“Avedis’ Story” memoir to be presented in Belmont

PanARMENIAN.Net - Dr. Carolann Najarian will present a talk entitled, “Telling Avedis’ Story: An Armenian-American’s Journey into Her Father’s Saga of Survival,” on Oct 30 at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center in Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S., the Armenian Weekly reports.

Najarian recently published her father’s memoir, Avedis’ Story: An Armenian Boy’s Journey (Gomidas Institute). The memoir was originally recorded on tape by the late Avedis Abrahamian and then prepared for publication by Najarian. The memoir has three main elements: early childhood in Sheykh Hadji (modern-day Yukarı Bag) in the Kharpert plain; the Armenian Genocide and escape to Russia through the Dersim mountains, then life during the Russian Revolution and its aftermath in the Caucasus; and putting down roots in America.

Najarian spent the major part of her medical career in private practice in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass. In 1988, after Armenia’s devastating earthquake, she spearheaded medical relief efforts to that country. As president of the Armenian Health Alliance, Inc., she made more than 50 trips to the region to deliver medical aid to the destroyed region. Najarian earned her M.D. from Boston University School of Medicine (1980), and an M.Sc. in medical anthropology from Brunel University, London (2004). Her first book, A Call From Home; Armenia and Karabakh, My Journal (1999), chronicles her experiences and the people she met in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Najarian is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (1999) and the Humanitarian Award of the Boston University School of Medicine Alumni Association (2004). She and her husband, George, have endowed the Najarian Human Rights Lecture held each year at Faneuil Hall in conjunction with the Armenian Heritage Foundation and Park.