Our Stories Are Similar, Dr Abcarian

摘要

To the Editor–I read your article, A Journey, in the September 2020 issue of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum with interest and admiration.1 It was nostalgic. As it happened, I was born in the same year, 1941, in the neighboring country, Iraq, in the city of Baghdad.Our story, struggles, and success are similar, but each one of us had different paths and opportunities. After I left Iraq in March 1968, the Baath party took over and Saddam Hussain came to power. On every visit to Iraq, my father advised me never to think of coming back, but I enjoyed doing charity surgical work. I helped their medical school from 1991 to 1998 as chairman of the Liaison Committee of the Arab American Medical Association. Although busy with practice and raising a family, I was able to affiliate academically with the State University of New York at Buffalo. I published 14 articles and taught family practice residents.