On the eve of Navaratri 2019, another Indian American billionaire family refuted the prevailing notion that Indian Americans – one of the highest-earning ethnic communities in the US – donate only about $1 billion a year, which gives a poor impression of their charitable giving, despite their potential of being more generous in giving habits.

Florida-based Indian American billionaire couple – Dr. Kiran Patel and Dr. Pallavi Patel – who are best known for their social entrepreneurship in health care, have partnered with Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale to elevate healthcare standards in rural India with quality medical education from USA.

As part of their initial investment of $200 million, the entrepreneur-cum-philanthropist duo who has transformed healthcare all over Florida has acquired 50 hectares of land in their native place, Gujarat. The land will be utilized to set up a world-class medical college hospital under the collaborative supervision of the Dr. Patels and Nova Southeastern University.

Under the leadership of Dr. Kiran Patel and Dr. Pallavi Patel from Tampa Bay Area, Nova Southeastern University will expand its operations to India following the construction of the proposed medical college hospital near Baruch in Gujarat. If things go as expected, the hospital will be ready in three years.

There is more to their multimillion-dollar healthcare mission in India. The Patels are mulling over several plans to set up three medical colleges in rural backwaters of India. Two of the medical colleges will enroll students for Indian degree programs, and the third will possibly be affiliated to Nova Southeastern University for US degree courses. Students will be trained in rural healthcare operations.

Whether the acquired agricultural land can be used for non-agricultural projects, is still subject to approval from the Medical Council of India. In October 2019, Dr. Kiran Patel may travel to India from Miami or Tampa in order to pitch his healthcare projects for India to PM Narendra Modi and expedite the process of seeking approval for the use of agriculture land.

“In case the approval to open medical colleges in rural India is denied, there are alternate plans to improve healthcare operations standards and medical education in rural areas of India,” Dr. Kiran Patel said. Lectures from Nova Southeastern University’s Tampa Bay Regional Campus in Clearwater will be digitally transmitted to India through interactive sessions with professors in real time.

Also Check: This Indian American Family Donates $5M for Heart Healthcare 

It may be followed by an exchange program between American professors and professors from India, who will work towards producing academically competent healthcare professionals. Through the exchange program, Indian physicians will get to experience the nitty-gritty of modern healthcare at the NSU Tampa Bay Regional Campus that is home to Dr. Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine and Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences.

Dr. Kiran Patel, an ‘Outstanding American by Choice’ award winner, and Dr. Pallavi Patel born in Ahmadabad broke ground for a free 60,000-square-foot charter school in Hillsborough County, Florida in December 2018 and pledged the single largest donation to Nova Southeastern University for healthcare research and development.

This news story is brought to you by Indian Eagle Travel at its Indian community portal, Travel Beats, as part of the continued effort to promote good work by Indians in USA. Indian Eagle not only strives to offer unbeatable lowest fare deals for flights to India from USA but also caters inspiring community stories, visa & immigration news, and international travel alerts through free newsletters.

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The United States has seen both the worst of crimes against humanity (mass shootings) and the best of philanthropy in 2018. While the US government shutdown (partial) over President Trump’s border wall has drawn the global attention to the nation’s political doldrums, a handful of philanthropists and humanitarians have unaffectedly been working for community welfare in the country. Among them is Dr. Kiran Patel, one of the Indian-origin billionaires in USA and a recipient of the Outstanding American by Choice Award 2017.

Dr. Kiran Patel, a Tampa-based entrepreneur cum philanthropist, has recently broken ground for a state-of-the-art charter school in Florida. The upcoming school for tuition-free education to students is expected to cost $20 million to the Drs. Kiran Patel and Pallavi Patel Family Foundation. A staunch advocate of quality health care and education, Dr. Kiran Patel and his Ahmadabad-born wife, Dr. Pallavi Patel have allocated $20 million for the tuition-free school, in continuation to their pledge to donate a quarter billion dollar for various charities.

Expected to open in August 2019, the Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School for tuition-free education is planned to be a 60,000-square-foot edifice on a 32-acre plot near the University of South Florida. The infrastructure of the charter school infrastructure will have facilities like an 11,000-square-foot gymnasium. A charter school is an independent institution, much like a private school, but it provided free education.

The upcoming Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School in Hillsborough County, Florida will admit 300 students in two batches: one for the 9^th grade and the other for the 10^th grade. The school’s students-enrolling capacity will be enhanced up to a total of 600 students in the third year. Though external students (those from outside Hillsborough County) can seek admission to the school, the students residing in the county may get preference, according to Indian American Ash Bagdy, who hit upon the idea of the school.

The Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School in Hillsborough County will be unlike a traditional school where kids receive passive lessons. Kavita Jain, the school board president and a long-time friend of the Patels, said that the school curriculum would be strategically designed so as to create future leaders with the attributes such as problem-solving attitude, entrepreneurship, creativity, and agility that tech giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft will be looking for in potential employees.

Project-based learning, transformative education and collaborative learning environment are the mainstay of Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School where students living below poverty line will be benefitted. Community leaders and business tycoons will be invited to mentor students at the Dr. Kiran C. Patel High School in Temple Terrace, Florida.

In September 2017, Indian-origin Dr. Kiran Patel pledged a donation of $200 million to Florida’s Nova Southeastern University for medical facility development at the university’s Clearwater campus in Tampa Bay and large-scale healthcare advancement in Florida. It was lauded as the single largest donation to a US institute in the history of America. A key condition of Dr. Kiran Patel’s $200-million commitment to Nova Southwestern University is that 40% of medical graduates will be practicing in medically underserved areas across the globe.

This news story is brought to you by Indian Eagle Travel at its overseas Indian community portal, Travel Beats, as part of the continued effort to promote good work by Indians in USA. Indian Eagle not only strives to make air travel to India cheaper but also caters inspiring community stories, visa & immigration news, and international travel alerts through free newsletters.

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Well-to-do Indian Americans directly and indirectly support community events, nonprofit organizations, temples, colleges and universities in the United States. Some of them hit headlines for making whopping contributions to noble missions, such as Houston-based Amit Bhandari’s donation of USD 250,000 to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, and Tampa-based Dr. Kiran Patel’s contribution of $200 million to Florida’s Nova Southeastern University. We at Indian Eagle can’t help lauding the most recent donation made by a Florida-based Indian American couple to two temples in the USA.

In January 2018, Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah of Tampa made a remarkable $1.93 million to two temples: one in Florida and the other in Ohio. Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah are noted real estate investors with philanthropic bent of mind. They donated USD 1 million to Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Youngstown, Ohio and USD 930,000 to the Temple Tampa Chapter of VYO-USA Inc. (Vallabh Youth Organization).

Known for entrepreneurship and philanthropy, Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah have been living in Tampa for nearly 18 years. Youngstown in Ohio was their home before they relocated to Florida. They moved from India to Toronto in 1970 and shifted to the US in 1981. The donation to Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple in Youngstown is not the first testament to their generous philanthropy. In 2005, Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah donated $800,000 for infrastructural development of Liberty Township in Ohio’s Butler County.

This Indian American couple from Tampa also supports various charitable projects in India, including a nonprofit eye clinic and a community kitchen for the needy where over 400 meals are served daily.

The single largest donation in the history of Ohio’s Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple, $1 million will be used to develop the temple infrastructure and improve the existing facilities at various phases. Infrastructural improvement will help the temple accomplish its missions related to peace, harmony, spirituality and community service.

Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah’s donation of $930,000 will be used to replace the existing green house with a 6,000-square-foot temple at the Tampa branch of VYO-USA, a national Hindu organization. The largest Indian community center in Florida, the Tampa branch of VYO-USA is frequented by over 30,000 people of Indian origin from across Tampa Bay Area.

The upcoming temple will be named Vrindavan Dham (Lord Krishna’s home) and completed within two years. A marble idol of baby Krishna (Bal Gopal) will be worshipped in temple. A full-time priest will be appointed to perform ritualistic ceremonies and oversee daily prayers. Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah want the temple to be a retreat for spiritual enrichment, which will be open to all religious communities.

Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah look upon the donation to the VYO-USA’s Temple Tampa chapter as giving back to Tampa where they have been residing and thriving for nearly 18 years. “Our business and family’s roots are established in Tampa Indian community. It’s one of our core responsibilities to support the things that matter to us. We pride ourselves on helping the VYO-USA Temple Tampa chapter create a legacy for the coming generations of youths,” said Ketki Shah.

Over three decades ago, Raxit Shah and Ketki Shah founded the Liberty Group, a vertically integrated hotel investment, development and management company. The Liberty Group owns and operates leading hospitality brands: Marriott, Hilton, Intercontinental, Starwood, and Wyndham. It also oversees Starbucks Coffee’s worldwide operations. Raxit Shah is Executive Chairman of the Liberty Group.

This story is part of our continued effort at Indian Eagle to promote good work for noble causes by Indians in USA and the rest of the world. We not only strive to offer the cheapest fare deals for USA to India flights but also cater inspiring stories, community news, and travel updates to Indian Americans through our free newsletters.      

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At a charity event last Sunday (September 24, 2017), Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner wholeheartedly acknowledged the impact of humanitarian efforts and philanthropic initiatives by Indian Americans, in general, on the socio-economic progress of America. Undeniably, the growing Indian American community is a pillar of the US economy though it constitutes only 1% of the total US population.

Tampa-based Freedom Health’s Chairman, Dr. Kiran Patel pledged a whopping donation of $200 million to Florida’s Nova Southeastern University yesterday when we at Indian Eagle were full of praise for Houston-based Amit Bhandari’s contribution of $250,000 to a Hurricane Harvey relief fund. An eminent Indian American physician and entrepreneur couple, Drs. Kiran Patel and Pallavi Patel committed the single largest donation to a US institute in the history of America.

Driven by boundless passion for philanthropy in health care and health education, Dr. Kiran Patel unveiled his plans to build an osteopathic medical college in Tampa for poor students from India and Africa almost a year back (2016 end). The Dr. Kiran Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine will come up at a new medical complex in Clearwater, under Nova Southeastern University (NSU).

Lauded as the transformational contribution in the history of Florida, the promised $200 million includes a $50 million gift to Nova Southwestern University for healthcare advancement in Florida and a $150 million for medical facility development at the upcoming 325,000 square-foot complex in NSU’s new Tampa Bay Regional Campus, Clearwater.

The Drs. Kiran Patel and Pallavi Patel Family Foundation’s partnership with Nova Southeastern University is expected to transform the face of health care in Florida, and in USA at large to the benefit of underprivileged communities. The Patel Family Foundation’s historic commitment of $200 million to NSU will also generate employment opportunities across Florida in order to make a big difference in the socio-economic scenario of the state.

Sanguine about the partnership with Nova Southeastern University, Dr. Pallavi Patel, an Ahmedabad-born pediatrician, said that NSU would train thousands of new doctors and other health care professionals at different levels and in different fields over the next 20 years so that millions of lives could be benefitted in USA and India. Notably, NSU renamed its School of Health Sciences as Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, which resulted in a merit scholarship fund for student.

Nova Southeastern University would produce 250 doctors a year in the short run and nearly 400 physicians over the next few years, according Tampa Indian American Dr. Kiran Patel. The largest producer of medical graduates in Florida, Nova’s School of Health Sciences will reportedly associate with the Dr. Kiran and Pallavi Patel University, which is currently under construction at a 120-acre site in India.

40% of medical graduates including doctors and physician assistants from NSU would practice in medically underserved areas worldwide, was a key condition of the $200 million commitment that Dr Kiran Patel and Dr. Pallavi Patel made to NSU. Medical graduates from India will also undergo training on advanced treatment methods during a year-long residency program at NSU’s new Tampa Bay Regional Campus in Clearwater.

No wonder why the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) honored Dr. Kiran Patel with the “Outstanding American by Choice” award of the year 2017.

This story is part of our continued effort at Indian Eagle to promote good work for noble causes by Indians in USA and the rest of the world. We not only strive to make USA to India travel cheaper but also cater inspiring stories, community news, and travel updates to Indian Americans through our free newsletters.      

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Philanthropy is one of the bridges between Indian Diaspora and India. Even it is the elixir of Indian Americans’ umbilical cords with their roots back in India. Bearing a testimony to the statement are two great philanthropic initiatives which made headlines in the US media by the end of 2016.

One is Washington DC based Dr. Frank Islam’s project to fund fellowship for young journalists from India in USA. The other is Dr. Kiran Patel’s plans to build an osteopathic medical school in Tampa, Florida, for poor students from India and Africa.

Dr. Kiran Patel is an eminent physician and savvy entrepreneur in Tampa. He is one of the leading philanthropists in America. The Chairman of Freedom Health in Tampa, he recently purchased the 25-acre Clearwater Christian College campus overlooking the Old Tampa Bay in Florida for the osteopathic medical school project. It was a 12-million dollar deal. To be named after him, the medical institute will come up at the west end of the Courtney Campbell Causeway by 2018 or early 2019.

The upcoming Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tampa will admit 100 to 150 domestic and international students from the bottom of economic heaps in USA, India and Africa. It is a bigger picture of his vision and mission to help the economically disadvantaged communities in India. Dr. Kiran Patel is looking to equip the underprivileged students with world-class medical training, which they otherwise find unaffordable, so that they can serve the communities in their home countries.

Described as a ‘boom for the city,’ the proposed Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine in Florida would cost approximately $50 million, a major part of which will be contributed by Dr. Kiran Patel himself. The cost would have been more than 50 million US dollars if there were no classroom infrastructure and dormitories at Clearwater Christian College. Established in 1966, the college shut its doors due to lack of donations, poor enrollment and increased debt.

Osteopathy is an alternate medicine to amplify one’s physical wellbeing by relieving the stress of muscular and skeletal systems of the body. More than 20% of medical students in USA become certified osteopathic physicians every year. Since millions of people belong to the working class in India, a whopping number of osteopathy cases are registered there annually. Evidently, the lack of access to osteopathy for the underprivileged working-class people in developing nations has motivated Dr. Kiran Patel to develop an osteopathic medicine school.

Though he grew up in Zambia, Dr. Kiran Patel pursued his medical studies and got married in India. He along with his family relocated to Tampa in 1982. He has supported many local causes with monetary contributions. He donated $26 million to the University of South Florida and $3 million to Florida Hospital Tampa. He has built hospitals in India and Zambia too.

All philanthropic campaigns, contributions and projects have resulted from his passion for health, education and charity. That’s why he has also commissioned Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Global University, a 120-acre institute under construction in India.

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