Daniel (Igor) Branovan
Livingston, New Jersey
How is your Hero working to make the world a better place?
He is the founder and President of Project Chernobyl, an organization devoted to diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer among hundreds of thousands of patients from the regions affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident; he is currently residing in the U.S.
How has your Hero impacted your life and inspired you?
Branovan was always involved in Jewish Community, effecting lives of thousands. He founded Project Chernobyl because he has been particularly concerned with the increase in thyroid cancer among the large Ukrainian, Russian and Belorussian immigrant communities in the United States. He has also organized and co-chaired an international symposium at the United Nations on medical consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear accident over the past four years. Dr. Branovan currently serves as President of the American Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry/RAJI, the leading umbrella organization for immigrants from the former Soviet Union, serving 67 organizations in the United States, Canada and South America. Dr. Branovan also serves on the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee, the Extended Executive of the World Zionist Organization, and was one of the founding members of international movement "Doctors Against Terrorism". He also financially supports many other organizations including COJECO, Ezra USA etc. He performed a few operations (free of charge) for victims of terror in Israel, and recently got involved with a new program as a part of Project Chernobyl called Project 9/11, that offers a cost-effective, efficient way of screening 9/11 first-responders for thyroid cancer, which has been dramatically elevated in this group.