PRESIDENT Rtn. Dr. N.V. Arulmozhi Varman

HoNoRARy SECRETARy Rtn. Dr. R. Chandrasekhar

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rtn. A.S. Venkhat Ramani

PRESIDENT ELECT Rtn. P N Mohan

PRESIDENT NoMINEE Rtn. Ranjit Pratap

Asst. SECRETARy / BULLETIN EDIToR Rtn. Mohan Raman

DIRECToR CLUB ADMINISTRATIoN Rtn. R. Rajenderan

DIRECToR yoUTH SERVICE Rtn. M Sesha Sai

DIRECToR PUBLIC IMAGE AND FUND RAISING Rtn. Harish K. Murthi

DIRECToR RoTARy FoUNDATIoN & INTERNATIoNAL SERVICES Rtn. M. Balasubramaniam

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 1 Rtn. R. Ravishankar

DIRECToR SERVICE PRoJECT 2 Rtn. K.M. Vinod Kumar

DIRECToR VoCATIoNAL SERVICE Rtn. S. Ravi

TREASURER (CLUB FUNDS) Rtn. Hemant Chordia

TREASURER (CHARITABLE TRUST) Rtn. Nimish C. Tolia

TREASURER (SPECIAL PRoJECTS) Rtn. Kishor Dandeker

The LighthouseBulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras2016-2017 • Edition No.6

August 9, 2016 • 4 Pages

Rtn. Samuel F Owori of the Rotary Club of Kampala, Uganda is the choice of the Nominating Committee as the Rotary

International President for 2018-2019Samuel F Owori is a banker and CEO of

Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda. He was Chair of the Center for African Family Studies, and a Director at Mulago Hospital Complex, Hospice Africa Uganda, Greenhill Holdings Limited and Uganda Heart Institute. He has been Executive Director of African Development Bank and Secretary of Uganda Bankers Association.

He joined Rotary in 1978 and was RI director in 2010-12. He was also a Foundation Trustee for 2012 – 16. He also has served as a regional Rotary Foundation coordinator and RI training leader. Sam currently serves as

chair of the Audit Committee.Also, Sam served Rotary as an RI

Representative to the United Nations and member of the African PolioPlus Committee and the Reach Out to Africa, Eastern Africa Sub Committee. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and Benefactor of the Rotary Foundation.

He and his wife Norah live in Kampala, Uganda.

“Sam Owori and his wife Lorah invited Subha and me to share their table at the President Elect’s luncheon at the Seoul Convention. They are a charming couple. I have a feeling that Sam will be a dynamic president. He is also quite clued in to Rotary activities in our district,” says our PP. Rtn. Srikanth.

Congrats Sam - we wish you a great year in Office.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT NOMINEE 2018-19

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 9, 20162

Sgt-at-arms Rtn M Srinivasan collared President Rtn Dr Arulmozhi Varman, who called the 6th meeting of RCM to

order,followed by a silent invocation.The minutes of the 2nd Aug’16 meeting

minutes was duly confirmed.President welcomed the guest speaker of

the day Dr. Alok Srivastava, Professor and Head of the Department of Haematology, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and Head of the Centre for Stem Cell Research, a unit of Institute of Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bengaluru, at Vellore.

President welcomed visiting Rotarians AG Rtn Vasanthi Rangarajan and members introduced by members, Interactor coordinators from SDNB Vaishnav, Chromepet who had come for the meeting.

President then extended birthday & wedding anniversary wishes to the respective Rotarians/spouses who celebrate

that week and thanked for their sunshine. A new segment ‘Know your Rotarian’ of

introducing members was started today and the members were Rtn Vijay Kumar Kadel & Rtn Vipin Sachdev and a PPT was shown about them ,their family & their vocation, which was well received by all.

Rtn R Ravishankar Director Community Service invited all for the independence day celebration on Monday, 15th August 2016 in

Rotary Nagar & Gummidipoondi.Program: President will hoist the flag at

Rotary Nagar at 7.45 am and followed by series of activities/events at our Boys town, Gummidipoondi – flag hoisting, planting of 500 saplings,inauguration of Arch Donor Name board, Bhoomi pujai for water & sanitation, new wells, inauguration of health centre, distribution of water kits/computer to schools, etc.

The bus will leave Hyatt at 8am and breakfast will be served on board. courtesy Rtn Anand Rengaswamy. After the programs, lunch at Gummidipoondi, and plan to come back by 3pm.

Requested members to come in large numbers with spouse/children and encourage the boys and the committee who are working to make the function an interesting one.

Rtn M Sesha Sai Director Youth Service invited all for the new interact installation at Sherwood Halls School, Chetpet on 22nd Aug at 8.15 am.

Rtn M Balasubramanian, Director, International Service & Rotary Foundation showed a short video on the Kenya trip planned in Oct’16 and the interesting places to visit.

President referred to the DG’s referendum mentioned in the last meeting on to decide between the methodology of choosing the DG’s in the future.

Choice 1: old method of the nominating committee doing the choice.

Choice 2: to have all the clubs to vote and

the voting will be electronic.President sought the floor to select and it

was decided to vote direct. President thanked the floor and informed that the papers will be sent to the district after completing the formalities.

Secy Rtn Dr R Chandrasekhar announced that the next weekly meeting will be on the 15th Aug’16 at our project site Boys Town Gummdipoondi. He requested members to join for the flag hoisting at Rotary Nagar at 7.45 am and then proceed to Gummidipoondi from Hotel Hyatt at 8 am. He said that Rtn Ravishankar had already given the Agenda for the 15th Aug and wished to see all for the independence day celebrations at our projects.

There will be no regular weekly meeting on the 16th Aug’16, Tuesday in the view of the above.

IPP AS Venkhat Ramani introduced the speaker Dr Alok Srivastava who has been involved with haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for nearly three decades.

Dr Alok spoke on stem cells technology with the help of visual slides and later took questions from the floor.

President presented a memento and our clubs 80 year history book A Timeless Legacy on behalf of RCM.

Rtn Rajasekar Gorantla thanked Dr Alok for explaining such a complex topic in very very simple terms and also breaking the myths about stem cells & gene therapy

The meeting was then adjourned.

minutes9th AUGUST 2016

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 9, 20163Stem CellS

We are aware of the potential of seemingly magical stem cells - undifferentiated cells of a multicellular organisms which are capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation. Transplants of these allow living people to share their stem cells – they are infused into the body without surgery and they take 2-4 weeks to grow. There is promise in stem cell research using embryonic stem cells to create the required organs. Many questions have been raised against it and hence no therapy has been conducted so far. Theoretically, stem cell can be used to treat organs with diseases. Bones and the Cornea can also be treated with the help of stem cells.

The aftercare, however, is rigorous, and this is where what we currently have here in India is inadequate. There simply aren’t enough Centres, nor donors nor resource training. It was way back in 1983, when Tata Memorial conducted the first stem cell transplant in India, but after that there has not been much progress.

It is believed that siblings are the best donors. Many international registries are maintained regarding stem cells donations. Chennai has a Registry with 125,000 donors. Overseas, the charge for this treatment is around 2-3 lakhs but in India, Sir Ratan Tata Memorial charge 6-8 lakhs per month which is double the cost.

In 2016, there were 180 transplants In India. Worldwide there have been over a million transplants till date. Japan and Korea alone have had 500 transplants per year. There is a huge gap between the supply and demand.

As the World Health Organization puts it, with a map that shows numerous centres in the US, UK, Australia: Successful Haematopoetic Stem Cell Transplants are technically demanding and cost intensive. “A treatment not yet accessible to all”

Cord blood banking is according to Dr. Srinivasan ‘the great Indian

fraud’. There is no scientific basis for doing it he said, but it is certainly a successful business model preying on unsuspecting parents-to-be.

What then is gene therapy? Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells instead of using drugs or surgery. With gene therapy, he explained, the gene is constructed outside, packaged into a modified virus to carry the gene to the tissue of interest to release its payload.

Haemophilia leads to swollen bleeding joints which lead to inability to walk. One can replace it with protein but many die early as not enough treatment is provided to the patient. In Tamil Nadu, 21-22 crores has been allocated for haemophilia research. Compared to international costs, you need ten times more. This will be a challenge as there is no shortage of diseases or worthy causes in our country.

Gene therapy has been effective over the last 5 years. There have been many trials. With the Florida collaboration, hopefully by next year the first gene therapy trial will take place in India for haemophilia. There are 8000-10000 children being born with thalassemia in India each year. There is failure in our health care systems to prevent these births. In less than 35 years, there have been 10,000 actual transplants every year. Genome editing and molecular cut and paste is also starting. Dr. Srinivasan firmly believes that Gene therapy will happen soon in India.

In conclusion, Dr. Srinivasan expressed frustration at our country and its inability to make actual progress. Why, he questioned, are we not trying to lead in some of these areas? Smaller countries than India do so much more for biotechnology and healthcare, but we don’t. It is social but also a great business which could benefit many people. Why don’t we do it? The answer is out there, somewhere….

- Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby

ThE POwER wIThIN…

Dr. Srinivasan’s lecture was on

a fascinating topic that most

laypersons do not get to hear about,

and he delivered it in a manner

that allowed us to appreciate and

understand it.

20th Aug – Rtn Alok Bhargava22nd Aug – Rtn M Sesha Sai16th Aug – Ann Gayathri (Rtn Mukund Subramanian)16th Aug – Ann Saloni ( Rtn PB Prasad )17th Aug – Ann Varalakshmi (Rtn UP Prakasham)

Rtn PP SN Srikanth – `2000Rtn MCt P Chidambaram – `2010Rtn M Balasubramanian – `5000Rtn Rajit Mhetras – `2000Rtn Ashok Bajaj – `2000Rtn NR Gupta – `15,000 (RCMBTS)

17th Aug – Rtn Sunjae Sharma Ann. Ratna18th Aug – Rtn Antony Lobo Ann. Vinolia22nd Aug – Rtn S Ravi Ann. R Aruna Sree

Birthday

Wedding

Sunshine

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY: Rtn. Asst. Secretary, Rotary Club of Madras, ‘Rayala Towers’, 2nd Mezzanine Floor, 158, Anna Salai, Chennai - 2, Ph: 28591020.Contact the editor at: lighthouse201516@gmail.com. Design: www.studiodescience.com

Visit: www.rotarymadras.in Contact club secretariat at: office@rotarymadras.in

archivesFrom theRtn. PP. N.K. Gopinath

The Lighthouse - Bulletin of The Rotary Club of Madras • August 9, 20164

EDITORIAL COMMITTEEAdvisors: Rtn. PP N.K. Gopinath,

Rtn. Sunita SureshChairman: Rtn. Mohan Raman

Rtn. Shaan Katari Libby, Rtn. Bhaswar Mukherjee, Rtn. Shakthi Girish,

Rtn. Biswajit Babu, Rtn. Sandhya Sridhar, Rtn. R. Ravishankar, Rtn. Hiren B. Shah,

P.S. Sridharan

there will be no regular weekly meeting on the

16th August 2016, tuesday in view of Independece Day celebrations at Boys Town Gummidipoondi on 15th

August, 2016Have we always met at Connemara on tuesdays for lunch ??Read on to find out - This is from our Club History by Rtn. S.M.Diaz.

Independence Day Celebrations - 15th August 2016

The day starts with the flag hoisting at Rotary nagar at 730am. This is followed by our weekly meeting at Boys town, Gummidipoondi. The bus will leave Hyatt at 8am and breakfast will be

served on board.We have a number of important events lined up at Gumidipoondi, which will be followed by lunch. We plan to come back by 3pm.

The Community service and Vocational service terms are working tirelessly to make the function a great success and the least we can do is to attend in large numbers to encourage them.

From the office of the

Sergeant-at-ArmsSeats at our Rotary Meeting Hall will cost as follows..Unlike the low cost airlines we follow a very generous offer of: Front seats for FREE. Sofas are generally pre-booked! & Rear end standees will have to pay Rs 500 per head..GRAB YOUR DESSERT/ COFFEE AND SEAT AS WELL!

RcMers at other club installationsRtn. George Cherian,

The Chairman of the District Interface committee attended 31 Club Installations and conveyed our Greetings to the Incoming President and Board.

Rtn. PP. Indra Subramanian has attended at least 24 installations. Some other Installations were attended by PDG. J.B. Kamdar, Rtn. PP.Satyan Bhatt, Rtn. PP. N. K. Gopinath and Rtn. Srinath Yeswanth.

Needless to say our President and Immediate Past President too attended many an Installation.