The Armenian EyeCare Project has begun 2020 with some great news to mark the extra-special year for the organization and significant number (20/20) in the eye care industry. The first ophthalmologist from the AECP’s Next Generation Fellowship Program, Dr. Vahan Papoyan, has arrived in the U.S. from Armenia and is currently completing his medical fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

Made possible by the AECP and donors to the program, Dr. Papoyan’s fellowship focuses on his specialized field of glaucoma and allows the Armenian physician to learn nuances and train alongside some of the best eye care specialists in his field. This advanced education and training will allow Dr. Papoyan to then return to Armenia to treat his patients with the highest level of care.

“As a physician, you try to do everything you can to offer the best possible care to your patients,” Dr. Papoyan said. “So when you have the opportunity to go to the most advanced country and one of the finest medical institutions to learn cutting-edge techniques in glaucoma and eye care, it’s an incredible feeling,” Dr. Papoyan said. “It has been the best experience of my life.”

AECP launched its first Fellowship Program in 1997 and over the next decade brought eight ophthalmologists to America for specialty training in retina, glaucoma, cornea, low vision, pediatric ophthalmology, and neuro ophthalmology. These original Fellows were sponsored with the help of the late Kirk Kerkorian, who felt medical training of local Armenian physicians would contribute greatly to the elimination of preventable blindness in Armenia, the mission of the AECP.

Following their fellowships, these physicians later returned to Armenia to establish and head Subspecialty Clinics in Yerevan in their fields of expertise, training hundreds of other medical personnel in Armenia on the most advanced techniques in eye care along the way. This includes the AECP’s NextGen Fellows, who have all observed and learned under the direction of the organization’s past Fellows for several years before their opportunity to continue their training with U.S. fellowships of their own.

Today, the AECP’s Next Generation Fellowship Program offers six of Armenia’s top-performing ophthalmologists – selected and mentored by the organization’s original Fellows – the opportunity to travel to the U.S. for three-to-six-month fellowships. During their fellowships, these ophthalmologists will receive advanced medical education and training at some of the best-known U.S. ophthalmic institutions in their respective specialties.

For Dr. Papoyan, this exchange of knowledge and information from a range of physicians – including first-generation AECP Fellow Dr. Lilit Voskanyan in Armenia to now several glaucoma specialists in the U.S. – has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Different doctors have different techniques, so it’s interesting to observe them all and see what works for you and what you can adopt for yourself,” noted Dr. Papoyan. “Learning these techniques is so important, because I can then utilize them when I return to Armenia to treat my own patients and help my country.”

Dr. Papoyan also considers the chance to witness these surgeries from some of the most renowned ophthalmologists in the U.S. an unbelievable advantage. “Having the unique access to see these surgeries is exciting because you know how revered these doctors are in their field,” he says. “To be able to see their work is incredible.”

Through donor fundraising for the program, the EyeCare Project was able to bring Dr. Papoyan to the U.S. as the organization’s first NextGen Fellow. The nonprofit also plans to bring its remaining five NextGen Fellows to the U.S. for their specialty fellowships throughout 2020.