The practical phase of the Master’s in Health Professions Education (MSHPE) program, jointly implemented by the “HENAR” Foundation and the “Chobanian and Avedisian” School of Medicine of Boston University, has launched at Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi.
The main goal of the program is to develop the skills of healthcare educators, enabling them to acquire modern teaching and curriculum design skills, new approaches to leadership and assessment in line with international standards.
Garnik Avetisyan, Vice-Rector for Postgraduate and Continuing Education, welcomed the participants on behalf of YSMU Rector Armen Muradyan. “The initiative is dedicated to the field of education improvement, which, in my deep conviction, is very important. As you know, we have also initiated the international accreditation of various educational programs, which is also aimed at aligning their approaches, structure, and content with European standards. With partners from the “Henar” Foundation and Boston University, we discussed the Master’s Program, the participants of which are already conducting a training course with representatives of our academic staff in the Training of Trainers (ToT) format. This seems to be an exam component for them,” the Vice-Rector noted, wishing the participants productive work.
Arman Voskerchyan, co-founder of “HENAR” Foundation; is convinced that the program will be one of the important points in the development of healthcare education in Armenia. “I am very happy to be in this hall today, because I graduated from the Medical University in 1991. And since then I have not been in this classroom, so today is an emotional day for me. We are officially starting the Training of Trainers (ToT) course, which is the cornerstone of the Master’s Program for healthcare education specialists,” he emphasized.
According to Aram V. Kaligian, MD, MPH-Assistant Professor of Family Medicine; Director of the BU-Armenia Medical Partnership Program; the initiative is quite satisfying: “It was achieved as a result of joint work. Our partners from Boston University will share their experience in the field of medical education. The Master’s Program implies a lot of work and efforts to achieve success.”
For the 2025-2026 academic year, the first 3 participants included in the program by the Medical University from the Department of Infectious Diseases are: Hripsime Apresyan, Head of the “Pediatric School”, Head of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of “Muratsan” University Hospital, Lecturer; Suren Brutyan, Doctor of the same clinic, Assistant Professor; Alvard Hovhannisyan, Associate Professor, Doctor of “Mikaelyan” University Hospital.
Henry Louis, MD-Program Director at “HENAR Foundation”; briefly presented the issues to be discussed during the meeting, and Jeffrey F. Markuns, MD, EdM-Executive Director, BU Global Health Collaborative; founding director of BU’s Health Professions Education programs; global leader in primary care performance measurement; addressed in detail the course’s goal and mission, schedule and tasks, the involvement of departments, specific examples of work being carried out, as well as the specific skills and abilities to be acquired as a result of the course.
