The training program “Digital empowerment at the frontlines: SORT IT (Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative) for advancing Universal Health Coverage through implementation research in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (2026)” was officially launched at Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi, under the auspices of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR).
Within the framework of the program, participants will have the opportunity to attend specialized training sessions and subsequently conduct a research project on a topic of their choice, with the support of individual mentors.
The training program is intended for health professionals (physicians, public health specialists, pharmacists, nurses).
Professor Konstantin Yenkoyan, Vice-Rector for Science; stated in his welcoming speech that mentors and participants from Europe and Asia, from the United States and Canada, have gathered at the Medical University, and Armenia is at the center of all this.
“Within the framework of a special WHO program, we are conducting a course that will contribute to being more targeted in operational research. This course is one of the best examples of cooperation between scientific and clinical parts of YSMU. The mentors will teach our specialists, mainly of a clinical orientation, how to work with different data, how to correctly sort them and formulate a research question based on it. The course will give them research logic, thinking, as well as the ability to understand what can become the basis for research”, the Vice-Rector detailed in an interview with us.
As a result of the program, according to him, about 10 articles with open access are expected.
The course is designed for one year, and consists of 4 stages. The last two stages will be held in October. “The first two stages are dedicated to how to generate a research protocol and manage data. And in the third and fourth stages, based on this data, participants will learn how to write a scientific article”, Professor Yenkoyan noted. According to him, 50 participants are involved.
“The program was mainly intended for doctors, but we tried to involve students as well. Now we have about 20 students, 10 clinicians, 10 lecturers. We have about 14 participants from abroad: Switzerland, USA, Canada, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India”, the Vice-Rector added.
The selection of doctors was made through a competition announced by the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office of the COBRAIN Center, and the selection of students was made through an evaluation of students’ presentations within the framework of the subject “Fundamentals of Advanced Research”.
Rony Zachariah, Scientist for Research for Implementation at the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), and the Coordinator of TDR’s Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT); specifically emphasized in his welcoming speech the contribution of Mkhitar Heratsi, a prominent Armenian scientist, physician, naturalist, and philosopher who lived in the 12th century, and was the founder of Armenian classical medicine. He was able to distinguish contagious diseases from non- contagious diseases centuries ago.
“You will learn how to change research questions into structured research, how to use the generated evidence to influence policy and practice.
We will take you through four principles:
I am very proud to see that half of the mentors here are former SORT IT alumni from Armenia. And almost 80% of those who have joined us from the international side, are also SORT IT alumni.
You are not participating in a simple training: you are joining a movement for evidence driven change. Let us begin the journey together”, Rony Zachariah concluded.
