MPH 2013

Kristina Akopyan (AUA MPH 2013), Human Protections Administrator, AUA IRB and Research Associate, Center for Health Services Research and Development, AUA School of Public Health

Dr. Kristina Akopyan is the Human Protections Administrator of the Institutional Review Boards of AUA. She is also a Research Associate at the Center for Health Services Research and Development. She earned her Medical Doctor (MD) degree from Yerevan State Medical University in 2009, completed residency in Diagnostic Radiology in the National Institute of Health in 2011.  She also received a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from the American University of Armenia (AUA) in 2013. During her studies at AUA she received merit based Doumanian Scholarship. She has been involved in a few CHSR projects including the ones focusing on environmental health, medical entrepreneurship and nursing.

Lusine Kocharyan (AUA MPH 2013), Head of the Health Department of the Armenian Red Cross Society

Dr. Lusine Kocharyan has been appointed as the Head of the Health Department of Armenian Red Cross Society in May, 2014. The organization is recognized as auxiliary humanitarian organization to the government of Armenia. As a member of the International Federation of Red Cross it is driven by the main principals of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. Before that, from May 2013 to May 2014,  she was the Head of Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia. In 2009-2013, Dr. Kocharyan was a Senior Specialist in the Division of Infection and Non infection disease Control of the State Hygiene and Anti-epidemic Inspectorate (SHAI) of the Ministry of Health. Since 2010, she contributed to the National Tobacco Control and Tuberculosis Control Programs. In 2007, after the certificate program organized by UNICEF, World Health Organization and RA Ministry of Health, Lusine Kocharyan became a trainer in the National Immunization Program and participated in massive vaccination programs, including Measles and Rubella Massive Vaccination Campaign and Poliomyelitis Massive Vaccination Campaign. In 2000-2007 she worked as an epidemiologist in one of the Yerevan centers of the SHAI. Dr. Kocharyan earned her Medical Doctor (MD) degree from the Yerevan State Medical University in 2000 and MPH from AUA SPH in 2013. She has participated in international workshops and trainings and has contributed to governmental inter-sectorial working groups.

Ani Movsisyan (AUA MPH 2013), Visiting Assistant Professor, AUA Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH), Postdoctoral Researcher, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich)

Ani Movsisyan, MPH, MSc, DPhil is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich). Dr. Movsisyan’s research interests include development, implementation, and evaluation of complex population health interventions, complex systems thinking, and use of evidence in policy-making. Much of her work has focused on extending and developing methods for assessing the evidence of complex population health interventions. Her DPhil work explored how the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidance may be advanced to better describe the evidence base of complex interventions. Currently, she is a researcher on the ADAPT Study (a collaboration among five institutions, including DECIPHer at Cardiff University, LMU Munich, the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield, and University of Stirling), which aims to develop an overarching guidance for adapting complex population heath interventions when transferring them into new contexts. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned Dr. Movsisyan to write and edit a new chapter in the WHO Handbook of Guideline Development on how to incorporate a complexity perspective into WHO guidelines. In 2019, she also received the Friedrich-Baur-Stiftung (research funding) to lead a project on mapping the field of evidence use, specifically the intellectual structure of research co-production and its conceptual developments across different disciplines. Dr. Movsisyan joined AUA’s SPH as a Visiting Assistant Professor to teach Qualitative Research Methods (QRM) in 2019. She is particularly interested in the use of QRM in the context of collaborative research in health and aims to further work in this area to contribute to the development of critical approaches in implementation science. Previously, Dr. Movsisyan has lectured at the University of Oxford and the University of Malta on the methods of evidence synthesis and systematic reviewing.

Lusine Musheghyan (AUA MPH 2014), Research Lecturer and Research Associate at the Zvart Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR), AUA School of Public Health

Lusine Musheghyan is a research lecturer and research associate at the Zvart Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR). She has been involved in various CHSR projects since 2012, particularly focusing on tuberculosis research and health services quality assessment. She co-teaches Global Health, and is a teaching associate for the Basics of Healthy Lifestyle course for the AUA undergraduate students.

In 2013-2017 she worked as the MPH recruitment coordinator. She earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the American University of Armenia in 2014. During her studies she received full merit-based scholarship from AUA and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia. Lusine also earned a Master of Social Work degree from Yerevan State University in 2012. Before joining CHSR Lusine worked and volunteered in different organizations in the field of social protection, both governmental and nongovernmental, focusing on social and health policy evaluation, research and analysis.

Yelena Sardaryan (AUA MPH 2013), Senior Counselor, Coordinator of Counseling Services and Disability Support Services, American University of Armenia (AUA)

Yelena Sardaryan, MA, MPH, is the Senior Counselor, Coordinator of Counseling Services and Disability Support Services at AUA. Yelena Sardaryan has earned her MA from Yerevan State University and Master of Public Health from the American University of Armenia in 2013. Prior to joining AUA and taking on the pioneering role of Mental Health advocate on the University level, Yelena has had extensive work experience as a professional counselor with diverse groups of vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities and their family members, child abuse survivors, refugees, and sexual violence survivors. Along with her career path as a counselor, she has a long experience in training development and delivery in the field of social justice, equality, discrimination, violence, and mental health.  Yelena has also had a great interest in research. Her research covered social aspects of disability and self-identification, social integration of persons with disabilities, evaluation of primary conditions for psychological rehabilitation, refugee integration through entrepreneurship, and domestic violence. Her main interests are mental health promotion and advocacy, public health approach to mental health, gender identity, gender-based violence, trauma, grief/bereavement, and PTSD.

Aelita Sargsyan (AUA MPH 2013), Healthcare and Social Programs Officer, Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)

Dr. Aelita Sargsyan has been selected for the position of Healthcare and Social Programs Officer in the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR). Before this, she worked in different laboratories in Yerevan as a laboratory doctor since 2009. In June 2013 Dr. Sargsyan passed an internship in the Department of Foreign Relationship of Ministry of Health of Armenia. From 2004 to 2006 she was involved in teaching and research in the Department of Medical Biology and Genetics in Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU). She was a co-author of an article published in the journal dedicated to 75 years of YSMU. Dr. Sargsyan earned her Medical Doctor (MD) degree YSMU in 2004 and MPH from AUA School of Public Health in 2013.

Angela Tadevosyan (AUA MPH 2013), Project Coordinator of Bioequivalence Studies, FDA Lab, Laboratory of Tonus-Les

Angela Tadevosyan is a Project Coordinator of bioequivalence studies at the FDA Lab, laboratory of Tonus-Les and Research and Development Specialist at Tonus-Les pharmaceutical company. She has been involved in a few projects of the AUA Center for Health Services Research and Development since 2012. She has two years of work experience in pharmacies. She earned her Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree from Yerevan State Medical University in 2012. She earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the AUA School of Public Health in 2013. During her studies at AUA she received merit based Zaven O. Kodjayan Scholarship.

Arman Tsaturyan (AUA MPH 2013), Urologist, Department of Urology, Izmirlian Medical Center 

Dr. Arman Tsaturyan is a second year resident in Urology. He earned his Medical Doctor (MD) degree from Yerevan State Medical University and a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from the American University of Armenia (AUA) in 2013.  During his studies at AUA he received a full scholarship from AUA and the RA Ministry of Education and Science and military deferment. From July 2013 till October 2014 he worked as a research assistant at the Center for Health Services Research and Development, AUA School of Public Health. In October – December 2014, Dr. Tsaturyan has completed short fellowship program in urology at KULeuven Hospital in Leuven, Belgium.

Armine Tumasyan (AUA MPH 2013), Was Promoted to Quality Control Manager in Office of Education and Compliance, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA  

Dr. Armine Tumasyan has been promoted to  the position of Clinical Research Associate at Harris Corporation , which works on a contract for National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD, USA. She supports National Hearth, Lung and Blood Institute to monitor single and multi-site clinical research trials in terms of subjects’ safety and protocol compliance with regulatory requirements. Before that Dr. Armine Tumasyan worked  as Clinical Data Quality Specialist and  Clinical Data Manager for oncology protocols in National Cancer Institute. She worked in the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection in Yerevan as a Diagnostic Radiologist, and was actively involved in implementation of Densitometry Test in Armenia. She earned her Medical Doctor (MD) degree from Yerevan State Medical University in 1997, completed residency in Diagnostic Radiology in the same institution in 2006.  She received a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) from the American University of Armenia (AUA) Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian School of Public Health in 2013. During her studies at AUA she received merit based Zaven O. Kodjayan Scholarship.