended and was a resounding success.
In 1985 … the constitutions and by-laws were amended
The organization’s name was changed from Dow Graduates Association to Dow Graduate Association of North America (DOGANA). A post of Executive Director was created, who was to be nominated by the executive committee for a term of five years. Dr. Iltafat Alavi was unanimously elected for that post. In 1985 … two other events took place.
The sixth International Congress on Health, sponsored by APP and DOGANA, was held at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan. Many overseas delegates and physicians from Pakistan attended it. The President Zia Ul Haq of Pakistan inaugurated the meeting. Audio-visual equipment was donated by DOGANA, along with several educational video tapes for the students and staff of DMC.
In 1989
Professor Sultan Ahmed wrote a Cardiology handbook for the students and junior staff. DOGANA sponsored its publication, and 1,000 copies were distributed at the medical school. In 1990, President Bushart Ahmed instituted the Youth Excellence Award Program. Commemorative plaques and cash awards were distributed o six meritorious high school graduates. In 1992, the late Professor Mahmud Ali Shah was the guest of honor at our annual meeting. He sought donations for the Layton Rahimtoola Eye Hospital in Karachi, and $ 5,000 was collected and donated to the hospital.
1980 to 1996
There were 400 addresses of Dow Graduates in 1980, which were available to DOGANA through AMA registers. As of March 1996, there are 2,106 Dow Graduates in North America. There are 34-lifetime members of DOGANA so far. Their annual membership varies between 120- 135 per year. – Iltifat Alavi MD.