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The American Austrian Foundation held a
special evening for The Open Medical
Institute (OMI) at a private club in New
York. Titled Music for Medicine, the
sold out event included an intimate
concert with members of the Vienna
Philharmonic, dinner, and an auction.
OMI provides advanced training to
doctors who return to their home
countries to pass on the latest
knowledge in medicine. “The appreciation
for medical expertise is under review
and under attack, so we are particularly
delighted that in a year when many of
the resources we relied on were not
available, so many of you still came
forward to support this work.” said
President of AAF, Robert P. Wessely,
“You have all picked up the slack, and
the donations are what these programs
depend on.”
Said CEO of OMI, Wolfgang Aulitzky, “We
began the otology program in 1996 to
introduce technologies that were not
available to many physicians, including
sinus surgery and cochlear implantation.
One of the doctors who came from
Nigeria. He later wrote to tell us he
now runs the most active cochlear
implant team in Nigeria. In a country of
more than 240 million people, that kind
of development is a major step forward
for patients, especially children.”
Through OMI’s partnership with Alianza
Médica para la Salud (AMDA) “a total of
5,412 doctors have benefited through the
seminars in Salzburg over the last 10
years” said AMDA Chairman, Pablo
Legorreta, “and what’s amazing is we
have started our own seminars in Mexico,
where last year we trained over 500
Mexican doctors, as well as 118 doctors
from many other countries in Latin
America.”
The evening continued with an intimate
performance with members of the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra, playing Schubert
and Beethoven, followed by dinner and an
auction, which included items such as
trips to Oaxaca, Mexico, and the
upcoming Mozart Festival
in Salzburg.
Among the many supporters there were AAF
board members
Jeanne Andlinger, Mathias Bostrom,
Jonathan Coleman, Margaret Crotty,
William Eacho, Antonio M. Gotto, Stephen
Harnik, Tom McGrath, Alexander von
Perfall, Zev Rosenwaks, Peter Schlegel,
Cynthia Sculco, Robert Seber, Michael
Stewart, Barbara Tober, and Nancy Wolf,
and guests Skylar Brandt and Vladimir
Rumyantsev, Katharine Eltz-Aulitzky
(Executive Director of AAF), Barbara
Friedman, Chiara Gorodesky, Michael and
Diane Kellen, Michele Gerber Klein, Lola
Abigail Koch, William Ivey Long, Ashley
von Perfall,
and Samuel H. Selesnick.
The American Austrian Foundation is a
non-profit, non-governmental
organization that seeks to bridge the
knowledge gap by providing qualified
individuals with fellowships to pursue
postgraduate education in medicine,
media, and the arts. The American
Austrian Foundation’s programs,
initially bilateral exchanges, have
grown to include participants from more
than 130 countries worldwide. The
American Austrian Foundation conducts
its own programs and oversees joint
programs with American, Austrian, and
international organizations. For more
information, please visit: https://americanaustrianfoundation.org |