March 3, 2024
GLEN COVE, NY (TIP): Celebrating the theme of ‘Inspire Inclusion’, with the aim of Inspiring others to understand and value women’s inclusion to forge a better world, Indian American Forum honored several dignified and accomplished women of substance at their 13th Annual Women’s Achievements Awards Gala this past weekend at the Metropolitan Caterers in Long Island.

Under the leadership of Chairperson Indu Jaiswal and Gala Chair Shammi Singh, known for their strong commitment and dedication to the community cause, along with the entire team of IAF, were the organizing force behind the GALA, celebrating the success of the outstanding achievements by these distinguished personalities in the presence of many accomplished guests and community leaders. The honorees were presented special citations from The Nassau County Hon. Bruce A. Blakeman’s office, Certificates of Recognition from The Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer S Desena, and Town Clerk Hon. Ragini Srivastava’s office, Town of Hempstead Hon. Donald X. Clavin’s office, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino and Office of The Nassau County’s Comptroller Elaine Phillips office.

Several Officials including North Hempstead Town Supervisor Hon. Jennifer S. Desena, Town of Hempstead Deputy Supervisor Hon. Dorothy L. Goosby,, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, respectfully invited and welcomed by Dr. Bobby Kalotee, portrayed the women empowerment and success.

Our distinguished awardees included:
• Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan -> MD DCH MPH practices Pediatrics, Public Health and Acupuncture in Long Island New York, Chairwomen’s Affairs for AAPI QLI for many years conducts free public health educational programs in Nassau County on numerous health issues including an annual Mental Health Symposium and Annual Breast Cancer Awareness seminar. She holds several core community leadership positions not limited to: President Grant Medical College Alumni USA Inc., Regional Director Mid-Atlantic region AAPI, Chair Publications AAPI, Vice Chair Asian American Advisory Committee Nassau County and Advisory committee Hindu Temple Flushing NY.

• Dr. Mala Sachdeva – Professor of Medicine at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and academic nephrologists, an educator, and part of the full-time faculty at the Division of Kidney Diseases and Hypertension in Great Neck, New York, North well Health System. Currently she has been elected as President Elect in 2024 and then will serve as President (2025-2026) for Women In Nephrology Organization, a national organization advocating and mentoring wo men and men in developing exciting careers in the field of renal disease.

• Neela Mukherjee Lockel – President and Chief Executive Officer at EAC Network. She has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross on Long Island since 2016, where she oversaw Red Cross activities across Nassau County and Suffolk Counties, and sat on the Regional Leadership Team of Greater New York. She facilitated the Regional Board Diversity Committee, was a member of the Advanced Public Affairs Training Team and the American Red Cross LEAD, an internal leadership development program. She has deployed to Red Cross disaster responses for Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018) and the California Wildfires (2017), and sat as the Interim Regional CEO for the Maine Region, to lead the team through a merger into the Northern New England Region.

• Dr. Mamta Shaha – President of North Shore Rotary Club. She is a Board-Certified Pediatrician and an Assistant Professor of pediatrics at New York University. She is also a Board-certified Ophthalmologist from Bombay University. She is actively involved with JAINA (Federation of Jain Association in North America) and has served as JAINA Northeast Vice president for two years and served as a director of the Jain Center of America NY for 4 years. She currently chairs two committees in JAINA: As a Chairperson of the JAINA Media Committee, she produced and directed the weekly Jain TV show “Mangalam” for 10 years.

• Samyukhtha Arun Kumar – Youth leader and inspiring next generation athlete, Golfer
• Late Mrs. Sharan Premi – Lifetime Achievement Award
Mr. and Mrs. Premi took much pride in their incomparable ability to help the local community. They helped with anyone needing assistance. Mrs. Premi never had an issue with welcoming anyone into her home, and she would single-handedly cook meals for large groups of people at the drop of a hat. Many a times they housed people who had nowhere to go. Mrs. Premi helped new immigrants with Housing, providing shelter and guiding them in his new environment for several years. Their House was known as Mini Punjab.

Starting with the beautiful décor and warm welcome with sumptuous appetizers, the evening started with American and Indian National Anthem followed by a rocking welcome by hosts Roopam Maini and Chanbir Kaur. Sunita Sadhnani rocked audience with her melodious singing. DJ Parminder rocked the dance floor.
Several distinguished political and community leaders, IAF Board of Trustees, Members, Volunteers, supporters and audience graced the occasion applauding the distinguished accomplishments of women honorees. Several Board of Trustees and community leader in presence included Dr Urmilesh Arya, Dr Bhupendra Patel, Beena Kothari, Flora Parekh – President of Gift of Life USA, Dr. Pallavi Manvar Singh, Dr. Sunil Mehra (AAPI), Pradip Tandon (President IALI), Dr. Jagdish Gupta President (AIA), Vijay Goswamy, Anju Sharma, Dr. Purnaprasad, Dr. Prachi Dua and many other organization leaders. Aashmeeta Yogiraj emceed the event with hosts Indu Jaiswal, Roopam Maini and Chanbir Kaur and concluded with a Thank you note from Beena Kothari, Viola and Flora Parekh. Entire IAF team with several volunteers were instrumental in making the event a grand success. It was indeed a very successful evening, showcasing and honoring outstanding women achievers, who are successful in business, cultural, professional, education, and medical. Community and social services.

(Press release by Indu Jaiswal)