Bringing Life-Saving Heart Care Home to Armenia

Adventist Health Glendale’s Dr. Sarkis Kiramijyan Leads Annual Humanitarian Medical Mission to Provide Advanced Structural Heart Procedures

For interventional and structural cardiologist, Sarkis Kiramijyan, MD, FACC, FSCAI, serving others is more than a calling — it’s a full-circle journey rooted in faith, family, and community. This summer, the Glendale native returned to his ancestral home in Yerevan, Armenia, for his latest humanitarian medical mission, where he performed life-changing structural heart procedures and trained local physicians to carry out this vital work.

Since 2017, Dr. Kiramijyan has traveled to Armenia annually — sometimes twice a year — to share his expertise in complex cardiac interventions. His missions began in Artsakh, but after the pandemic and regional conflict halted that program, his work shifted to the Yerevan State Medical University Hospital. There, he focused on high-risk patients in desperate need of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) — a minimally invasive alternative to open-heart valve replacement surgery for those too ill to undergo traditional procedures.

“These patients have no other viable options. Without TAVR, more than 75% of these patients would likely pass away within a couple of years of becoming symptomatic,” expressed Dr. Kiramijyan. In Armenia, the procedure is still in its infancy, and the cost of the implant, about $17,000, is beyond the reach of most families and must often be raised through extended family in the diaspora, friends, or humanitarian organizations.

To bridge the gap, Adventist Health Glendale and the valve device manufacturers occasionally donate the procedural supplies and the valves, respectively; everything else, including Dr. Kiramijyan’s time, dedication, expertise, and training, is provided at no cost.

In addition to performing the procedures, Dr. Kiramijyan mentors and “proctors” the local physicians, helping them master both the technical skills and medical decision-making necessary to perform TAVR independently in the future. He also teaches medical university students, residents, and fellows, and co-organizes the annual Yerevan International Cardiovascular Symposium (YICS), which is geared toward teaching and training physicians across Armenia. His mentoring includes complex coronary interventions such as chronic total occlusions, left main interventions, interventions requiring intravascular ultrasound, and myocardial biopsies.

Over the years, Adventist Health Glendale and its sister hospitals have donated equipment to support these efforts. “It’s inspiring to see how much can be accomplished when people come together for a shared purpose,” Dr. Kiramijyan says. “The need is great, and the potential to save lives is enormous.”

Working in Armenia has also changed Dr. Kiramijyan’s perspective. “Here in the states, particularly in Glendale, we’re lucky to have access to the very best technologies in the [cardiac catheterization] lab,” he reflects. “In much of Armenia, physicians work with limited resources, yet they achieve remarkable outcomes through skill, ingenuity, and sheer will, which is humbling and inspiring to witness.”

Dr. Kiramijyan’s connection to this work is deeply personal and rooted in his family’s history, his grandfather’s battle with heart disease, and the values instilled by his parents. “It’s about doing God’s work, caring for one another, and using our gifts to help those who have no other options,” he says. “Part of why I love practicing at Adventist Health Glendale is because the mission runs parallel to my philosophy of helping others.”

Traveling with his wife and children, he also hopes to instill these values in the next generation. “I want my kids to see the importance of giving back,” he says. “These trips remind us all what truly matters.”