President’s Letter-July 2026

Dear NAAMA members, friends, and family,  

I’m writing this newsletter as the bus approaches Lisbon, and our 35th International Medical Convention comes to a close. 

This conference took us to Lisbon for the scientific sessions, to rural areas of Portugal including Alentejo and to Andalusia—Spain in touristic tours.

The conference was in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon (FMUL), and just like last year's convention at Trinity College in Dublin, we achieved a record-high attendance—the highest in the past 15 years. My very warm gratitude goes to Dr. Raed Al-Naser and his committee, especially Dr. Iman Hadaya and Dr. Aayah Fatayerji. I am also very thankful to Ms. Judy Effendi who led our volunteer team, without whom the convention would not have been so efficient or smooth. Lastly, Mrs. Rouba Samman, our organization manager, has been, and remained, the glue that holds us all together. 

It's been incredibly heartwarming to see old friends and to make new ones. One often wonders if it's truly possible to make meaningful connections when you see people once or twice a year, but these types of events prove that it is. They also highlight the value of our organization, and the value of our network. There is something so beautiful about meeting attending physicians who recall being on NAAMA trips as children and who have brought their own children this year. 

I want to highlight our youngest attendee, Kenan Al-Janabi, 6, who came with his parents from San Diego, who heavily guided my picture taking of him, and our most senior attendees, Dr. Tawfic and Mrs. Siham Ramadan, as well Dr. Adnan and Mrs. Nadia Hindiyeh, who have been attending NAAMA conferences since the 1990s. Dr. Tawfic is 90 years old and still practices medicine. 

So, what's next? There's wide consensus that we need to expand thoughtfully and systematically, and to that effect, please stay tuned for very exciting announcements in my next newsletter. Second, we have a need to modernize our operations and processes, we have just completed a thorough 3-month soul-searching in conjunction with a consulting company, Mindsets. The result is a detailed strategy for modernization and expansion. Pretty soon, you’ll find a new NAAMA website as well as the new NAAMA App, which will be the cornerstone of our strategy for mentorship and physician-to-physician curbsides.

Lastly, we hope to see many of you at the 48th National Medical Convention in Houston, held over Labor Day weekend, September 4-6, 2026. We promise you an amazing lineup of speakers and a wonderful cultural experience!

With gratitude, 

Nidal Moukaddam, MD, PhD

President, National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA)