The climb of a global health top expert : Avi Kerendian: 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.
“I was privileged to spend a week with GGHTx on their last winter-break mission trip. We visited many rural, indigenous villages and I marveled at how the small medical clinics that GGHTx supports are making such an impact with hardly any resources. I highly recommend this trip for anyone who wants to volunteer and see what it is like to work in another country. It is amazing to be able to have an opportunity like this and I am so happy and humbled to have these memories forever!”
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 additional details at Avi Kerendian.