The American Ukrainian Medical Foundation (AUMF) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization founded in May 1996. The Foundation is incorporated in the State of Michigan and is approved by the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity.

AUMF's mission is to publish Ukrainian translations of leading American medical reference works, knowledge sources that will serve to enhance Ukrainian medical terminology and facilitate communication between Ukrainian physicians, medical researchers, and students and their Western counterparts.

History

In the Soviet Ukraine medical students were educated exclusively in the Russian language, and Russian was the language that had to be used in the formal aspects of their professional work. As a result, the communication between physicians and patients suffered, as did health care delivery. In view of this situation, Ukrainian physicians in the United States and Canada formed in 1977 the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Associations (WFUMA), and later an associated foundation (WFUMA-Foundation) to address the health care gap between Ukraine and the West. However, 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 a working relationship with Ukraine.

The Assessment of the medical education in Ukraine revealed the lack of high-quality Ukrainian language didactic materials. Accordingly, the WFUMA-Foundation set as one of its major objectives the underwriting of translations of American medical textbooks and dictionaries into Ukrainian, and the publication of original scholarly works by Ukrainian physicians in their native language. The WFUMS-Foundation was incorporated in the State of Michigan and shortly thereafter granted a tax-exempt status by the IRS.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the WFUMA-Foundation in August of 2000 In Lviv,Ukraine, it was unanimously agreed to restructure the Foundation from a membership-type organization to a directorship-type entity, and to change the name to American Ukrainian Medical Foundation (AUMF). The reorganized foundation duly registered with the State of Michigan, and the Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws filed.

Mission and Goals

1. Promote the development and enhancement of Ukrainian medical terminology and its use in all medical teaching institutions in Ukraine.
2. Publish Ukrainian translations of American medical textbooks and dictionaries.
3. Donate medical textbooks to teaching institutions in Ukraine.
4. Provide hospitals and libraries in Ukraine with subscriptions to American medical journals.

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