Kelikian was an Armenian orthopedic surgeon and native of Hadjin in the Ottoman Empire . Born Hamparzoum Keklikian , he came to America in 1920 to escape the Armenian Genocide , an event during which his three sisters had been killed . He was inspired to become a surgeon by his uncle , who worked as a physician in the Ottoman army . After emigrating to Chicago in 1920 under the sponsorship of Rev. Antranig A. Bedikian , Kelikian worked as a waiter at the University of Chicago , where he received a scholarship from President Harry Pratt Judson to study there and at Rush Medical College . He finished his internship at Cook County Hospital , and in 1929 became an assistant to Philip Kreuscher , who had been in practice with the bone specialist John Murphy
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Hampar Kelikian