Four years ago when I first joined AUA as the Coordinator of its Public Health Program, I asked myself what makes AUA special? Now that I have accepted the responsibility of the Presidency of AUA, I have to explain to others why AUA is unique and special. I have spent a number of years as a student, faculty member, and Dean at the American University of Beirut. I have developed my career as a professor of epidemiology and an academic administrator at one of the most prestigious institutions in our field; Johns Hopkins. Why do I need to take up the additional responsibilities that my new position at AUA will require of me? There are obvious answers to the latter question, like commitment to the future of Armenia, or a return to our roots. But above all what makes AUA special and a great place to work, are the students who are trained there and the people who work there. AUA is special as an institution by the challenges it has chosen.
AUA is not just a large building, laboratories, and computers. AUA is a unique institution, a beehive of academic programs and development projects in Armenia. Although it is a more recent addition to AUA's academic offerings, the Public Health Program conveys very well what makes AUA special as a university.
Receiving e-mail from students and responding to them gives me a great sense of satisfaction. Let me summarize a few of these e-mail letters that I got recently.
I am back from Canada and the United States, informs me Gary Arslanian. I have so much to share with our colleagues here in Yerevan. We are making good progress with our educational programs in dental health education as well as in our assessment of fluoride levels in drinking water. Part of my time, I will be working at The Center for Health Services Research at AUA to move ahead with these projects.
Gary Arslanian is a dental graduate from the Yerevan Medical University and belongs to the first promotion of students of our public health program at AUA. Early in his education he has realized that there is a more effective way of practicing dentistry than just filling cavities. He is strongly committed to make a difference by introducing preventive dental public health programs and services in Armenia. At the invitation of the Canadian federal government he spent about four months last summer getting hands-on training in his area of expertise. This trip was also an opportunity to establish a close working relationship with Dr. Myron Allukian in Boston, a past president of the American Public Health Association and one of the eminent leaders in the field of dental public health. At the request of Gary, Myron is ready to assist in program development with AUA in this important field in Armenia. Gary is a prime example of the AUA graduate with a very high level of integrity and a commitment to change.
I would like to thank AUA for the great opportunity to develop ourselves, states Noune Mangasarian at the beginning of her e-mail. Last week the Minister of Health invited us to a meeting to offer various positions within the Ministry. I have accepted the position of Director of Medical Services and I report to Terenig Toumanian the Deputy Minister of Health.
Noune Mangasarian is a rheumatologist who has practiced her specialty for a number of years. Following her exposure to the public health program at AUA, she is now actively involved in the development of new systems for the delivery and evaluation of medical care in Armenia.
In a discussion with Dr. Oona Campbell, I was asked to contact you to find out whether it will be possible to develop my PhD dissertation while working at AUA, asks Tamar Kabakian from the American University of Beirut. 1 will be doing my doctoral degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the University of London. I am ready to assist in the teaching at AUA and contribute in field survey research.
Tamar Kabakian is a very bright graduate of tin* Master of Public Health program at the American University of Beirut. Over the past few years she has developed an extensive experience in field survey and research methods in Lebanon. She has been encouraged by her mentors from London to develop a Ph.D. thesis based on data collected from Armenia. We responded positively to her request. In a similar approach, the Center for Health Services Research at AUA has already accommodated four graduate students over the past three years who are doing their doctorates at Johns Hopkins University about topics related to health services in Armenia.
Attached for your review, writes Arthur Melkonian, is a copy of the paper I am going to present at the international earthquake conference in Kobe, japan, in Ian nary 1997. In addition to the analysis on injuries and deaths from the 1988 earthquake, I have included in the paper, the data from the four year follow-up of our study group of 33,000 survivors.
Arthur is a young physician who following graduation from the Medical School in Yerevan, spent a year as a fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. I le joined our team of researchers as a medical student and it is through this experience th.it his interest in Epidemiology developed. Recently lie has been in charge of the analysis of data from the long term follow-up of 33,000 survivors of the earthquake. A number of scientific papers have been written about the long term effects of this major disaster. Arthur has also participated in the teaching of Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the Public Health Program at AUA. Arthur is an example of scientists in Armenia who have benefited from the resources of AUA to develop projects and linkages with colleagues in the United States and on the international scene.
We have finished our data collection in all the regions of Karabakh, Alina Dorian reports on the e-mail. Your presence and discussions with the Minister of Health, Dr. Aghabalian, were very helpful in delineating the framework for the health plan. I will send you a first draft of the health plan next week and some of the tables from the preliminary analysis of the data. Hr. Lazarian, the Deputy Minister of Health, has been wonderful in her support to me and the project.
I have rarely experienced such warmth and dynamism in a health professional as I have with Alina. She is engaging, has a strong missionary spirit, and has an enthusiasm that is infectious. She established such a great relationship with the people of Karabakh that following her stay, a baby or two have been named Alina in Stepanakert. Currently she is in the final phases of writing her doctoral dissertation for the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins about the health situation in Karabakh. As a member of the team at the Center for Health Services Research at AUA, and with the support of the Ministry of Health in Stepanakert, she has finalized the first Health Systems Plan for Karabakh. The Karabakh Health Plan is an example of a project where AUA is an active participant in social development at a critical juncture of the history of Armenia her home for over three years now. She is one of the brightest Ph.D. students in the Health Behavioral Sciences area at Johns I lopkins. As the Associate Director of the Center for Health Services Research at AUA, she has more achievements in her field than many of the faculty members back home.
I can go on exposing you to my e- mail and the faces behind those letters. I can describe the project that Robert McPherson, a junior faculty member, is developing for primary care physicians with Americans and the Ministry of Health. I can describe the positive experiences at AUA of Dr. Marie Diener West, the star biostatistics teacher at Johns Hopkins. These are illustrative of the breadth of activities that our Public Health Program is involved in. The planning of the Public Health Program was started in 1992 following a consultants' visit to Armenia by Dr. Rudi Schmid, the previous Dean of the Medical School at the University of California at San Francisco and Dr. Krikor Soghikian, a distinguished researcher and educator from Kaiser Permanente. An affiliation agreement with the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University was signed in 1993. The admission process of the first intake of public health students was started in the spring of 1994. Two successive intakes for a graduate certificate program led to the initiation of a Master of Public Health degree program in the spring of 1997.
A Center for Health Services Research was started concurrently with the educational program in public health. The Center is self-supporting through funding from a number of grants it receives. The Center has implemented several projects that are very important in addressing the major health problems of Armenia.
AUA is a new university with a tradition of excellence based upon the American graduate academic model. Beyond exposing students to cutting edge technology and knowledge, the University develops solid management and problem solving skills that are useful in addressing current and future issues within the practice environment. With its broad approach to education, the University encourages the development leadership skills in future graduates. Today, you will find AUA graduates in various roles in government and in the private sector. Whether it is in the Office of the Prime Minister, in the Ministry of Health, or in the Midland Bank of Armenia, our graduates are effectively contributing to the social and economic development of Armenia.
For an emerging country like Armenia, there are major problems that need to be addressed. The expertise of the faculty al AUA is an immense resource helping Armenia overcome its social and economic problems. To date, six Centers at AUA have been involved with several projects that are important for the development of Armenia. These Centers also serve the problem-based educational needs of the academic programs at AUA.
