Karine Minasyan (MPH ’15) Earns German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship to Conduct Research at Charité Medical University in Berlin

Karine Minasyan (MPH ’15), alumna of the American University of Armenia (AUA) Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH), has been awarded a year-long research scholarship (2017/2018) to conduct the research project entitled “Study of Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus” at the Department of Endocrinology, Charité University Hospital (Berlin, Germany).

The DAAD is the world’s largest funding organization for the international exchange of students and researchers. It awards merit-based, competitive grants for study or research at accredited German Institutions, such as Charité University Hospital. Charité is a leading research-intensive medical institution and is one of Europe’s largest university hospitals. The University proudly lays claim to more than half of all German Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, Robert Koch, and Paul Ehrlich. Charité is internationally renowned for its excellence in teaching and training. Many pioneering developments originally started at Charité, innovations that will be used in the prevention and treatment of diseases is the aim of all of our research efforts”.

Dr. Minasyan’s educational background includes an MD degree from Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), and currently she is a resident at the Clinic of Endocrinology of YSMU. She has been a recipient of the Zaven O. Kodjayan Scholarship during her studies at SPH. Her poster during the Poster Conference at SPH was nominated as one of the best presentations, showcasing the research study she conducted during the Internship at the Norq-Marash Medical Center.

Dr. Minasyan’s master thesis project was to evaluate “Clinical outcomes and quality of life of patients after off-pump versus on-pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) in Armenia”. Drs. Michael E. Thompson and Lusine Abrahamyan guided her work. The abstract of her thesis was published in Value in Health, 2016. She is currently working on a manuscript to publish this study. After graduating from SPH, Karine also worked at the National Tuberculosis Control Center of the Ministry of Health as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. Since 2011, she is the Co-founder and Vice President of Help Children NGO, dedicated to helping children from orphanages and families in need.

The AUA Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of public health professionals to be leaders in public health, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.