As the Armenian EyeCare Project enters its 25th year of providing quality eye care to Armenia, we’re pleased to announce our three new board members who will help facilitate our success for many years to come.
Dr. Khodam Rostomian, Mr. Michael Sahakian, and Mr. Alexis Gevorgian joined our Board of Directors late last year and each will bring their professional expertise as well as their personal dedication to fulfill the AECP’s lifelong mission of eliminating preventable blindness in Armenia and providing quality eye care for every Armenian in need.
“The Armenian EyeCare Project is very near and dear to my heart,” Dr. Rostomian, an ophthalmologist at Kaiser Permanente in Lancaster, says. Dr. Rostomian’s history with the AECP goes back to 1995, when the doctor joined our Medical Mission to Armenia, then as a junior medical resident.
Appropriately, it is Dr. Rostomian’s early educational experience with the AECP that inspires him to further develop that section of our organization, be it through encouraging students abroad to visit Armenia through our Observership program or by providing quality medical training to doctors in Armenia so they can care for patients at the same level as physicians in the U.S.
“I love that our mission goes beyond just charity,” Dr. Rostomian says. “Our goal is to establish an infrastructure in Armenia so the doctors there can be self-sustainable and be able to provide care even without us.”
Dr. Rostomian, who also sits on the Board of Directors at Southern California Permanente Medical Group, intends to share his 20 years of experience working with large patient populations at Kaiser Permanente with the AECP so we can build our capacity capability to treat even more patients in Armenia.
Sahakian also joins the Board of Directors at the Armenian EyeCare Project and says his respect for our organization grows with each visit to Armenia.
“As I spend more time in Armenia, I find real value in the Project,” Sahakian, a business consultant and owner of MISHO Consulting, says. “It touches me when they save the sight of so many Armenians, especially of children and the elderly who can’t afford care on their own.”
Gevorgian, our third new board member, echoes these sentiments. “Giving back to the community has always been important to me and the Armenian EyeCare Project is known for its professionalism and legitimacy,” Gevorgian, a real estate developer who runs the land development company AMG & Associates, says. “Anything I can do to help the underserved population in Armenia is time well spent.”
Gevorgian adds that he hopes to add value to the AECP in its finances and operations, which is where his expertise lies.
Rostomian, Sahakian, and Gevorgian join our Board of Directors as we begin our 25th Anniversary. The AECP will celebrate 25 years of service to Armenia by hosting several activities throughout the year — including a special Mission Trip to Armenia in July that’s open to all our friends and supporters and a 25th Anniversary Gala in November, which will be our biggest Gala yet!
“I think the EyeCare Project’s 25th Anniversary is a testament to the fact that our mission is based on a solid foundation,” Dr. Rostomian says. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be around for 25 years and we wouldn’t be thriving like we are today.”
Since 1992, the Armenian EyeCare Project has developed several sight-saving programs in Armenia, including eight subspecialty clinics in Yerevan; a Mobile Eye Hospital that travels throughout Armenia to treat patients unable to travel to the capital; a Center of Excellence for the Prevention of Childhood Blindness specializing in infants and children; and — our biggest project yet — five Regional Eye Clinics in five different provinces in Armenia so those living far from the capital can still receive quality eye care. To date, the AECP has treated over 600,000 patients in Armenia and performed more than 20,000 surgeries.
Rostomian, Sahakian, and Gevorgian will join our current board members: Mr. David Keligian, Mrs. Meredith Khachigian, Mr. Jack McHale, Mr. Archie Cholakian, Dr. Barry Kuppermann, Dr. Richard Hill, and AECP Founder and President Dr. Roger Ohanesian.
“The EyeCare Project is thrilled with the new energy that these committed Armenians bring to our Board,” Dr. Ohanesian says. “Since our inception, our board members have assisted us greatly in policy decisions as well as fund raising. We could not function without their considered direction when making difficult decisions. I would like to thank these new members as well as those current and previous ones I still call upon for advice from time to time.”
Welcome to the team, Dr. Rostomian, Mr. Sahakian, and Mr. Gevorgian!
