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What's Happening
What's Next
February 1, 2024
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Congratulations to AAHPO Service Award Winners: Dr. Kayayan and Dr. Barsoumanian | |
On Sunday, January 21, AAHPO recognized Ara Kayayan, MD and Raffi Barsoumanian, MD for their exemplary medical service to Armenians (see photos below). This was the highlight of the Winter Brunch, which was well-attended and enjoyed by AAHPO members, families and guests. To see more event photos on the AAHPO website, please click here. | |
Ara Kayayan, MD, center, accepts the AAHPO Service Award from AAHPO President Lawrence V. Najarian, MD, left, and AAHPO Vice President Garbis Baydar, MD, right. Dr. Kayayan is an internist in Albany, NY who was "AAHPO's eyes and ears" during the treatment and recovery of Bishop Mesrop, who was severely injured in 2022. Dr. Kayayan is a highly respected physician in the Albany area, and an active member of the Armenian community there. | |
Raffi Barsoumanian, MD, left, accepts the AAHPO Service Award from AAHPO Vice President Garbis Baydar, MD, center, and AAHPO President Lawrence V. Najarian, MD. Dr. Barsoumanian, a surgeon, was recognized for traveling to Armenia to treat soldiers who suffered severe burns in the 2020 war and required skin grafts. Dr. Barsoumanian returned to Armenia a second time to bring essential medical supplies for the treatment of soldiers. | |
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Can Armenia's refugee crisis catalyse
health-system reform?
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Editor's note: This article is co-authored by AAHPO Board Member Kim Hekimian, PhD and AAHPO Member and MD/PhD student Christopher Marskosian, as well as Shant Shekherdimian, MD, Kent Garber, MD, MPH, and Ara Darzi, KBE, MD. The article was recently published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal. | |
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The immediate health needs of the refugees are immense. Before the exodus, people of Nagorno-Karabakh had been living under a punitive 9-month blockade, resulting in malnutrition and worsening health conditions due to scarcity of food, medicine, and vaccines. During their exile, a fuel depot explosion led to hundreds of casualties among refugees. Other factors contributing to medical needs include the
suddenness of displacement, forfeiture of medical records, and loss of established longitudinal health-care providers.
But as headlines fade and humanitarian priorities shift elsewhere, Nagorno-Karabakh refugees will continue to face challenges in accessing high-quality health care. The Armenian Government intends to integrate displaced people into the health-care system, providing them with the same care as their host communities. However, Armenia has a health-care infrastructure with scarce resources and of inadequate quality. Given this reality, it would be wise for the global health response—typically focused on the acute needs of the refugees, and sometimes guilty of setting up health programming in parallel to government efforts—to simultaneously strengthen local health services towards universal health coverage, improved primary care, and optimised outcomes.
Read entire article
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Members Only Event: Fascinating Art/Medicine Program at Philadelphia Museum of Art | |
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AAHPO members are invited to spend Saturday afternoon, March 2 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and learn about a fascinating art and medical education program.
When medical students at the University of Pennsylvania were taught how to look at art by observing, describing and discussing the works, it was found that those students who took the class ultimately had better diagnostic and observational skills. Going to a museum and looking at the art made them better physicians!
During our stay, we will enjoy a 2-hour workshop with the same art instructor who teaches the medical students. We will learn about the art/medical education program and together, with the instructors, we will go through the exercise of viewing works of art and connecting them to clinical practice and medical education. We also will have some free time to tour the museum on our own.
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Parking at the Museum
There is a parking garage available on Anne d'Harnoncourt Dr. (access from Kelly Dr. or Spring Garden St.) Museum-validated parking is $15 for the first 4 hours; validate your parking ticket inside the museum at a Visitors Services Desk. You must pay for parking by credit card, at the parking location.
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This event is in collaboration with our medical colleagues from Delaware Valley Armenian Health Professionals Organization (DVAHPO) and we will meet with them for dinner at a local restaurant. For those of us staying overnight, there will be an opportunity for breakfast on Sunday morning.
The fee for the program is $40 per person, and advance payment is required. Please click here to learn more or pay for program.
Date: Saturday March 2, 2024
Time: 1:15 pm at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Please donate directly to AAHPO to support our mission to assist Armenians here
and in Armenia.
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It's Easy! Sign up for Round Up and Help AAHPO | |
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Here is an easy way to help AAHPO every time you shop: the Roundup App
Roundup allows you to effortlessly donate to AAHPO by "rounding up" your credit card purchases to the nearest dollar, then sending those modest donations directly to AAHPO.
The process is simple. First, go to the app store on your smartphone, and download the Roundup App for free. Once inside the Roundup App, you simply choose AAHPO (Armenian American Healthcare Professionals Organization) as your nonprofit. Then link a credit or debit card and select a monthly minimum goal.
It's great! You are only being asked to donate your spare change. For most of us, it’s much easier to say “yes” to parting with nickels and dimes, than to a set amount of money. But for the vulnerable Armenians helped by AAHPO, those nickels and dimes add up to healthcare education and assistance!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
2024:
March 2 - Members Only: Philadelphia Museum of Art Event and Dinner with DVAHPO. Learn more or pay for the program
March 23 - 6 pm, Members Only: Dinner and Awards Presentation with Bishop Mesrop, St. Vartans Cathedral.
April 5 - Mentoring Forum, Fordham University
May 24-26 - AMIC Board Meeting in Madrid, Spain. AAHPO Members are invited to prepare for Armenian Medical World Congress (AMWC) in Madrid in 2025. Interested? Email AAHPO
October 19 - 5K Race/Walk for Charity
2025:
January 12 - Winter Brunch, more details to come
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Our Board & Our Mission
Lawrence V. Najarian, MD, President
Ted Chaglassian, MD, Past President
Garbis Baydar, MD, Vice President
Joyce Kurdian, DMD, Treasurer
Lynn Cetin, MD, Corresponding Secretary
Debra Ferman, MD, Recording Secretary
Arthur Kubikian,DDS, Parliamentarian
Louiza Puskulian-Kubikian, DDS, Membership Committee
John Bilezikian, MD, Aram Cazazian, DDS, Kim Hekimian, PhD, Gregory Kazandjian, DDS, Knarig Khatchadurian, PhD, Tsoline Kojaoghlanian, MD, Lena Merjanian, MD, Vahe Tateosian, MD, Lucy Tovmasian, MD, ɫRaffy Hovanessian, MD, ɫKhoren Nalbandian, RPh
AAHPO's mission is to improve health care awareness, increase disease prevention and early detection, foster fellowship and career development of Armenian health care professionals, and provide medical support and education to both our local communities and Armenia.
Call AAHPO: 908-914-5549
Email AAHPO
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