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

Armenia is a land of epic vistas, crumbling churches and many surprises CREDIT: AP/FOTOLIA

It’s 25 years since Armenia gained independence from the Soviet Union, and to mark the occasion Telegraph Travel has unearthed a few things you probably didn’t know about the country.

1. It’s home to the world’s oldest winery

At least that’s what the archaeologists claim: in 2011 they discovered what is thought to be the oldest winery on the planet, found, of all places, in a cave near the village of Areni. 

2. It was the first nation to adopt Christianity…

Christianity spread to the now-defunct Kingdom of Armenia soon after the death of Jesus, though it took until the early 4th century for it to be adopted as the state religion. Still, that was earlier than any other country on the planet.

3. …And it has the churches to prove it

From millennia-old monasteries to crumbling cathedrals, Armenia is scattered with Christian places of worship: they don’t call this the “land of churches” for nothing. It’s impossible to identify the best basilica in the land, but one of our favourites is the 9th-century Tatev Monastery; a stunning building in an area of unremitting beauty.  

4. Chess is part of the curriculum

Which explains why Armenians are so good at it. Indeed, since breaking free from the Soviet Union, the country has proven itself to be a world beater at the sport: the men’s team have won the European Team Championships (1999), the World Team Championship (2011) and the Chess Olympiad (2006, 2008, 2012), while the women’s team have scooped the European Championship (2003).

5. It lost 1.5 million people in the Armenian Genocide

In 1915 the Ottoman government orchestrated the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, an act known as the Armenian Genocide. Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies it was genocide, but governments of 28 countries – including Britain, Russia and France – recognise the events as an act of genocide.

6. More Armenians live abroad than in Armenia

The events of 1915 forced millions of Armenians to flee abroad, where they established strong communities in the US, Russia and France. There are thought to be some 5.6 million people of Armenian descent living abroad, which is greater than the population of Armenia (3 million).

7. It has celebrity connections

Armenia is the ancestral homeland of Cher, Andre Agassi and Serj Tankian, the frontman of American metal band, System of a Down, one of the groups at the forefront of publicising the injustices of the Armenian Genocide. Armenia is also partly responsible for the Kardashians – dad Robert was second generation Armenian American.

8. Armenians think they know where Noah’s Ark is

There’s a widely-held belief in Armenia that Noah’s Ark is embedded in ice atop Mount Ararat. Despite many expeditions, said ark has never been found, but that doesn’t stop it appearing on Armenia’s coat of arms. 

9. Its national symbol is in Turkey

Snow-capped Mount Ararat is the principal national symbol of Armenia and is considered by many Armenians to be sacred. The massif has featured prominently in Armenian art and literature and is depicted on the country’s coat of arms, however it is actually located within Turkey. It hasn’t always been that way: the holy mountain has been passed between the Kingdom of Armenia, Persia, Russia and Turkey. 

• Read more: The best hotels in Turkey

10. It has one of the world’s oldest capitals…

The Armenian capital, Yerevan, is one of the world’s oldest inhabited cities, constructed as it was 29 years before Rome. Overlooked by the snow-capped Mount Ararat, the capital has a bewildering number of historic buildings, not to mention a clutch of excellent museums.

11. …Which is known as the “Pink City”

Yerevan gets its pretty pink hue (and moniker) from the rosy volcanic rock that was used to construct many of the city’s buildings.

12. Churchill had a taste for Armenian cognac…

During the Second World War, Joseph Stalin shipped several dozen cases of Armenian cognac to Winston Churchill, which the then-British prime minister consumed with gusto. His love for brandy was no secret: by his own estimate he had drunk enough brandy to fill three railway carriages by the time he was 71.

13. In fact Armenian cognac oiled the wheels of Yalta

The Yalta Conference – a meeting in the Crimea between Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D Roosevelt to discuss Europe’s post-war reorganisation – is believed to have been largely fuelled by Armenian cognac and wine. One of Churchill’s aides at Yalta famously wrote about the then-British prime minister “drinking buckets of Caucasian champagne which would undermine the health of any ordinary man”.

14. It has a record-breaking cable car

According to Guinness World Records, the longest non-stop double track cable car is the Tatev Aerial Tramway, which clocks in at 5,752 m (18,871ft) long. The spectacular cable car connects the village of Halizor with the aforementioned Tatev Monastery, offering spectacular views across the Vorotan River Gorge en route.

15. It’s technically at war

Relations between Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan have been fraught for years and the two countries are technically still at war. The issue centres around Nagorno-Karabakh, an area of south-western Azerbaijan populated largely by ethnic Armenians. Supported by Armenia, it tried to breakaway from Azerbaijan in 1994 sparking a bloody war between the two nations. A Russian brokered ceasefire was signed in 1994, but fresh fighting broke out this year. 

16. You can go skiing there

The main ski resort in Armenia is Tsakhkadzor, which has some 27km of slopes, plus six lifts to get you up there. Expect to pay around 8500 Armenian dram (about £17) for a day ski pass.

17. It’s big on birds

Armenia is a twitchers delight, home as it is to 345 of Europe’s estimated 530 bird species. Highlights include falcons, swans and eagles, which also feature on the Armenian coat of arms.

18. The people are as hard as nails

Armenia won one gold and three silver medals at the Rio Olympics, all of which were in wrestling or weightlifting. Enough said. 

19. They like Shakira (sort of)

Many Armenians were delighted to hear about Shakira’s stunning faux pas at a concert in neighbouring Azerbaijan, whereby the Colombian singer walked on stage carrying her national flag upside down, thus turning it into the Armenian standard. Oops.

20. Its bread is Unesco-listed

Dinner tables are rarely without huge piles of lavash, a tasty flat bread that is the cornerstone of Armenian cuisine. So important is this humble dish that it was placed on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.

21. It boasts the largest lake in the Caucasus

And what a beauty she is, too. Covering one sixth of Armenia’s territory, Lake Sevan is overlooked by the stunning Sevanavank monastic complex, which is one of the country’s top attractions.

22. Its women are the sexiest in the world

At least that’s according to a dubious poll of 44,000 US men, who voted Armenian women the world’s sexiest. The results were perhaps skewered by the ubiquity of Kim Kardashian, who famously “broke the internet” with her nude photoshoot for Paper magazine.

23. They don’t have much luck with the footy

Despite being Armenia’s national sport, football is not something it performs particularly well at – at least not on the international stage. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union, the country has failed to qualify for either the UEFA European Football Championships or the FIFA World Cup. 

24. It has three Unesco World Heritage Sites

Which are: the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin; the cathedral and churches of Echmiatsin and the archaeological site of Zvartnots; and the monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley.

25. There’s an Armenian alphabet monument

When the Armenian alphabet celebrated its 1,600th birthday in 2005, the authorities erected 39 stone statues depicting its letters near the final resting place of the man who created it, Mesrop Mashtots. Visitors can visit the giant letters, which stand proud in the town of Aparan.