History of AUMF
In the former Soviet Ukraine, medical students were educated exclusively in the Russian language. This governmental policy resulted in inferior communication between physicians and native Ukrainian speaking patients. Such forced Russification also resulted in the isolation of medical professionals from their western colleagues. Due to this language barrier amongst Ukrainian medical professionals, accessibility to modern western medical textbooks continues to be minimal. In an attempt to “open the doors “ to the West, the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States and Canada formed the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Associations (WFUMA) in 1977 and later the WFUMA-Foundation. It was not until the Chornobyl disaster in 1986 and the approaching collapse of the Soviet Union, three years later that the WFUMA- Foundation succeeded in establishing working relationships with their fellow medical colleagues in Ukraine.
Assessment of the medical education in Ukraine revealed the lack of high-quality Ukrainian language didactic materials. The WFUMA-Foundation then set forth as one of its major objectives the translating of Western, American medical textbooks into the Ukrainian language as well as providing assistance in the publication of original scholarly works of Ukrainian physicians in their native language.
In August of 2000, at a meeting of the Board of Directors (in Lviv, Ukraine) of the WFUMA-Foundation, the Foundation was restructured from a membership-driven organization to a directorship-driven entity. The name was also changed to the American Ukrainian Medical Foundation (AUMF), a public charity which holds 501(c)(3) tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service.
Since its inception AUMF has focused its goals primarily to the translation of world renowned English language medical text books into Ukrainian in order to promote Western standards of healthcare as well as develop and enhance Ukrainian medical terminology to be used by Ukrainian medical professionals and lay individuals alike. It has succeeded in financing the publication of 22 medical textbooks, donating thousands of textbooks to medical universities and libraries in Ukraine, and providing them with subscriptions to leading American medical journals. The Foundation has also supplied institutions with equipment such as printers, scanners, etc.
Our accomplishments include the publication of such prominent medical texts as: Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary (29th Ed.) (English-Ukrainian Edition), Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary (30th Ed.) (Ukrainian-English Edition), Atlas of Human Anatomy (2nd Ed.) by Frank Netter (Ukrainian-Latin Edition), as well as the Atlas of Human Anatomy (4nd Ed.) by Frank Netter (Ukrainian-Latin Edition).
Ukraine’s street protests on the 21st of November 2013 that occupied the center of Kyiv – Independence Square – became known as the Maidan Revolution. This fight for freedom and the dignity of its People as well as the subsequent aggression of Russia into Crimea and Eastern Ukraine changed not only Ukraine’s geopolitical situation but also enabled the Western world to see the invincibility of the Ukrainian spirit. Western television carried scenes of snipers shooting innocent peaceful protestors on the Maidan in Kyiv and Ukrainian physicians treating the wounded at the risk of their own lives. With Russia’s invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014 with tanks and other heavy weaponry, innocent civilians and Ukrainian soldiers continue to be killed or wounded.
As a result of these events, AUMF was forced to reevaluate what specialty medical textbooks were needed most in this ever changing political climate in Ukraine. The Borden Institute, a component of the U.S. Army’s Office of the Surgeon General, has allowed AUMF to translate their medical textbooks. We are tremendously grateful to them. Our most recent project, the Ukrainian edition of Emergency War Surgery (2013) is a compilation of state-of-the-art principles and practices of forward trauma surgery that is currently being used by the US Military Health System. It is now available (in the Ukrainian and English editions) free of charge on our website. Emergency War Surgery (2013) is only the first of a series of such military medical textbooks that AUMF plans to publish in Ukrainian
Judge Lubomyr Yakhnytskyi
President of AUMF in 2013-2017
Worked as an administrative law judge from 1990 to 2009. He was a member of the American legal delegation to Ukraine in 1993. He was the chairman of the Episcopal Advisory Council in the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Chicago from 2007 to 2008 and the chairman of the supervisory board of the diocese from 2003 to 2007. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors of the Ukrainian Michigan credit union "Self-help". He served in Vietnam and has many awards, including the Bronze Star medal. Earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Providence, a master's degree – from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Paul Dzul, M.D. (1921-2015) Founder
Dr. Paul Dzul was born on October 14, 1921, in the village of Mylno, Ternopil region. The late Dr. Dzul was an active public figure, a tireless and indomitable patriot who sincerely, openly and self-sacrificingly loved Ukraine. He was one of the main leaders of the Ukrainian community in Detroit.
Graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Innsbruck, Austria (1948). For many years, Dr. Dzul worked as a physician and professor of otolaryngology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Doctor Honoris causa (1998) of Lviv Medical University. Head of a private otorhinolaryngology clinic in Detroit – Lakeshore ENT. He was an active member of the Ukrainian Medical Society of North America. In 1967-2003, he was the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian medical journal "Medical Herald".
In 1988, Dr. Dzul headed the Detroit Committee of the Ukrainian Millennium, which took care of organizing the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus. Pope John Paul II awarded Dr. Dzul with the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" medal. in recognition of his work. In 2001, for his successful and important humanitarian work in Ukraine, the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, awarded him the honorary medal "For Merit".
Dr. Dzul was a member of the Advisory Board of the Ukrainian Catholic Educational Foundation in Chicago and worked hard to raise funds for the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. He was one of the co-founders of the Ukrainian Self-Help Credit Union in 1952. For many years he was an active member and Chairman of the Scientific Society named after Shevchenko.
Dr. Dzul founded the Foundation of the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Societies (SFULT Foundation) in 1977. It was renamed the American-Ukrainian Medical Foundation (AUMF) in 1996. For nearly 20 years, Dr. Dzul served as President of the Foundation, and most recently as Chairman Emeritus.
