Robin Vicken Ohannessian, Founder and CEO of Vickino, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“2018: When Telemedicine Became a Global Mission.
After several years building expertise in France, 2018 marked a turning point. My work expanded across continents, collaborating with governments, hospitals, universities, and innovators to help shape national telemedicine strategies. Some of the milestones from that remarkable year include:
Senegal and Mali
I began the year by conducting telemedicine feasibility assessments, working closely with national stakeholders and meeting with Ministers of Health to explore how digital health could improve access to care, together with Charles Petitot, Patrick Bezard, and David Luu.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
One of the defining experiences of my career began when Dr. Ahmed Balkhair selected me to conduct a national telemedicine readiness and maturity assessment for the Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Health Council.
Together with Dr. Hashem AbuBaker, Ahmed Al-Osaimi, Maissa Almagati, and Hessa Al-Abbad, we developed the country’s first foundational telemedicine policy and guidelines. These documents remain in use today and helped lay the foundation for the Seha Virtual Hospital, led by Mona Sahman AlSubaie, while supporting the growth and reimbursement of telemedicine services across the country.
Armenia
2018 also marked the beginning of my professional journey with Armenia. Thanks to Prof. Gevorg Tamamyan and OncoDaily, I delivered my first academic presentation on the future of telemedicine in Armenia at Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU).
I also had the opportunity to present this vision to Deputy Minister of Health Lena Nanushyan, contributing to the groundwork for the legalization of telemedicine in Armenia in 2022.
Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy
Later that year, my work took me to the Caribbean at the invitation of Laurent Christophe Blanchard, where I conducted the first comprehensive telemedicine audit of a public hospital system in the region, producing recommendations to improve healthcare delivery across island territories.
This work later led to the first scientific presentations on neuropediatric telemedicine with Valérie Lieko and on telemedicine models for island healthcare systems.
France
Back in mainland France, I joined the Scientific Board of Vivoptim Solutions, invited by Virginie Femery, Souhad Ballouk, and Marcel Garnier, to design innovative digital cardiovascular prevention pathways.
This collaboration later resulted in several scientific publications evaluating the impact of these new care models with Jean-Michel Chabot, Corinne Isnard Bagnis, Mickael Benzaqui, and Prof. Isabelle Durand-Zaleski.
Looking back, 2018 was the year I truly understood that telemedicine addresses a universal need and that each country must develop its own policies, regulations, strategies, guidelines, innovation pathways, and scientific ecosystem.
Significant progress has been made since then, but much work still remains.”
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