VELLORE CMC FOUNDATION, INC. Nominees to the Class of 2020 Board of Directors Margaret Kamalini Kumar, PhD, RN McMinnville, OR
Margaret Kamalini Kumar is a graduate of the College of Nursing CMCH, Vellore (Batch of ‘63) and holds a Master's and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Educational Psychology. Her rewarding career included more than 46 years nursing and teaching in both in the health care field and the public sector. Prior to her retirement in 2015 Margaret was the Director of Clinical and Professional Development at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton, Iowa. Margaret was awarded the Louis Holloway Mentorship Award for health care educators of Iowa, and the Iowa Society’s Educator of the Year award in 2002 and 2003. She also was named one of Iowa’s 100 Great Nurses in 2005. For over 30 years, Margaret has been a presenter at national and international nursing conferences in the area of spiritual care, death and dying issues, team and leadership development, cultural diversity and parish health nursing. As a couple Margaret and her husband Dr. Surendra Kumar (’58-’59) devoted much time, energy and love to the Foundation and CMC. Suren passed away in 2015 and is dearly missed. We are grateful that Margaret has returned to the Board after a one-year hiatus.
Vinciya Pandian, PhD, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC Forest Hill, MD
Vinciya Pandian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Acute and Chronic Care at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and a Joint Faculty at the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her clinical interests are in providing evidencebased care for patients who have airway issues, particularly critically ill patients who are either
intubated and are potential candidates for tracheostomy, or who already have a tracheostomy. Dr. Pandian is widely published on her research on airway medicine. Vinciya received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery at CMC in 1996. She went on to complete her Master of Science in Nursing/Acute Care Nurse Practitioner at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in 2004; her PhD in Nursing, Clinical Research, also at Johns Hopkins in 2013; and she expects to receive an MBA in Health-Care Management at University of Baltimore / Towson University in 2018. VELLORE CMC FOUNDATION, INC. Nominees to the Class of 2020 Corporation Anita Raja, PhD New York, NY
Anita Raja is Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Programs and Professor of Computer Science in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at The Cooper Union. Prior to joining Cooper Union, she was an Associate Professor of Software and Information Systems at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 2003-2011. Anita received a B.S. Honors in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics summa cum laude from Temple University, Philadelphia in 1996, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1998 and 2003 respectively. Professor Raja oversees the graduate program, the study abroad program, the premed track and facilitates research activities of faculty and students in the Engineering School. Dr. Raja is an active researcher in the area of Artificial Intelligence. She recently collaborated with Foundation Board member Dr. Meredith Hawkins on a freshmen Engineering project that uses engineering design to address a medical need. Anita was born at CMC. She is married to Dr. Cephas Swamidoss and they have two beautiful sons. Cephas Swamidoss, MD New York, NY
Dr. Cephas Swamidoss is a board-certified anesthesiologist and Associate Attending Anesthesiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, NY. He joined HHS in 2007; prior to joining the
Department, he served as a staff obstetrical anesthesiologist and Residency Director for the Anesthesia Training Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He has an active interest in educational programs, clinical outcomes research as well as overseas medical missions. Dr. Swamidoss attended Tufts University for his undergraduate studies. He received an MS in Biostatistics at Georgetown University; his MD at Mount Sinai School of Medicine; and a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University. Residency was completed at Yale New Haven Hospital. As a medical student, Cephas participated in electives with CHAD and RUHSA at CMC. His mother is an alumna of the College of Nursing. Cephas is married to Dr. Anita Raja and they have two beautiful sons. Binu Varughese New York, NY
Binu Varughese is a Vice President at Assured Guaranty, where he is responsible for leading restructurings/refinancings on distressed transactions; and managing remediation efforts with regard to MBS, CDO and CDS portfolio. Prior to joining Assured Guaranty nine years ago Mr. Varughese worked in risk management at Financial Security Assurance and consulted in this area with KPMG and Andersen for various financial service firms. He received his undergraduate degree from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University and his MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU. Binu is married to Dr. Lisa Nowell and they have a daughter.