Aboutby Mark Lord, Chronicle Contributor
It’s not every mother who could find the fortitude to send her child out into the world all alone — 6,000 miles away, no less — in search of a better life. But Pari Golyan knew what was best for her family and today it is clear that the risk paid off.
And she didn’t do it just once or twice. One by one, she sent her three eldest sons from their native Tehran, Iran to New York City to further their educations and improve their chances for success.
“Joe came here himself to go to Yeshiva,” explained the no-nonsense matriarch of the son she gave birth to when she was 13. Today Joseph Golyan is a gastroenterologist who specializes in liver diseases.
The revelations from “Mama,” as she is known to all, came as she took a brief respite in a small side room off the crowded main waiting area of Sinai North Shore Medical Center, the family’s ever-expanding complex on Austin Street in Forest Hills.
Son number two, Bijan, who followed his brother to New York three or four years later, would become a cardiologist, specializing in echocardiography. Third son, Daniel, took a circuitous route on his way to America, including a stop in France and a trip back home before he finally joined his two older brothers here. Today, he is also a cardiologist, with a specialty in electrophysiology.
It took many years, but Mama reunited with her sons in their adopted country, with fourth and youngest son David in tow. One year later, they would be joined by “Papa” Nejattollah.
The family settled in Brooklyn and now live on Long Island, but their feet are planted firmly in Queens. All three doctors are affiliated with the North Shore-LIJ Forest Hills Hospital, and their office is on Austin Street, where the staff includes a nutritionist, urologist, podiatrist and ophthalmologist.
Working with them is David Golyan, who, according to his mother, always wanted to be a businessman. Today, he runs the financial side of the family enterprise.
The proud parents are ever-present figures in the office, with dad tending to remain on the sidelines, while Mama can usually be found in the center of everything: at the reception desk, filing, answering telephones, greeting patients and making lunch for the family and anyone who may be hungry.
On occasion, one or more of her 13 grandchildren join them for lunch.
“I’m old, but I feel young” being around them,” she said. “I’m very happy. I know all my kids have good lives. God gave good children to me. I say ‘thank you’ to God.”
Her children, in turn, are appreciative of all she has done for them. “She sacrificed her life for us,” said Bijan, who, like his brothers, is always referred to by patients by his first name to avoid confusion. “She always emphasized education and helping other people and being good people.”
In fact, Mama Golyan had always wanted to be a doctor herself, “but in my homeland I couldn’t because of the changes in government.”
Pari Golyan was married at the age of 12, thanks to an arrangement by her parents. Her husband was six years older. In their earlier years together, her husband, a retired electronics salesman, wanted her to stay home to take care of the children.
He eventually encouraged her to follow her dream of attending medical school, but it never happened. “I got a BS and that was it,” she said.
http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/raising-a-family-of-successful-doctors-in-queens/article_badf40f6-225b-5e63-92cc-ec4f4c749990.html
http://drgolyan.com/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/115172939766163351811/posts
https://youtu.be/TBC92Cr6nR4
It’s not every mother who could find the fortitude to send her child out into the world all alone — 6,000 miles away, no less — in search of a better life. But Pari Golyan knew what was best for her family and today it is clear that the risk paid off.
And she didn’t do it just once or twice. One by one, she sent her three eldest sons from their native Tehran, Iran to New York City to further their educations and improve their chances for success.
“Joe came here himself to go to Yeshiva,” explained the no-nonsense matriarch of the son she gave birth to when she was 13. Today Joseph Golyan is a gastroenterologist who specializes in liver diseases.
The revelations from “Mama,” as she is known to all, came as she took a brief respite in a small side room off the crowded main waiting area of Sinai North Shore Medical Center, the family’s ever-expanding complex on Austin Street in Forest Hills.
Son number two, Bijan, who followed his brother to New York three or four years later, would become a cardiologist, specializing in echocardiography. Third son, Daniel, took a circuitous route on his way to America, including a stop in France and a trip back home before he finally joined his two older brothers here. Today, he is also a cardiologist, with a specialty in electrophysiology.
It took many years, but Mama reunited with her sons in their adopted country, with fourth and youngest son David in tow. One year later, they would be joined by “Papa” Nejattollah.
The family settled in Brooklyn and now live on Long Island, but their feet are planted firmly in Queens. All three doctors are affiliated with the North Shore-LIJ Forest Hills Hospital, and their office is on Austin Street, where the staff includes a nutritionist, urologist, podiatrist and ophthalmologist.
Working with them is David Golyan, who, according to his mother, always wanted to be a businessman. Today, he runs the financial side of the family enterprise.
The proud parents are ever-present figures in the office, with dad tending to remain on the sidelines, while Mama can usually be found in the center of everything: at the reception desk, filing, answering telephones, greeting patients and making lunch for the family and anyone who may be hungry.
On occasion, one or more of her 13 grandchildren join them for lunch.
“I’m old, but I feel young” being around them,” she said. “I’m very happy. I know all my kids have good lives. God gave good children to me. I say ‘thank you’ to God.”
Her children, in turn, are appreciative of all she has done for them. “She sacrificed her life for us,” said Bijan, who, like his brothers, is always referred to by patients by his first name to avoid confusion. “She always emphasized education and helping other people and being good people.”
In fact, Mama Golyan had always wanted to be a doctor herself, “but in my homeland I couldn’t because of the changes in government.”
Pari Golyan was married at the age of 12, thanks to an arrangement by her parents. Her husband was six years older. In their earlier years together, her husband, a retired electronics salesman, wanted her to stay home to take care of the children.
He eventually encouraged her to follow her dream of attending medical school, but it never happened. “I got a BS and that was it,” she said.
http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/raising-a-family-of-successful-doctors-in-queens/article_badf40f6-225b-5e63-92cc-ec4f4c749990.html
http://drgolyan.com/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/115172939766163351811/posts
https://youtu.be/TBC92Cr6nR4
