AUA’s Community Events Grow in Size and Importance Under Dr. Chobanyan’s Stewardship

She has coordinated these events to unite AUA with the local community in order to assess and fulfill local medical needs and provide important health-related information to Antiguans. At the same time, she has helped the local community get to know AUA’s American and international student and faculty base, making Antiguans even more receptive to planned community outreach activities.

Dr. Chobanyan has guided the AUA chapter of American Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) coordination of the annual Health Fair into a major community outreach activity, which has evolved and grown dramatically. She explained that it originated as a street fair with a handful of local residents taking part in health screenings and is now a well-attended, professional clinical event held at the Multipurpose Cultural Center on the AUA campus. The most recent fair attracted more than 260 local residents seeking a variety of medical screenings and healthcare information.

Dr. Chobanyan discussed how the Health Fair’s professional services, growing reputation and popularity have attracted major public officials and the attention of local media. Many local organizations actively seek ways to partner with AUA/AMSA in this ongoing endeavor. Noteworthy amongst these is the annual Breast Cancer Screening, which has attracted so many residents that Antigua’s Lion’s Club and the community organization Breast Friends awarded Dr. Chobanyan a certificate in recognition and appreciation of her important service to the community.

Dr. Chobanyan was later invited to be a lecturer at the Breast Cancer Seminar, where discussions took place regarding guidelines for breast cancer screening in the Caribbean. Following this seminar, she was interviewed on a local TV station where she talked about breast cancer signs, risk factors and current treatments.

She also coordinated the International Alliance on Stillbirth (ISA) Conference held in late 2011, which was equally successful; so much so that the President of ISA informed Dr. Chobanyan that they would like to continue working with AUA in organizing another conference in Antigua. Attendees concluded the most recent conference committed to creating a Caribbean Chapter of ISA.  In the future, AUA will work with ISA-Caribbean to help with the new chapter’s multiple outreach activities.

Dr. Chobanyan is pleased that her efforts at promoting AUA as the educational center of the island have been successful, saying, “I believe these activities have enhanced AUA’s visibility and reputation here in Antigua and in neighboring islands.”