Community News (V9-I9)

Mosque chairman honored by FBI

ATLANTA, GA–Dr. Mohammad O. Tomeh, chairman of Atlanta’s Al-Farooq Masjid, was honored with the FBI’s annual Director’s Leadership Award for helping build a relationship between the bureau and the Muslim community. It is the first time that the bureau’s Atlanta office has honored a Muslim with the award.

Recently, it has been broadened to also recognize people who help in the fight against terrorism.

Gregory Jones, the special agent in charge of the Atlanta office, which includes all of Georgia, said he has observed Tomeh represent area Muslims at numerous community meetings and has started meeting with him personally to be culturally sensitive,” Jones told the Atlanta Constitution Journal.

Tomeh moved to the U.S. from Syria in 1967 after earning a medical degree. He spent most of his career studying infectious diseases in children.

As chairman of the board of al-Farooq, Tomeh helped raise millions to expand the mosque, which will become the largest in the Southeast. Work on the building, on 14th Street in Midtown Atlanta, is about six months from completion. The new space is expected to serve 1,500 worshippers.

World renowned vascular surgeon acknowledges his Muslim mentor

Dr. Steven Elias MD FACS, Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine NY and Director, Center for Vein Disease at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center NJ, announced a ground breaking technique in Vascular Surgery.

When asked to count, Dr. Steve Elias can come up with almost 300 names of doctors he has personally trained in some of the least invasive, most effective vein surgeries in cardiovascular medicine.

In his 22 years as a vascular surgeon, he has made it a point to be on the cutting edge: in the early 80s, he was among the first to publish on the Axillary Vein Valve Transplant technique. Today, he can name to his pioneering credit TriVex (he was one of the first four surgeons in the entire world to perform the procedure), EVLT, Closure, and PAPS (Percutaneous Ablation of Perforators). Dr. Elias initially became interested in vein surgery when he was a surgical resident, “I was lucky enough to have Dr. Syed Taheri, a pioneer of modern vein surgery, take me under his wing at a time when most vascular surgeons were not the least bit interested in vein disease.”

Dr. Elias continues, “As a young surgical resident, I was impressed how thankful and happy patients were after treatment. Their typical comment was, ‘My doctor told me to just live with it. Thank you for doing something that has made a big difference in my life.’ I have kept those comments with me my entire career.”

Syed Hasan gets top hotel award

Syed Hasan, general manager of sales at the Embassy Suites Chicago-Downtown/Lakefront, was awarded with Embassy Hotel’s Hervey Feldman General Manger of the Year Award, at a company conference held last month.

The Feldman award he won was named in honor of one of the pioneers of the Embassy Suites brand and the brand’s first president.

More than 40 awards were presented to hotels chosen from the brand’s portfolio of more than 185 hotels throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America. Each honored hotel received a trophy, monetary prize and individual recognition during the conference.

US travellers name Qatar Airways “best ME airline”

Readers of the prestigious US-based Global Traveler magazine have voted Qatar Airways the best airline in the Middle East–a fitting accolade in a year when the Doha-based airline prepares to launch flights to America.

The airline was awarded the honor after readers participated in the survey, which ran in the magazine over a seven-month period from February 2006 to August 2006.

Qatar Airways picked up the prestigious award at the Jumeirah Essex House in New York, where Francis X. Gallagher, publisher and CEO of Global Traveler, honored all the winners at a gala ceremony.

This summer, Qatar Airways will enter the US market for the first time with scheduled flights between world-financial capital New York City and Doha, capital of Qatar.

Muslim Gadiwalla, CIO of St. Petersburg, FL

Muslim A. Gadiwalla has been named Chief Information Officer of the city of St. Petersburg in Florida.

He joined the city in 1998. He oversees the Information & Communications Services (ICS) Department, and is responsible for setting technology standards for the city and managing all the computer systems, telephone systems and radio systems throughout the organization. He also manages the city’s printing facilities.

He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Bombay, India, and two master degrees in computer science and systems management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Muslim received the Excellence in Information Technology Award in 2000, presented by the Society for Information Management.

A past vice-president and treasurer of the Florida Local Government Information Systems Association, Muslim now serves on the advisory board of the Florida Digital Government Summit, and is a mentor through the city mayor’s “Mentors & More” program at Baypoint Middle School.

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