A few short years ago, Trans-America International, Inc. was just a "big dream" in the mind of Mumtaz Farash, MD.(Mum Kasai, MD). Everyone in all directions seemed to be telling her it couldn't be done. Farash wanted to set up an education foundation that would award scholarships to medical students showing exceptional merit.

She also wanted to open a series of centers offering nuclear imaging ser-vices based on the latest advances in medical technology. To Farash's way of thinking, the profits from her centers could fund the scholarships awarded by her foundation.

It was an ambitious dream; and there were, in Farash's words, "a lot of obstacles to overcome." Chief among them was her lack of capital. "I didn't even have the thousand dollars to pay for incorporation," she recalls. Moreover, her training and experience were in medicine, not corporate business. But those who doubted Mumtaz Farash's ability to get the job done underestimated her drive and determination.

Farash established Trans-America International, Inc., Nuclear Imaging Center in 1993. The success of the Fort Worth center, strategically situated at 800 8th Avenue, was strong enough to prompt the opening of a second in Arlington in 1995, with a third in Grand Prairie following soon after. The centers provide non-invasive, cost-effective diagnostic services that can detect a wide range of medical problems throughout the body in early stages before extensive damage has been done. Breast cancers and brain lesions are only two of many conditions that nuclear imaging techniques can identify. Trans-America International's staff physicians are board-certified in nuclear medicine. Patients are referred to Trans-America international's centers by their own physicians or con- suiting specialists. Farash feels that nuclear imaging services are an excellent diagnostic tool that is currently under utilized and hopes her centers will make early detection readily available to community residents throughout the area.

Community involvement ranks near the top of Mumtaz Farash's priorities, as her plans for the Mum's Education Foundation reveal. In addition to providing scholarships for gifted students, Farash intends the foundation's trust to sponsor literacy programs among low-income groups and support medical research. The proceeds from her book, Medical Care System, are already dedicated to the foundation. A second book awaiting publication will add to the coffers. Farash finds time for civic and consumer groups, too, as her membership in the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and the Better Business Bureau indicates.

Farash says Trans-America International's nuclear imaging centers will multiply, providing affordable services to greater numbers of patients and enabling her foundation to grow. In the early stages of pursuing her dream, she found a friend in the form of the Internal Revenue Service. They were very reasonable and guided her to establish MUM'S EDUCATION FOUNDATION. But it was Farash's own determination that took her the rest of the way. Describing herself as a combination of "very kind and very tough," she lays all the credit for Trans-America International's success on optimism -and hard work. "If you are not    optimistic, you are gone," she says. Her big dream is still in process, but Trans-America International, Inc. and its CEO, Mumtaz Farash, M.D., have a good deal of cause 'for optimism.