AAMS’ 19th Annual Hybrid Viva Las Vegas CME/CDE Presenters

Topic: Guardians of Wellness: Strengthening Mental Health Services for Healthcare Providers
Presented By: Anita Avedian

Anita Avedian is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has been practicing psychotherapy since 1996 in the greater Los Angeles area. She is the Executive Director of Avedian Counseling Center and Anger Management 818 with a group of counselors with various specialties offering in-person and virtual therapy sessions. Her specialties include working with relationships, anger, social anxiety, general anxiety, mood disorders, and addictions. Anita is a Certified Anger Management Specialist IV. She authored Anger Management Essentials, a workbook for aggression, which has been translated into Spanish, Armenian, and Hebrew, as well as the Anger Management Essentials: Teen's Edition, which has been translated into Spanish.

Anita Avedian, LMFT is the CEO of Avedian Marriage and Family Therapy Corporation and Anger Management Essentials.

Topic: Latest Updates in Treatment of Heart Failure
Presented By: Harry Balian, MD, FACC, FASCAI

Harry Balian, MD, FACC, FSCAI, received his Medical Degree from Chicago Medical School in 1997. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the University of California, Irvine where he also served as Chief Resident. Completed his Cardiology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine where he served as Chief Fellow. Dr. Balian completed his Interventional Cardiology and Vascular training at the George Washington University in Washington DC. Dr. Balian specializes in the treatment of heart disease, coronary artery percutaneous interventions and pacemaker insertions. He also performs peripheral vascular interventions including carotid stents, endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm stents, renal stents and lower extremity angioplasties. Dr. Balian is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Nuclear Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology and Vascular Medicine. Dr Balian is the Chairman of department of cardiology since 2015 and the Director of Structural Heart Program at Glendale Adventist, he started the TAVR (percutaneous aortic valve replacement) program since 2016. Dr. Balian is and has been a member of the Executive Committee of AAMS Since 2006. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Society of Coronary angioplasty and Interventions and the American Heart Association. He has been the Medical Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at Glendale Adventist Heart & Vascular Institute since 2006 and past Medical Director of the Peripheral Vascular Lab at St Vincent Hospital. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at Western University School of Medicine. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at Western University School of Medicine.

Dr. Harry Balian, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: Better Bones: Keys to Prevention, Diagnosis, & Treatment of Osteoporosis (CME/CDE)
Presented By: John P. Bilezikian, MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine at the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine for International Education and Research, and Chief, Emeritus of the Division of Endocrinology. He is Director, Emeritus, of the Metabolic Bone Diseases Program at Columbia University Medical Center.

Prof. Bilezikian belongs to a number of professional societies, including the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, of which he served as President (ASBMR), 1995-1996, and the International Society of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD), of which he served as President, 1999-2001. He is a member of the Endocrine Society, the American Federation for Clinical Research, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and the American College of Endocrinology that has designated him Master. Prof. Bilezikian served on the Board of Governors of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (1999-2015) and is a current member of its Committee of Scientific Advisors. He is Chair of the Endocrine Fellows Foundation. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and as Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. He is the Executive Advisory Editor of Bone Research.

Prof. Bilezikian is the recipient of a number of awards. Among them, in 2018, he received a Parliamentary Medal of Honor from the Government of Armenia for distinguished service and a similar honor from the Government of Brazil. In 2019, he received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Medical Research, the highest honor that Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons bestows on its graduates. In 2020, Dr. Bilezikian received the ASBMR William F. Neuman Award for the highest scientific achievement.

Dr Bilezikian reports that he has received speaker honoraria from Amgen Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, and Novartis AG and consultant honoraria from Amgen Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Merck & Co., Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical USA and Warner Chilcott.

Topic: Tuberculosis in the Armenian Community in Los Angeles County: Opportunities for Improving Outcomes and Reducing Transmission (CME/CDE)
Presented By: Dr. David Fuller, MD

David Fuller, MD has been a physician specialist with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health since 2021, first as TB/STI clinic physician and now as a physician consultant with the Tuberculosis Control Program since 2022. He received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed his combined internal medicine/pediatrics residency at Duke University prior to completing a adult infectious diseases fellowship at UCLA. He will be speaking on Tuberculosis in the Armenian Community in Los Angeles County: Opportunities for Improving Outcomes and Reducing Transmission

Dr. David Fuller, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: Updates on Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema)
Presented By: Sherwin Hariri, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI

Sherwin Hariri, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI is a board-certified allergist & immunologist in Beverly Hills, CA. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he received his BS with a major in physiological sciences and a minor in Armenian Studies. He received his Doctorate of Medicine from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Hariri completed his internal medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, after which he completed his specialty training in allergy & immunology at the UCLA West-LA VA fellowship program with pediatric rotations at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is a clinical instructor of medicine at the David Geffen school of Medicine at UCLA, where he teaches allergists & immunologists in-training. Dr. Hariri is also an attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he sees and treats patients with complex allergic and immunologic diseases. Resident physicians from Cedars-Sinai rotate through his clinic, where he teaches them about his specialty. Dr. Hariri has published in several medical journals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of allergy, asthma, and immunology, as well as a fellow of the American College of allergy, asthma, and immunology. Dr. Hariri also serves as an advisory board member for Lupus LA., where he gives lectures on allergic and immunologic diseases, as it pertains to patients with autoimmune diseases. He is also on the specialty panel for the Center of the Undiagnosed Patient at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Hariri is the Medical Director at Beverly Hills Allergy, where he treats both adult and pediatric patients with allergic rhinosinusitis, asthma, eczema, food allergies, immunodeficiencies, and various other skin conditions and allergic diseases. Appointed to the list of Super Docs featured in Los Angeles Magazine.

Dr. Sherwin Hariri, planner and presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: New DEA licensing requirement: Treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders (CME/CDE) - Panel Discussion
Presented By: Garo Harmandayan, MD

Garo Harmandayan, MD, received his bachelor of science from the University of California, Irvine. He attended medical school at St. Louis University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri. He then completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Kaiser, LAMC, and later completed his Palliative Care and Hospice fellowship at VA West LA in 2013. For the past nine years, he has worked at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and is currently the Director of Cardiac Palliative Care and one of the core teaching faculty members for the Palliative Care Fellowship program at Cedars Sinai.

Dr. Garo Harmandayan, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Topic: Obesity: Medical and Surgical Treatment Options and Outcomes (CME)
Presented By: Ara Keshishian, MD, FACS, FASMBS

Dr. Ara Keshishian completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California in Biomedical Engineering. He then attended the American University of the Caribbean for medical school and completed his surgical residency training in St. Joseph, Pontiac Michigan. As part of his training, he gained experience in weight loss surgical procedures. In Private practice since 1999, he has performed over 2000 weight loss surgical procedures. These have included both primary procedures and surgical correction of complication of other procedures. He specializes in surgical correction of complication of the lap band and the gastric bypass. He is Board Certified in General Surgery, and is a Fellow of the American College of surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Dr. Ara Keshishian, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: Stepping into the Shoes of the Person with Memory Loss or Validating the Reality of the Person with Memory Loss
Presented By: Jane Mahakian

Dr. Jane Mahakian is a Gerontologist and licensed mental health specialist who has worked and advocated for 30 years in the “realm of forgetfulness.” Dr. Mahakian is the president and founder of Alzheimer’s Care Armenia, a U.S. based 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization and registered NGO that develops sustainable programs and services for people with Alzheimer’s disease in Armenia. ACA works closely with institutions, governmental agencies and other non-governmental organizations in Armenia. Alzheimer's Care Armenia is a member of Alzheimer's Disease International. Most recently, ACA launched the Brain Health Armenia Project’s early detection memory screening and Alzheimer’s disease training project in Armenia, which was funded by Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. Dr. Mahakian spearheaded the development of Armenia’s National Dementia Plan in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in 2022 which was formalized by Armenia’s government in March 2023. In 2021, Dr. Mahakian conceived the idea of utilizing a semi-autonomous robot named Robin the Robot with elders in a nursing home in Armenia to determine the efficacy of the robot as an emotional support for older adults suffering from isolation and loneliness in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 1998, I founded Aging Matters, Inc, a care management firm specializing in adults with memory loss. Prior to founding Aging Matters, I served as an adjunct visiting faculty member at the University of California San Francisco, Institute on Aging where she conducted research on productive and healthy aging. I also developed the University’s Elder Care Program. I was very fortunate to receive my clinical training at the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in San Francisco. I received her doctorate in clinical psychology in 1994 from the California School of Professional Psychology, in Berkeley, California. I specialize in helping adults (and their families) with cognitive impairment, caused primarily by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and has expertise in working with people with behavioral challenges caused by neurocognitive diseases.

Dr. Jane Mahakian, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: New DEA licensing requirement: Treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders (CME/CDE) - Panel Discussion
Presented By: Julio Meza, MD

Julio Meza, MD, is an Addiction and Family Medicine Physician at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Psychiatry in Primary Care Certified Physician at UC Irvine. Dr. Meza was born and raised in El Salvador, where he graduated Cum Laude from Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador. After graduating from medical school, he matriculated as a surgery resident at the Hospital Militar Central in El Salvador and later decided to pursue his dream of becoming a U.S. licensed family physician. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at UCLA in 2017 and later completed his fellowship in Addiction Medicine at UCLA in 2018. He subsequently joined the UCLA Department of Family Medicine faculty group and is currently the Fellowship Director for the UCLA Addiction Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Meza enjoys working with patients from all backgrounds and provides nonjudgmental, compassionate care to the patients he serves.

Dr. Julio Meza, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: Updates in Cancer Screening for Primary Care Physicians (CME/CDE)
Presented By: Lilit Mnatsakanyan, MD

Dr. Lilit Mnatsakanyan is an Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of California Irvine (UC Irvine). She is Board Certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy. Dr. Mnatsakanyan received her medical degree from Yerevan State Medical University, completed residency in Adult Neurology at the University of Chicago Medical Center and a two-year fellowship at UCLA /Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

She is the Program Director of Neurology Residency training program, Interim Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and the Director of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring program at UC Irvine. Her primary clinical responsibilities include supervising residents in the General Neurology clinic, management of complex epilepsy patients, epilepsy surgery and neuromodulation therapies, critical care EEG monitoring, evoked potentials, intraoperative real-time neurophysiological monitoring, and functional brain mapping. Her educational activities include mentoring, teaching and supervision of the trainees. She is a member of American Academy of Neurology, American Epilepsy Society and Fellow of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society.

Dr Lilit Mnatsakanyan presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: New DEA licensing requirement: Treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders (CME/CDE) - Panel Discussion
Presented By: Arthur Ohannessian, MD

Arthur "Art" Ohannessian, MD, joined the UCLA Dept of Family Medicine in 2011 after obtaining his medical degree from the UCSD School of Medicine and completing his Family Medicine residency training at UCLA. He is currently an Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Family Medicine and the Associate Medical Director for Family and Women’s Services for the San Fernando Health Center Group, one of the largest comprehensive health centers operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. He is actively involved in teaching both residents and medical students. His professional interests include providing high-quality primary care services to underserved populations and developing health policy through advocacy efforts at the local, state, and national levels. Dr. Ohannessian is an active member of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and has served in multiple leadership roles, including serving as the past President of the Los Angeles chapter of the AAFP and as the District IV Director for the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP). He has worked specifically on legislation regarding opioid overdoses and expanding the use of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths.

Dr. Arthur Ohannessian, planner and presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: What's New in Rheumatology
Presented By: Lilit Pilossyan, MD

Dr. Lilit Pilossyan is a board-certified rheumatologist providing care for her patients at her private practice in Van Nuys, California. She is also dual board-certified in internal medicine, completing her internal medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana, California. Dr. Pilossyan then served her rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine, where she completed her Rheumatology Fellowship. She specializes in caring for rheumatological conditions, including autoimmune diseases, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Dr. Pilossyan holds USSONAR certification, signifying her advanced diagnostic and clinical training in musculoskeletal ultrasound, enabling her to accurately diagnose and treat different kinds of arthritis and joint pain. Dr. Pilossyan also has a true passion for serving the Armenian community—greatly underserved in the treatment and diagnosis of arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Lilit Pilossyan, presenter for this educational event, has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose

Topic: Updates in Cancer Screening for Primary Care Physicians
Presented By: Sarmen Sarkissian, MD

Sarmen Sarkissian, MD is board-certified in internal medicine and hematology and oncology. He completed his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UCLA and earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He then completed his internship through a categorical internal medicine program and served his residency at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. It was there that he developed an interest in oncology and hematology and subsequently completed his fellowship training at the University of California, Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Sarkissian is a practicing hematologist and oncologist, serving the cities of Ventura, Simi Valley, and Long Beach. He is also affiliated with City of Hope as an associate professor.

Dr. Sarmen Sarkissian, planner and presenter for this educational event, is on the speakers’ bureau for Lilly.

Topic: Inhibiting IL4 and IL13 Signaling Across Asthma, CRSwNP, and EOE (NON-CME)
Presented By: Raffi Tachdjian, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI

Dr. Raffi Tachdjian is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Tachdjian received his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a fellowship in Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

With over 35 peer-reviewed publications and over 40 NIH and other funded clinical trials, he specializes in allergy, immunology, and rare disease, including severe asthma, hereditary angioedema, and eosinophilic diseases. He is a past president of the Armenian American Medical Society and helps lead the mentorship and scholarship programs.