Get to know Avi Kerendian and some of his ideas: GGHTx is on a mission in changing lives through the power of global health. “Gracias” Global Health Trips, otherwise known as GGHTx, is a global health-oriented nonprofit organization/NGO that brings together young volunteers from medical and dental backgrounds to aid in intensive, week-long medical mission trips in rural villages throughout Latin America and Uganda. Led by Co-Founders Dr. Arash Hakhamian and Avi Kerendian, register for the volunteer experience of a lifetime!
Avi Kerendian is the Co-Founder and Program Director of GGHTx. GGHTx, also known as “Gracias” Global Health Trips, is an active public health non-profit improving global health in underserved, indigenous communities in Latin America and Uganda through community-based partnerships (CBO’s) with the end goal of fostering self-sufficiency.
Avi Kerendian latest project: Specifically, GGHTx will work in partnership with Zidan Benevolence International, a community organization, in communities within the Buikwe District (central Uganda) to support people living with and at high-risk of HIV. Barring financial considerations, Uganda’s rebound in HIV/AIDS is still partly due to individual and community unawareness, neglect, and complacency in prevention strategies that are, unfortunately, still affecting community members in significant numbers.
How about after finally arriving there you realize that the doctor has run out of the most basic medical supplies used to treat and evaluate your 2-month old baby who has been coughing in sheer pain for the last 3 days and likely has a severe case of pneumonia; something totally preventable and treatable with basic medicine, but without which can now be life-threatening. You are turned away and told to go back home. You now have no choice but to wait until next week – hoping and praying – that this time the doctor will not have run out of the medicine your child desperately needs.
Afterwards, your afternoons are free to relax at your accommodations or to enjoy the extracurricular activities we have planned with the other volunteers! However, as we go over at length during your orientation, we ask you respect the locals and culture there. Use of illegal drugs is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate dismissal from the GGHTx program—we want you to have a fun and safe experience abroad. Learn about the local culture! Be curious, ask questions, and be respectful. People here have their own experiences, expectations, and beliefs. They expect you participate, dress appropriately, and abide by their rules.
Avi Kerendian – Cancer Researcher : Before becoming the program director of GGHTx, Avi Kerendian also participated at the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) as a Neurology Cancer-Research Assistant at the renowned “Ronald Blasberg Lab.” While there, Avi Kerendian used his skills to actively contribute towards two research projects that seek to reverse the progression of tumors in glioblastoma and breast cancer in terminal cancer patients. As one of the youngest researchers on his team, Avi Kerendian successfully trained in small animal surgery and medicine. See extra information on Avi Kerendian.