When I asked long-time Alliance member Marilyn Kezirian to tell me something about herself that her fellow members do not know, she said that she could not think of anything because she is an open book. “I see humor in everything and I love to laugh,” she says. “I tell stories all the time and have told them to many, many Alliance friends across the country.”
That’s true. Anyone who has attended an Alliance event probably knows Marilyn, recognizes her infectious laugh and recalls her sharing a funny anecdote. She is charming and
gregarious and knows how to “work a room,” whether to entertain or discuss a serious matter like a pending bill or controversial proposed bylaws amendment.
Kezirian joined the Alliance shortly after her husband Aram started his OB/GYN residency. At the time, the mother of one of Marilyn’s high school friends was the county Alliance president and invited her to attend a local meeting. That’s all it took. “I found the group so warm and welcoming, and I soon discovered we were all on the same wavelength,” she recalls. “An immediate bond was forged.” She adds that the group did not just see each other exclusively at Alliance or medicine-related events, but also attended school and community activities together.
Membership in the Alliance helped form life-long friendships that are still strong today. Kezirian believes, first and foremost, in the purpose of the Alliance—to be the outreach arm for the medical family. She feels it is imperative that Alliance members parlay their personal relationships into advancing the efforts of the AMA and the Alliance.
Kezirian is currently Chair of the Bylaws Committee for the Alliance, but she also has served as a state president, Chair of the Health Promotion Committee and three years as a Director. An Alliance issue particularly close to her heart is bullying. “I feel very strongly about bullying,” she comments.
As a former secondary school teacher who received her master’s degree in education, she knows first hand that schools must be safe places for students to learn and grow. “Bullying is everywhere—the classroom, the playground, online. It always leads to pain, frequently results in kids skipping school, and sometimes, unbelievably, ends in suicide.”
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Kezirian has five sons. Peter, an attorney, is Vice President for Corporate Strategy for the Cooperative of American Physicians, one of the largest providers of medical professional liability coverage in the United States. He is married to Michelle, also an attorney, who is Senior Staff Counsel for the Inner City Law Center, one of the oldest legal advocacy organizations addressing slum housing and tenant issues in Los Angeles.
Michael is a propulsion engineer on the Space Shuttle Program in Houston, where he supports flight operations. As an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, he is also developing a small engineering research group. In other words, he’s a rocket scientist.
Eric is an otolaryngologist—head and neck surgeon on the faculty of the University of
California, San Francisco. His primary research and patient care focus is the surgical treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.
Stephen is the Vice President of Telesales at Sprint Nextel and spends a lot of his time on the road visiting both in-source and vendor call center locations around the world.
And her youngest son, Douglas, is the sports anchor for the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas. He can be seen on the six and 11 o’clock nightly news.
After sharing this information on her sons, Kezirian said, “Aram, who passed away in 1996, and I are pleased that our children found their own professions and believe in volunteerism.”
By the time our interview was complete, Kezirian remembered something her Alliance colleagues do not know about her. “When I was 13, I was a contestant on a television cooking show in Los Angeles, where I was born and grew up. I made "crumb coffee cake supreme” and finished in third place for the city,” she says. Answering my question about what she won for her achievement she adds: “I received a red bicycle, a case of dog food, and let’s see, a dog—a Cocker Spaniel.”
This Member Profile was written by Rosetta Gervasi.
