Overview
The Anna Kiledjian Scholarship encourages and rewards students who take the initiative to perform research in cancer and who express a desire to go into the field of cancer research as a career. This scholarship recognizes and awards $1,000 for a student that is involved in cutting-edge research into cancer research and has shown excellent academic record and potential for a future in cancer research, education and outreach to the public.
Criteria:
- The student must have been involved in some kind of cancer research either in a hospital setting or research university, ELAC or a private institution and showing an interest to go into the field of cancer research as a career.
- GPA 3.0
- ELAC fulltime student (taking 12 or more units at ELAC)
- Completed 30 units or more
- Transfer to a four-year institution
- Essay outlining their research, and what university they are planning on transferring to and their eventual career and research goals.
- Open to all ELAC students regardless of residency status
Anna Kiledjian Galstyan was born in Armenia on August 12, 1975. She lived in Armenia till the age of 22 where she obtained a bachelors degree in pre-law. She married Viken Kiledjian in 1997 and emigrated to the United States where they started a family and had two sons. Anna was busy being a mother to her two sons and also taking classes at the local community college where she established strong English skills along with knowledge of Economics, Accounting and the Sciences.
After finishing her Associate Degree, she decided to go into Real Estate where she worked hard to meet clients’ needs and help people in the community to purchase their first house or to sell their house. Anna was very hard-working and always put the needs of family and others before herself, working tireless hours at home and at the office. She was also very fun-loving and was the life of the party at the office and at get-togethers; she would love to entertain people at the house for all kinds of events like birthdays and New Years and she was loved by many in the community.
When Anna was 36, she felt minor pains in the abdomen area that persisted for several weeks and upon obtaining a CatScan, it was found that she had enlarged ovaries of an unknown nature that needed surgery for further exploration. The surgery revealed the nightmare that was to follow. The enlarged ovaries were due to a Colon Cancer that had metastasized to her ovaries and she was given a very short life span. During the next 3 years, she tried all the conventional chemotherapy drugs with varying results and she went to many hospitals to receive secondary opinions including USC, UCLA, UCSD and MD Anderson. She also tried many non-conventional approaches, including Vitamin C and Curcumin infusions. She was a fighter and loved life and her family too much to ever give up. Finally, she was entered into a Clinical Trial using a Immunotherapy Drug not yet approved by the FDA; this drug enabled her to live 6 months more. She passed away on March 6, 2015 surrounded by family and friends who loved her and deeply cared for her.
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