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NRI doctor keen to bring projects to India
Sampat Shivangi wants to push projects in India and other countries on AIDS, tuberculosis and other major diseases.
Indian American physician Sampat Shivangi, who has been appointed an advisor to the US health secretary, wants to push projects in India and other countries on AIDS, tuberculosis and other major diseases.
"I am researching how to promote projects in India and other developing nations on major issues like AIDS, tuberculosis, malnutrition, maternal and child health programmes and education, as well as addressing the physician shortages in rural America," Shivangi said.
Shivangi, who was Thursday appointed advisor to Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O Leavitt, was here to sign the consent forms for accepting the appointment.
"I hope I can make a difference. This gives us direct access to one of the biggest departments in the country," he said.
In Thursday's discussion, Shivangi said he also drew attention to the need for extending the J1 visa under which a large number of doctors enter this country.
The signing ceremony took place here and was attended by Jennifer Burks, Director of National Health Services.
Shivangi was appointed along with several other members to the Board of Advisors, namely Dr Terry Daniel Dickinson, Dr Barabara Jean Doty, Bernard L Osberg, Dawn Morton, Gwendolyn Spears, Robert J Trenschel and Laura Wylie.
Shivangi said Leavitt had asked him to serve on the National Advisory Council on the recommendation of Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. The council meets for a week once every two months.
He wrote to Leavitt that he would be "pleased to accept the invitation to serve on the council and it will be his honour and privilege to serve on the National Advisory Council of Health and Human Services and National Health Service corps of the Health Resources and Services Administration".
He is currently contesting a lawsuit he filed against the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), contesting his own resignation after having been elected President-Elect for 2006. He has been a member of the AAPI for 15 years and also served as a representative to the American Medical Association.
In 2004 at the National Republican Convention in New York, Shivangi said he was the first Asian American delegate from his home state since the reconstruction era in the last century.
Among the awards he has received are the Bharat Gaurav Award, Distinguished Alumni award, AAPI President's Award for outstanding services, and the Rotary Club's outstanding community service award.
Married to a doctor, Udaya Shivangi, he has two daughters - Pooja and Priya.
