Investing in Armenia's Medical Future Through Education, Collaboration, and Sustainable Healthcare
A look at how ARC is building sustainable healthcare capacity in Armenia through education, collaboration, and long-term partnerships.
We're excited to introduce the Armenian Relief Coalition (ARC) to our medical community.
In 2024, ARC founder George Ekmekjian went on a medical mission to Armenia. It was his first time in Armenia, and he was amazed not only by the country's beauty and history but also by the medical progress made since its independence in 1991. Yet despite that progress, he noticed clear gaps: limited medications, no integrated physical therapy pathways, and nurses earning just over a dollar an hour with almost no access to continuing education. A year and a half later, those observations led him to found ARC.
He’s joined by Dr. Dave Atkin, a distinguished orthopedic surgeon and president of Operation Rainbow, a nonprofit providing free orthopedic care to children worldwide, and recipient of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons’ Humanitarian Award in 2021.
The third co-founder, Francois Antounian, is another distinguished orthopedic surgeon with over 50 years of medical experience who previously founded Bay Area Friends of Armenia (BAFA) in response to Armenia’s earthquake and the liberation struggle in Artsakh. Together, the three founded ARC to build a stronger Armenian healthcare system by investing in people and systems, not just procedures.
Among our first major initiatives is the ARC Skills Lab, scheduled to open in January 2027 at Wigmore Women's & Children's Hospital in Yerevan, Armenia, which is projected to train approximately 50 microsurgeons, 50 arthroscopic surgeons, and 50 nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists within its first year.
Beyond the Lab, our programs include supporting resident and fellowship curricula, sponsoring observerships for Armenian physicians at world-class medical institutions in the United States and Europe, convening four annual training conferences that connect surgeons, nurses, and therapists across Armenia, and investing in a dedicated Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to track surgical outcomes, rehabilitation progress, and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) for continuous quality improvement.
ARC has no employees or salaries, and every contribution goes towards investing in Armenia's medical future one practitioner, one skill, and one patient at a time to strengthen the country's healthcare system for years to come.
The journey has just begun. Together, we can help build a stronger future for healthcare in Armenia. Explore our programs, meet our team, and discover how you can become part of ARC's mission.
