InternationalThree outstanding leaders to be honored at Armenian Medical World Congress banquet July 4
Published: Thursday June 18, 2009
Nazar Nazarian and Levon Nazarian, M.D. .
New York - "It was a great feeling to help my people in Armenia. And it was thrilling that I was able to work with my father on this very important project," said Dr. Levon Nazarian. Recently, Dr. Nazarian received an honorary doctor of medicine degree from Yerevan State Medical University, as well as its gold medal, in recognition of his dedicated work in setting up the Ultrasound Training Centre of Armenia.
On Saturday evening, July 4, at the gala banquet of the Armenian Medical World Congress, at the New York Hilton Hotel, the preeminent father-and-son humanitarian and medical outreach team of Nazar Nazarian and Dr. Levon Nazarian will be honored,as will Lord Darzi, a preeminent surgeon and health minister in Great Britain.
In a telephone interview with this writer, Dr. Nazarian spoke of the crucial ultrasound project that he established in Armenia. It was in the educational arm of the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Ultrasound Research and Education Institute that it was decided "to spread ultrasound education throughout the world as a cost-effective procedure. Without side effects, it's a very effective method to diagnose the heart, thyroid, liver, gall bladder, pelvis, tendons, muscular skeletal system, male testicles, and normal and abnormal pregnancies," he explained.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified ultrasound as one of the best tools to improve the population's health in developing countries, and many centers have been set up in different parts of the world.
How about Armenia?
It was more than ten years ago that an ultrasound specialist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital said to Dr. Nazarian, "You're Armenian. How about setting up the procedure in Armenia?"
"I had been thinking about it. O.K, let's do it," Dr. Nazarian answered. The long and arduous process was put into motion.
In 2000, Dr. Nazarian attended the ribbon-cutting of the Ultrasound Training Center of Armenia at the Yerevan State Medical University, established by the Jefferson Ultrasound Research and Education Institute. Also attending the ceremony was the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, and Armenia's minister of health.
The center's co-directors, Dr. Andreas Hampartsoumian and Dr. Hamayak Sisakyan, "developed their own lecture and training programs starting in 2000," Dr. Nazarian continued. "Shortly after, four doctors from Armenia were chosen from 20 applicants to come to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to train for three months. Two years later, Dr. Hampartsoumian also came to Jefferson, taking back with him voluminous training material.
Professionals from all over Armenia, the south Caucasus, Russia, and as far away as India and China came to Armenia's Ultrasound Center to learn. In Armenia, it performs a crucial diagnostic role in Armenia as a low-cost alternative to the MRI."
Huge donation by Nazar Nazarian
The majority of the ultrasound equipment was donated by Nazar Nazarian, noted philanthropist and father of Dr. Nazarian, through the auspices of the AGBU working in tandem with the United Nations. "The hospitals in Armenia started with two ultrasound machines, then 27 more were donated to different marzes (districts) of Armenia, including Karabakh, and the Javakhk province of Georgia."
In addition, through a joint donation by Nazar Nazarian and Philips Health Care, a subsidiary of Philips Electronics, a catscan machine has also been given to Yerevan State Medical University which has now begun publishing the New Armenian Medical Journal, the official publication of the university. Dr. Nazarian is one of two doctors from the U.S. on the University's Editorial Advisory Council.
"This ambitious and much-needed project, the Ultrasound Training Centre in Armenia, has succeeded far beyond what we had hoped for through its two leaders, Dr. Hampartsoumian and Dr. Sisakyan," stated Dr. Nazarian.
Dr. Nazarian is currently radiology residency program director, as well as professor of radiology, and vice chairperson for education at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He has co-authored 69 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 84 abstracts. His pioneering work in ultrasound has received much acclaim in newspapers, magazines, as well as on television, the BBC and the Reuters News Agency. He has been named editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ultrasound Medicine, a post he will assume in January 2011. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including being listed in the 2007–2008 Best Doctors in America. Following in his father's footsteps, Dr. Nazarian recently joined the AGBU Board of Directors.
Revered community leaders
Philanthropy has been the cornerstone of Nazar Nazarian's life. Longtime member of the AGBU Board of Directors, Nazar Nazarian, former president of Royale Linens in New Jersey, with his wife Artemis, has given generous donations to many projects throughout the world, including the Nazarian School in Beirut and the construction of AGBU facilities in various communities in North and South America and the Middle East.
In addition to their generous funding of the Ultrasound Centre in Armenia, Nazar and Artemis Nazarian underwrote the cost of the St. Trdat Chapel of the Yerevan Cathedral, as well as funded several educational, medical, and religious endeavors in Armenia, for which they were awarded the 1700 Anniversary medal by the Caltholicos Karekin II.
World-famous scientist
Lord Darzi is head of the Department of Surgery at the Imperial College London, and is chairperson of surgery there and at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. He is also an honorary consultant at St. Mary's Hospital and the Royal Marsden College. He has published seven books and more than 450 peer-reviewed papers.
