Hundreds of physicians expected to attend
Written by Michelle Spitzer | FLORIDA TODAY
Several hundred doctors are expected to take part in a biannual medical conference Saturday featuring lectures from prominent physicians and concluding with a festive banquet.
The BIMDA, Brevard Indo-American Medical and Dental Association, conference will be at the Melbourne Rialto Place.
“Members just can’t wait for this,” said Glad Kurian, co-founder of the nonprofit group. “Most people you tell about a medical conference they just start yawning, but not this one. It’s in very high demand from the members. It seems to hit all the right points.”
Open and free of charge to all physicians, the conference includes lectures from experts in various fields including heart surgery, and understanding hyponatremia, a metabolic condition in which there is not enough sodium in the body.
All three local hospital networks — Health First, Wuesthoff and Parrish Medical Center — jointly sponsor the BIMDA conference.
The daylong event is capped off with a celebratory banquet and dinner. The keynote speaker at the evening event will be Dr. George Thomas, chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine.
About 400 people are expected to attend the banquet, which is open to spouses and includes a Kids Club for children. Dinner will be served, and entertainment will be provided by Asian Cultural Association of Orlando and includes a Kathak North Indian dance performance and the Bhangra dance team.
Dress for the banquet is business or traditional Indian attire.
“This conference is the perfect combination of business and pleasure,” Kurian said.
This is the ninth conference BIMDA has held. They take place twice a year. Nationally known speakers from all over usually travel to speak at the conference.
This year, they include two well-known heart surgeons from Columbia University Division of Cardiology and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
“There will be recent state-of-the-art technology presented and (physicians) will be made aware of new techniques in the medical field that they can implement,” said Dr. Mahesh Soni, an Indian Harbour Beach pediatrician and one of the founders of BIMDA.
Dr. Prakash Reddy, a pulmonary, sleep and critical care physician with MIMA and president of BIMDA, said the event is beneficial to doctors for many reasons.
“It includes physician development and professional networking, allowing us to connect with major hospitals, groups, specialties, BCMS, FMA, AAPI and other medical nonprofit groups,” Reddy said. “In addition to all of these services BIMDA also supports cultural social and community service and charitable giving to various organizations.”
BIMDA was formed in 1996 and serves as a model for other medical organizations around the state.
Spitzer can be reached at 321-242-3722 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
