Greetings to all of you and best wishes on the digital celebrations of all festivals.
The recent Covid 19 outbreak has changed our routine dramatically, affecting our lives and work and exposing our inabilities to handle this unprecedented crisis effectively. The virus has also affected the functionalities of all organizations across the world. As we pass through these grave unpredictable pandemic times, there is still a need to build a stronger future for ourselves and next-generation using all our knowledge, ideas, and resources wisely. There has been a paradigm shift already seen in various sectors in their operations, both domestically and internationally. Hence, we, too, need come together and plan with creative and innovative approaches, in spite of many still being hesitant. There should be an alternate global networking platform for students, faculties, and practicing clinicians to achieve their professional goals.
Our Branch of Indian Prosthodontic Society Mumbai-Navi Mumbai (IPS MNM) is in its infancy, but its belly is filled with fire to rise high with professional accomplishments. It has earmarked safe yet implicit programs for the year 2020-21 with a very dynamic team for advancing education. We will grab the available opportunities, and my mission as the President is focussed on to
- Bolster the legacy of the pioneer prosthodontists of the Mumbai region
- Improve the value delivered to our members
- Use current technological advances to further our goals
- Refresh the harmony of academia, practitioners, and the dental industry
The webinars organized witnessed a strong subscription pan-India, and the smiling faces on our monitors reflect interest from the comforts of their homes for the added values, and we do not want to miss this exciting digital opportunity. We are handpicking seldom spoken topics that are very clinically relevant and brought to our doorsteps by the likes of luminaries like Dr. Shankar Iyer, Dr. V Rangarajan, Dr. Ali Tunkiwala, and Dr. Ajit Shetty. There are many in the pipeline taking shape in our planning room now.
Our branch needed a voice to reflect the strength of their research, educational pursuits, and exclusive clinical cases. And The Journal of Prosthodontics and Dental Materials (JPDM) is born this year. This official journal of the IPS MNM is released here with great efforts of our enthusiastic editor Dr. Naisargi Shah and her team, and I am sure that it will scale to indexed version soon. We welcome all our members to contribute to the journal and discover their talent and experience and appropriately express them.
We are also not forgetting our student friends as they are the future of our specialty. And in spite of facing the effects of the pandemic, we are not losing sight of this fact and are arranging enough competitive and mentoring events for them. Mini conferences, essay writing, e-poster makings, case presentations, and exclusive lectures through the new ProsthoCoach channel by celebrated teachers are some of them. Our Immediate Past President, Dr. Omkar Shetty, and the team are incessantly working on compiling educational resources of quality for easy access for our students and add value to their momentum of pursuing a post-graduate course.
In today's world, websites have become an essential part of any organization for easy accessibility and for lasting expression of their potential. We also made our customized and dynamic website this year to enable quick engagement at your fingertips, which will expose our presence to the world, display all information of our branch, inclusive of our team, our past, current, and future activities, access to journal contents, educational resources, updates, blogs, etc.
There will be links to many advertising dental and medical companies, dental suppliers, and dental laboratories, and members can avail of advantages provided by them only to us. My vision is to have a highly resourceful and trustworthy website of our branch with regular contributions from all our members and visited by prosthodontists across the globe for its valued content. Dr. Guarang Mistry and his team should be credited for their immense perseverance and efforts to create this informative website.
Besides the names mentioned above, it has been rewarding for me to have an ever-cheerful, tirelessly working, and talented Executive Committee team on-board in the incoming President Dr. Rathin Das, dedicated and dependable Secretary Dr. Saloni Mistry, hardworking treasurer Dr. Parmeet Banga, and other capable and committed members Dr. Anuradha Nemane, Dr. Praveen Badwaik, Dr. Sankalp Bhandarkar, Dr. Sumit Bedia and Dr. Anita Gala-Doshi, to carry out the mission activities of our branch. We have fruitfully met on many occasions, both virtually and physically, with due safeguards to effectively deliberate avenues to move our profession forward and optimistically plan the seamless implementation of our initiatives.
We would like to build this vibrant and zealous organization further by increasing our membership, and I wish to invite suggestions from all of you. Come and join us in this exciting and motivating endeavor, and together we will fulfill our dream and grow intellectually and academically.
I, on behalf of our branch, would also like to thank the Head Office presided by Dr. J R Patel with Secretary Dr. Rupesh P L for their continuous support, guidance, and encouragement through their wonderful programs and communications. SAMPARK 2020 was a stand-out event. Kudos, HO team.
"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." said Madam Curie. How apt and true in these times.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Sharat Shetty
President, IPS MNM