Newsletter: July 2022

by | Jun 23, 2023

Dear all

You are receiving this email because you are either an AAMA member, a friend or an AAMA supporter / donor.

I am presently visiting Armenia through the end of the month for a week of a medical mission:

  • To train, work and operate with a cohort of 5 young physicians from Armenia specializing in Urogynecology
  • To follow up on the philanthropic and non-profit work the AAMA has been conducting in Armenia over the past 2 years, thanks in large part to all of your support

I will try to send regular emails (and pictures) in the coming week to keep you updated with the results of my touring and meeting with the different hospitals, institutions and individuals in Armenia. Please respond to this email if your inbox is inundated with emails and you have little to no time to dedicate to the AAMA updates. If so, I will take you off of the mailing list.

My first impression from the time I set foot at the airport is that people from all across the world are visiting the country in droves as you can tell from the selfie at the airport. People seem happy, vibrant and full of excitement. There is plenty of work opportunities with thousands of new jobs being reported every month, and the Armenian Dram has strengthened vis-à-vis the US dollar. The economy seems to be heading in a positive direction. The Republican square in Armenia is breath taking at night as well as in the morning of July 24 (which happened to be St Vartavar’s feast day where Water was King). Big Massis (Ararat) was shrouded with clouds today but will hopefully get a better view (and photo) in the coming days.

OK below are some of AAMA updates from back home:

  • We have received many grant applications and our call for proposals is now closed for this cycle – the committee will convene in August and selections will be made in the fall. There will be 2 awards, one for 5K and the other one for 10K
  • Save the date for the AAMA November 12th gala with special guest of honor (TBA). The event will be held at Boston Sheraton. More details to follow.
  • The HBO project is progressing well. I will meet in person with the Mikayelyan hospital administrators on this coming Friday and will hopefully have more information after that.
  • The Artsakh primary care project with Tufenkian is moving forward as well. Anush Sahakian, MD is in Artsakh at present and I believe Nick Akgulian, MD, our colleague and friend from Wisconsin is there too. They are both laying the foundations for a long-term primary care mission in the region of Martuni. I will be meeting with Anush this Saturday and will have more updates to come.
  • Website (for AAMA members only) -please visit https://aamaboston.org/ and ensure your profile is up to date including email and mailing address and be sure to pay your dues – these help fund our student scholarships
  • While you are at our website, you may view some of our past events including the Pathways to Success webinar link
  • Our medical students as well as allied health are encouraged to apply to the AAMA scholarships. You can see the application for this year – due on Oct 31, 2022 at https://aamaboston.org/scholarship/
  • Thank you to all of you who volunteered for the Homenetmen sporting weekend around 4th of July.
  • As a reminder, if you shop on Amazon, the AAMA is registered with the Amazon Smile program. Choose AAMA as your non-profit organization and a certain percentage of your purchase gets donated to us.

With gratitude

Vatche’

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