Unstoppable Campaign

Giving Thanks

By Ann Carney | USF News

At the entrance to the home of Drs. Antonina and Shaukat Chowdhari is a colorful ceramic tile inscribed in Arabic, "God bless our house."

It is a home rich with blessings. And a life that subscribes to the Islamic philosophy of sharing what you have with others in need.

In May, USF Foundation Board Member Dr. Shaukat Chowdhari and his wife, Dr. Antonina Chowdhari, announced a $1.3 million gift to the USF: Unstoppable campaign. The money will be used to build a golf clubhouse and training center for student-athletes. It will feature locker rooms, a putting lab, a swing simulator and offices for coaches and staff.

"The new facility will be state-of-the-art," says Shaukat. "It will allow USF to be competitive with top golfing programs and to attract the best golfers."

The gift isn't the Chowdhari's first to the university. Drs. Chowdhari committed $250,000 to the College of Medicine in 2008 to renovate its Gross Anatomy Lab. In 2009, the family gifted $130,000 to Honors College to ensure that students with financial need would have access to a free Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) prep course. Wanting to do more, the couple established a second endowed scholarship in the college to help students with funding for textbooks.

It is giving that has come full circle.

"You give back to those who helped you succeed," says Antonina. "It was USF that gave Shaukat his break."

In 1996, Shaukat completed a specialized fellowship in pain management at USF. Today, he is president and medical director of University Pain Management Center and a former faculty member in Anesthesiology in the USF Health College of Medicine.

He isn't the only family member with ties to the university. The couple's oldest daughter, Mariam, is a second-year, pre-med major in Honors College. Their eldest son, Adam, will begin his first year at USF in the fall.

In addition to USF, Shaukat and Antonina have generously supported Independent Day School in Tampa, where their younger daughter, Sara, is currently enrolled and their younger son, Sean, recently graduated. Sean is a freshman at Jesuit High School. They have also lent their support to University Community Hospital where Shaukat worked for three years before starting his own practice.

"Satisfaction comes when you give to others," says Antonina, a board certified pediatrician, who gave up her practice to raise the couple's four children. It is a lesson they teach by example.

"We hope our children are inspired by us to give back once they have achieved their own financial stability," says Shaukat, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan in 1984 with "two suitcases, plenty of medical books and a couple hundred dollars."

While Shaukat and Antonina have been blessed with good fortune to share, the couple believes that giving isn't about the amount one can give.

"Nothing is too small," says Antonina. "Every act of giving, even volunteering your time, makes a difference."

USF: Unstoppable

To date, the USF: Unstoppable campaign has raised more than $406 million of its $600 million goal. To learn more about the campaign and opportunities for giving, visit www.unstoppable.usf.edu.