BURLINGTON, MA—With approximately 50 speakers, the day-long Mega Health & Wellness Expo was attended by over 2,500 people throughout the day on April 19 at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA. The Third Annual Expo, which was free for all attendees, focused on modern as well as alternative medicines and offered a number of interactive workshops on music and dance therapy and yoga and meditation, among others. (Photos: Rasik Mehta)
“It was a rewarding experience to put together a Health Expo of this magnitude where over 50 speakers and moderators participated and approximately 2,500 people attended various sessions, workshops and live demos throughout the day,” said Dr. Manju Sheth, MD, chair of the mega Health & Wellness Expo 2015. “Topics ranged from modern medicine to alternative medicine and medical entrepreneurship.”
Dr. Deepak Takhtani, MD, who served as moderator-in-chief at the Expo, congratulated all for the success of the event.
“To bring so many people together is a difficult task. I must also thank all the panelists and speakers who took time and came to share their knowledge with the community – the only reward was to be part of an experience to help the Indian community to live a healthier life,” said Dr. Takhtani, director of Neuroradiology at UMass Memorial Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Radiology at University of Massachusetts Medical School. “I will consider job well done if this Expo has positive impact to change even a few lives.”
Dr. Sheth, a board-certified physician at Lahey Health, added that there was something for everyone, including a workshop geared towards the youth.
“We are very proud of the ten educational Health Talk videos that we launched in last five months to educate our community about the health issues,” said Dr. Sheth. “We want to thank our sponsors and vendors who supported the Expo and enabled us to keep this as a free event for the community.”
The Expo is organized by INE MultiMedia, Inc., a non-profit company devoted to promoting and supporting non-profit organizations focused on South Asian community, and is sponsored by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Lahey Health, Neem Medical Spa and INDIA New England News.
Anu Chitrapu, who served as director of workshops at the Expo, was surprised by the overwhelming response from the community.
“I truly enjoyed being part of this effort. What an amazing response from the community,” said Chitrapu, who serves as Senior Vice President at Bank of America.
Upendra Mishra, publisher of INDIA New England News and Vice President of INE MultiMedia, said:
“There was an overwhelming demand for the copies of power point presentations during the expo, and we are going to put them all at the websites of both INE MultiMedia and INDIA New England News next week. In addition, the 10 Health Talk videos are already on the websites and our YouTube channel.”
The Expo featured some of the most renowned health care providers of the area, including Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, Dr. Om Ganda, Dr. Anju Nohria, Dr. Dinesh Patel, Dr. Sonal Pandya, Dr. Jaipal Gandhi, Dr. Jagruti Patel, Dr. Naresh Mansharamani, Dr. Meera Subramaniam, Dr. Samir Malkani, Dr. Paul Mathew, Dr. Aneesh Singhal, Dr. Hetal Verma, Dr. Tara Singh and Dr. Manasaa Patna.
The organizers of this year’s conference also added a successful new panel on Medical Entrepreneurship in collaboration with TiE-Boston. This panel included Purnanand D. Sarma, President & CEO, Taris Biomedical; Veera Anantha, CEO, Constant Therapy Inc.; and Banu Prasad Dhanakoti, CEO, Fitrax.
The workshops covered various topics, including yoga, meditation, dance therapy, diet, alternative medicine and living will, among others. Workshop participants included: Jay Gupta, Geeta Vallecha, Diane Onorio, Sanjyot Lupo, Anjali Nath, Shefali Jain, Shikha Bajpai , Dr. Neela Gandhi ,Dr. Satish Palayam, Pratibha Shah, Janine L. Agoglia, Hema Chockalingam, Jhuma Biswas, Dhanashree Ramachandran, Dr. Lipi Roy and Priya Kumar, Paresh Motiwala, Dr. Scott Darragh, Shraddha Oza. Dr. Sharmila Mudgal, Dr. Saila Reddy, Sneh Jaisingh, Dr. Sapna Aggarwal, Kavita Chibber, Smita Patel, Dr. Shubha Thygarajan, Shalini Mansharamani ,Sonia Sujanani, Sonali Lappin, Girish Mehta, Ritu Gaind and Naresh Parmar, among others.