MPH 2011

Lilit Babajanyan (AUA MPH 2011), Clinical Fellow at the Pediatric Critical Care team at Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto.

The University of Toronto Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program has a busy clinical service, with 2000 admissions per year, fellows in addition to the clinical services also act as supervisors for other subspecialty residents, play active role in clinical conferences, rounds and meetings, are working in research projects.
Prior to joining the team at SickKids Lilit Babajanyan worked as Pediatric Intensive Care Physician at “Sourb Astvacamajr Medical Center”. Lilit Babajanyan was actively involved in translation of a number of conferences in field of Anesthesia and Critical Care in Armenia. During the autumn session of 2014 she joined the Standing Committee on Health Care, Maternity and Childhood as a public health specialist, in frames of USAID Armenia” Support to the Armenian National Assembly” Program.
She completed her residency in Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care and received her medical degree at Yerevan State Medical University. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the AUA School of Public Health. Lilit Babajanyan accomplished her MPH Thesis project “Perioperative Risk Factors and Outcomes in Children with Congenital Heart Diseases in Armenia” with her advisors Drs. Lusine Abrahamyan and Michael E. Thompson.          

Arin A. Balalian (AUA MPH 2011), Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mission East Armenia.

Arin A. Balalian has been competitively selected for the position of Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Mission East Armenia organization, for the project Support to the National Program of the Response to HIV Epidemic in the Republic of Armenia. In 2011, Dr. Balalian joined the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Republic of Armenia (RA) as a National Consultant for two months to assist the Deputy Minister of Health in creating a road map to develop Armenian National Health Strategy. In 2012-2014, Dr. Balalian worked in the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) as Healthcare and Social Programs Officer. He was involved in multiple projects. In this position Dr. Balalian coordinated FAR’s collaboration with USAID supported HS-STAR project to train the physicians in all the provinces of Armenia. Dr. Balalian led the qualitative evaluation of one of the FAR core programs, which is a joint training project with Armenian American Health Professionals Organization aimed to train the physicians from Nagorno Karabagh. He presented the results of this evaluation at the European Public Health Conference and the abstract was published in the European Journal of Public health. Dr. Balalian also worked on a program that aimed to solve the malnutrition problem in Berd area in Tavush region of Armenia, which is a border region. Dr. Balalian along with a team of experts from FAR and national/international stakeholders designed a multi-sectorial approach to address the problem. He led the assessments exploring the trends and determinants of malnutrition among preschool children in Berd region. Arin Balalian earned his MPH degree in 2011 from AUA School of Public Health and his MD degree from Yerevan State Medical University in 2010. Dr. Balalian published his work in the international peer-reviewed Journal of Community Health.

Sumit Kumar Bansal (AUA MPH 2011), Surveillance Medical Officer, World Health Organization’s Country Office for India.

In March 2014 Sumit Kumar Bansal, MD, MPH has been competitively selected to be the Surveillance Medical Officer at the World Health Organization’s Country Office for India, the National Polio Surveillance Project. The WHO Country Office for India is headquartered in Delhi with country-wide presence. Dr. Sumit K. Bansal will identify, investigate and follow up acute flaccid paralysis cases to rule out Polio, will monitor the Routine Immunization Program of the Government of India and provide feedback on their performance to promote universal immunization coverage. In July 2013-March 2014, he worked as a Technical Officer in the Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He focused on the issues of HIV and Tuberculosis. Dr. Sumit Kumar Bansal earned his Medical Doctor degree from Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) in 2009 and completed Residency in Radiology in 2012. In 2011, he earned a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from the AUA School of Public Health.

Vahe Khachadourian (AUA MPH 2011), PhD Student, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Vahe Khachadourian, MD, MPH, has been awarded a scholarship to pursue his PhD studies in Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. UCLA has been consistently ranked among the top 20 universities by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking and the U.S. News and World Report has ranked UCLA Fielding School of Public Health among the top 10 schools of public health. Dr. Khachadourian’s research interests include disaster epidemiology, particularly the long-term impact of disasters on survivors’ mental health. In 2011, he earned Medical Doctor (MD) degree from Yerevan State Medical University and Master of Public Health degree from AUA. His MPH thesis work was a grant proposal for a follow-up study of the 1988 earthquake survivors. Upon graduation his proposed research has received funding providing a unique opportunity to apply his theoretical and practical research skills into a large scale project. Dr. Khachadourian has been working at CHSR as a Research Associate since 2011 and has been involved in several research projects including Post-Earthquake Psychopathological Investigation, health care sector needs assessment in Kashatagh region of Artsakh, a nationwide project aiming at environmental risk assessment of mining communities in Armenia, and innovative TB care in Armenia. He published in peer-reviewed journals and presented his work in various international scientific conferences.

Marianna Koshkakaryan (AUA MPH 2011), Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Healthcare Project Implementation Unit, RA Ministry of Health.

Marianna Koshkakaryan has been appointed as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in the Healthcare Project Implementation Unit of the RA Ministry of Health in September, 2013. Dr. Koshkakaryan earned her MD from the Yerevan State Medical University in 2000 and MPH from the AUA School of Public Health in 2011. Dr. Koshkakaryan has more than 10 years of extensive experience in the field of the clinical medicine. In 2007 she received a qualification of a family physician in the scope of the “Family Medicine Development” program supported by the World Bank.  She worked as a polyclinic General Practitioner and as a Medical Consultant.  Since 2011 she has been involved in research activities of the Center for Health Services Research and Development; she supported the work of the AUA Institutional Review Boards and contributed to such important projects as the Rapid Appraisal of Diabetes Care in Armenia; Household TB Infection Control Pilot Project; Investigation of TB Risk Factors in Armenia; Working Migrants and TB in Armenia; and Research on Perceptions, Attitudes and Practices towards Immunization and Introduction of New Vaccines in Armenia.

Dzovinar Melkom Melkomian (AUA MPH 2011), Research Associate, Center for Health Services Research and Development, AUA School of Public Health.

Dr. Dzovinar Melkom Melkomian is a Research Associate at the CHSR. She graduated from the State Agrarian University in 2003, with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. In 2011 she received a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) and in 2013 a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree; both from the American University of Armenia (AUA). She began working at CHSR immediately after receiving her MPH degree in 2011.  She received a merit based named scholarship during her studies in the MPH program.

Neeraj Kishore Pandey (AUA MPH 2011), Senior Clinical Trainer, Engender Health

In December 2017, Neeraj Kishore Pandey, MD, MPH has been competitively selected for the position of Senior Clinical Trainer at Engender Health, a US Health Care Organization with the headquarter situated in New York, USA. Engender Health is a leading global health organization committed to ensuring that every pregnancy is planned, every child is wanted, and every mother has the best chance of survival. Dr Pandey will be providing technical assistance to the Gujarat State Government and its health system to improve access to quality family planning services. In June 2016, Dr Pandey successfully took the Foreign Medical Graduate Licensing Exam and was selected for a one year Clinical Internship Program at North Delhi Municipal Corporation Medial College and Hindu Rao Hospital, Delhi (October 2016 to October 2017) and has been successfully registered as a physician of general medicine by the Delhi Medical Council of India. From April 2014 to September 2015, Dr Pandey worked as a Program Officer at JHPIEGO (an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University). JHPIEGO has been involved in projects to save the lives of women and families worldwide. JHPIEGO works with the Government of India to promote family planning, especially postpartum family planning (PPFP) in India. Dr. Pandey will be supporting the Government of India to strengthen PPFP services at all district level facilities in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the 4th largest Indian state by economy. In 2012-2014, Dr. Pandey worked for INCLEN Trust International (a US health care and research organization) as a Junior Program Officer. Dr. Pandey was leading the “Brain-to-Society a diagnostic approach for the prevention of childhood obesity and its chronic disease consequences” project in Palwal district of Haryana, India. This is a collaborative project between INCLEN, Indian Council of Medical Research and McGill University from Canada to explore various risk factors associated with childhood obesity and its chronic disease consequences. Dr. Pandey has been providing health care, conducting nutritional and diet surveys, food inventory of households, and other assessments including psychological status and physical activity of children. He has also been conducting in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with different stakeholder groups of the project. In 2011-2012, Dr. Pandey worked for Boehringer-Ingelheim (a German pharmaceutical organization in India) as a Specialist Field Officer. He became an active member of SPAF Academy which is a global educational initiative that started in Europe and works towards stroke prevention and atrial fibrillation. He was a speaker in several SPAF meetings regarding advancement in oral anticoagulation. In 2011, Dr. Neeraj Kishore Pandey earned his Medical Doctor degree from Yerevan State Medical University and simultaneously his Master of Public Health degree from the American University of Armenia School of Public Health.

Yeva Sahakyan (AUA MPH 2011), Research Associate, Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment (THETA) Collaborative, University of Toronto, Canada.

Yeva Sahakyan, MD, MPH recently joined the team at Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment (THETA) Collaborative, University of Toronto as a Research Associate. Her research interests and expertise are telehomecare, cardiovascular health, rheumatology, gender research, overactive bladder and design of clinical trials. Prior to joining the team at THETA, she spent two years as a Clinical Research Associate at “Astellas Pharma Europe” pharmaceutical company and received a best employee award for successful implementation and execution of international multicenter phase III and IV clinical trials in Urology and Neurology. Over seven years she was an assistant professor and practicing physician at the “Department of Clinical Pharmacology” further at “Department of Internal Medicine” at Yerevan State Medical University Hospital. She received her medical degree from the Yerevan State Medical University. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the AUA School of Public Health. During her years of study she received merit based university-wide awards for her outstanding academic performance. In 2013, Dr. Sahakyan published her MPH Thesis Project “Sex differences in long-term outcomes of patients with percutaneous coronary intervention: the Armenian experience” with her advisors Drs. Lusine Abrahamyan and Michael E. Thompson in the internationally ranked peer-reviewed academic journal Healthcare in Low-resources Settings (http://sph.aua.am/files/2014/02/Yeva-Sahakyan-thesis2013.pdf).

Meri Tadevosyan (AUA MPH 2011), Financial Officer and Research Assistant, Center for Health Services Research and Development, AUA School of Public Health.

Meri Tadevosyan is a Research Assistant and Financial Officer at the CHSR since 2011. She obtained her MPH degree from AUA in 2011. She also has a Master of Economics from the Yerevan State University of Economics. During her studies at AUA she received merit based Kodjayan Scholarship. Her thesis work “Influence of Financing and Payment Mechanisms on Medical Decision Making: Vaginal Delivery vs. Cesarean Section” was presented at 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In 2012-2013 she was a member of the organizing committee of the International Scientific Symposium on Emerging Issues in Environmental and Occupational Health: Mining and Construction in Transition Economies. She participated in trainings on Business Writing, Financial accounting, and Economic Evaluation Methods: Understanding Cost-Effectiveness. From 2000 to 2007 she worked in a Pharmacy, as a Director’s Assistant and in other private companies as a Marketing Manager and Shareholder.