SOAR - Seattle Chapter
Seattle became part of the SOAR family in February 2011, representing SOAR’s first foray into the Pacific Northwest. SOAR-Seattle brings together a group of young and experienced volunteers with a special place in their hearts for orphaned children. The Armenian community in Seattle is relatively small, but galvanized by the Armenian Church and the Armenian Cultural Association of Washington (ACAW). Located in Redmond, the Holy Resurrection Armenian Apostolic Church of Seattle was established in November 1981, with Rev. Fr. Yeghia Isayan named the permanent priest in June 2003. The ACAW is a non-profit organization whose objective is to preserve and perpetuate the Armenian culture and heritage in all aspects of life through the enhancement of its language, art, music, literature, dance and theater in the greater Seattle area.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Anush Chatikyan
President
Anush Chatikyan is a Program Manager with more than six years of experience in project management, cross-functional collaboration, and building efficient processes in the tech industry. Born and raised in Armenia, she has been an active community member for many years and has volunteered both in the Armenian community and in various student-led projects since her university days.
Being a mother, Anush believes that every child deserves safety, support, and opportunity. This personal perspective inspires her dedication to SOAR’s mission and strengthens her commitment to advocating for orphaned and vulnerable Armenian children.
As President, Anush plans to focus on building stronger volunteer engagement, creating consistent community initiatives, and fostering a welcoming chapter where members of all ages feel empowered to contribute.
Outside of her work, Anush enjoys biking through Seattle’s beautiful trails, traveling to new places, baking for family and friends, and exploring new experiences with her daughter. She is proud to serve the SOAR Seattle community and is always open to connecting: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anushchatikyan
Karl Afrikian
Karl recently moved to Seattle from Boston and has experience in international development, project management, and finance. He earned a Master of Art in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Global Affairs at Tufts University, where he conducted research into Armenian Diaspora business development and regional geopolitics.
Karl served for nearly two years with the U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine, where he worked with the Armenian community in his city on developmental and cultural projects. While earning his bachelor’s degree, he also became the first undergraduate student to participate in a study abroad program at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan. He additionally interned a summer at PINK Armenia.
Outside of professional and volunteer activities, Karl enjoys skiing, hiking, and being near the water. He is excited to join SOAR and contribute to the building of a stronger Armenia.
Mahshid Birjandian
Mahshid is a recent Iranian immigrant to the US and is a consultant with a public utilities consulting firm in Tacoma. In her early 20s, she moved to Armenia and studied Russian language and literature (Russian Philology) at Yerevan State University of Armenia as well as Dance Choreography and Ballet Instruction at Yerevan Choreographic College. During her time in Armenia, she was actively involved with helping children with special needs and families with low incomes through the Baha’i Community. Her primary focus was tutoring and assisting students with their math, art, and English lessons. She loves dance and music and spent much of her spare time in Armenia attending programs at the Yerevan Opera Theatre. Since graduating from college, she has remained focused on dance and language education. She now lives in Tacoma with her husband and their two dogs.
Nanneh Chehras
Nanneh Chehras is an Economist and Data Scientist at Amazon. She grew up in Los Angeles where she completed her BA from UCLA in Economics with a minor in Mathematics, followed by an MA and PhD in Economics at UC Irvine. She has a history of Armenian non-profit activism in Los Angeles, where she volunteered with ANCA-Burbank and has a lifelong love for dance. Nanneh participated in several Armenian dance groups and was most recently a member of a contemporary dance company while in graduate school. Nanneh moved to Seattle after graduate school to pursue a career in Tech and joined SOAR-Seattle in 2019. She is thankful for the opportunities allotted to her in life and is excited to give back and promote the well-being of Armenia’s orphaned children.
Paul Merguerian MD MS
Dr. Merguerian’s area of academic focus in Pediatric Urology has been on complex reconstruction and bladder exstrophy.
More recently he has been involved in understanding and documenting variation in practices. This has allowed them to determine best practices. Together with this and evaluating the best evidence the goal is to standardize processes within pediatric urology that will improve value to the patients they treat thus providing high quality care at the lowest cost. At Seattle Children’s Dr Merguerian is involved in improving safety and efficiency in the Operating Room and has several initiatives to improve efficiency and provide high quality and safe care. The initiatives are mainly focused on reducing prep time for both surgeons and anesthesiologists and improving room turnover time. They have also created an ERAS protocol for outpatient surgery with the goal of reducing opioid prescribing and use of opioids intra operatively. Over the past year he has focused his attention on coaching junior faculty in performing major reconstructions. Together with 2 other providers in his division they provide surgical coaching in both open and minimally invasive surgery. This not only improves surgical skills, improves OR efficiency but reduces burnout related to surgical stress. During his tenure at Seattle Childrens they have created several evidence base pathways for management of the newborn with bladder exstrophy, post operative management of bladder exstrophy closure. Pathway for major urological reconstruction, pathway for evaluating patients presenting to the ED with renal colic that has reduced radiation exposure using CT scans in children, and an ERAS pathway
Dr. Merguerian has received a Masters in Science from the Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice. As part of the Masters Degree he received training in microsystems and engaging the frontlines to improve the work they do on a daily basis. This is data driven work using process control charts and has used this methodology to reduce opioid prescribing within their division, and improve OR efficiency.
Dr. Merguerian is also heavily involved in international work in India and Armenia. In India they have developed a collaboration with an institution in Ahmedabad and with them have created an international workshop in the management of patients with bladder exstrophy. In Armenia he has helped develop the pediatric urology program at a pediatric institution in Yerevan and most recently developed a curriculum for a 2-year fellowship in pediatric urology at the University of Yerevan.
Angelina Petrosyan
Angelina Petrosyan graduated from Seattle University School of Law in 2015 and has been practicing law since 2016. Angelina has 10 years of experience working in the legal field. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Communication from University of Washington. While in Law School, Angelina developed a strong interest in helping people through the difficulties and stresses of the criminal process. She also participated in the Youth Advocacy Clinic, successfully assisted in a clemency matter, which resulted in a release of a man who spent 20 years in prison, and completed an externship at the Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons (SCRAP).
Angelina is very passionate about helping Armenian families and children in need and is extremely excited to be a part of SOAR. She was born in the Former Soviet Union where she resided until her family immigrated to Washington in 1991. Angelina is fluent in Russian. She enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, traveling, and wine tasting.
Amélie Touroyan
Amélie Touroyan is a full-time MBA candidate at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington. She joins SOAR from a career in business development where she has built revenue-boosting programs during critical growth periods for technology-first businesses. Most of all, Amélie enjoys working across Sales, Marketing, Product, and Talent teams to move strategic projects across the finish line. Previously, she brought consumer insights and design thinking to the world’s airlines across APAC, North America, and Europe.
Amélie’s beginnings are in program development for large-scale support of local non-profit organizations. She is very proud to support the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief Seattle as a board member.