Avi Kerendian or the upsurge of a global health professional: 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: By developing and increasing access to educational HIV programs that focus on prevention and awareness, GGHTx hopes this partnership will help in creating better health outcomes for individuals and families in Uganda. Zidan Benevolence International will help facilitate the work with providers, community leaders, patient advocates, and government officials to identify gaps, then develop and scale up the best practices to achieve sustainable and scalable improvements.
Have you ever had to walk 5 miles carrying your 2-month old baby, in hopes of getting an appointment with a general physician? It is also a blazing 90°F outside and the path you are walking on is full of uneven stones, loose dirt, and countless forks, all possibly causing you to go the wrong way. In case you weren’t sure, the villages GGHTx travels to each year have no Uber option either.
We have a lot to do on Day 1, so we expect you to be up first thing in the morning at 6:00 AM! Dr. Arash and Julio will accompany you to the volunteer project, introduce you to the locals you will be working with, explain the activities that take place, and answers any questions you may have, so you are fully prepared to begin volunteering! Volunteer work is programmed for the morning shift from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM with stationed breaks in between. Contribute to your project and learn from it! Do not be selective about the work you do—help is needed in many ways. Take responsibility and push yourself to learn, understand, and pitch in. Remember you need to serve on their terms, not yours.
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 more info at Avi Kerendian.