YSMU Alumni Association, headed by the Indian graduate Arun Dabas, has been operating in the United Kingdom for more than 4 years.
The structure created by Vice rector for external affairs and international partnerships Yervand Sahakyan provides an opportunity to connect YSMU graduates, as well as non-graduate doctors, working in the USA, Belgium, Poland, India, Great Britain, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Armenia.
Arun Dabas, head of the YSMU Alumni Association in the United Kingdom, is a family doctor.
45-year-old specialist studied at a medical university from 1994 to 2000. Then he returned to India and after passing the relevant exams, in 2004 he managed to get a job in Great Britain.
In 2013, Arun Dabas trained in dermatology at Cardiff University in Wales, and in 2018 in mental health at Staffordshire University.
Now he is a clinical tutor at Warwick Medical School, Clinical Lead Community Services at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust.
“In the beginning I wanted to become a football player. I was the captain of the Indian football team at YSMU. At that time, our team was the only one that took the first place in the tournament,” Arun Dabas fondly remembers during his visit to the medical university.
His elder sister is a graduate of a medical university too and also works in Great Britain. His wife is a dentist, they have 2 children – an 11-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.
Arun Dabas does not talk much about himself, instead he enthusiastically tells about the establishment of the YSMU Alumni Association in England.
“During my studies I loved Armenia very much. My journey as a doctor started in Yerevan, continued in India, and now I am in the United Kingdom. Due to my connections, I want to support future local and foreign doctors studying in Armenia, ensuring their progress, strong connection with each other, as well as the opportunity to train university specialists and exchange experience in this developed European country,” Arun Dabas says.
In 2015 in Oxford he met with Yervand Sahakyan, Vice-Rector for External Affairs and International Relations.
“The vice-rector has always been like a father to us, we are infinitely grateful to him. There is no such thing in any university in the world. It was in Oxford that we decided to launch a new, very important initiative. Three years later, on September 10, 2018, we have officially established the YSMU Alumni Association in the United Kingdom”, Arun Dabas remembers.
Initially, the union consisted of 12 graduates, now it has 38 members. Among them – family doctors, ophthalmologists, cardiologists, orthopedists, urologists, gynecologists, radiologists.
“Doctors with different narrow specializations united under one idea – the Alumni Union. One of the YSMU Indian graduates, who is a member of the structure and speaks Armenian very well, now works at the Red Cross office in Geneva”, Arun Dabas adds.
According to him, the structure also closely cooperates with well-known Armenian doctors operating in Great Britain.
“We plan to create a website of the Alumni Union, through which it will be easier to establish communication and disseminate the necessary information. In partnership with the YSMU Career Center, we support generations of alumni in the UK wishing to receive medical education at our university, help students learn about Armenia and medical university from around the world, and help find employment and networking in the UK after graduation”, Arun Dabas says.
YSMU Alumni Association in England organizes internships for local students as well.
“The development of their practical skills is supported by the graduates of the medical university, who, in turn, get the opportunity to gain work experience,” adds the President of the YSMU Alumni Association in the United Kingdom.
Author: Tatevik Ghazaryan
