Here I was—happily married, starting my first job at a community hospital north of Boston after a Harvard residency and a breast cancer fellowship. At 34, I was finally ready to start a family.

But after years of failed IUIs and IVFs, we faced the painful reality: it was not to be. Refusing to give up, we turned to adoption, and our journey led us to India. At an orphanage in Pune, we met 3-month-old twin girls, Rasika and Asavari, and instantly knew they were ours.

We had no idea how difficult the next few months would be. The twins—just 3 pounds and 3½ pounds—were already on antibiotics when they came into our care. Soon their fragile lives hung in the balance.

Local labs couldn’t identify the cause, and treatments were failing. We rushed them by ambulance to Hinduja Hospital, where a CAP-accredited laboratory finally gave us the answer: amoebic dysentery. IV antibiotics followed, and they survived. Without that laboratory, I believe we would have lost them.

That moment showed me, in the most personal way, what the CAP Foundation stands for: ensuring that every patient, no matter where they live, has access to accurate, timely diagnoses. Years earlier, when I participated in my first CAP inspection as a resident, the checklists and proficiency testing seemed bureaucratic. Now, as a medical director, I know they are the very tools that save lives—and that the Foundation’s outreach ensures those same standards reach communities around the world.

To honor my debt to Hinduja Hospital, I speak to pathologists in Mumbai whenever I visit. To give back to CAP and the Foundation, I serve on committees, volunteer for inspections, and support its global mission to strengthen laboratories in resource-limited settings. But no matter how much I give, it will never feel like enough.

We are fortunate to have CAP and the CAP Foundation safeguarding our laboratories in the U.S.—and we share the responsibility to extend that excellence worldwide through education, Archives, international accreditation, and CAP checklists.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

Sincerely,

Megha Joshi, MD, FCAP
Director, CAP Foundation Board

Your gift to the CAP Foundation helps ensure that patients—no matter their circumstances or geography—receive the accurate, timely diagnoses they deserve.