{"id":253,"date":"2026-03-03T11:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/?p=253"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:08:39","slug":"armenian-healthcare-summit-spotlights-boston-university-henar-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/2026\/03\/03\/armenian-healthcare-summit-spotlights-boston-university-henar-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Armenian Healthcare Summit Spotlights Boston University\/HENAR Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"People
Armenian Healthcare Policy Summit, Yerevan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WHO and HENAR Foundation convened a Healthcare Policy Summit on January 27, inviting all major Armenian healthcare institutions to coordinate programs in postgraduate medical education. In attendance were representatives of key institutional players, including the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education (MoE), Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), National Institute of Health (ANIH), Boston University \u2013 Armenia Medical Partnership (BU-AMP), Asian Development Bank, and many Yerevan hospitals.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the summit, \u201cHealth and Education Reforms: A Policy Dialogue on Postgraduate Medical Education,\u201d was to facilitate a high-level, cross-sectoral policy dialogue that links Armenia\u2019s Universal Healthcare and Primary Healthcare reform agendas with health workforce development, with a specific focus on postgraduate medical education. The summit was designed to bring together policymakers and development agencies to overcome obstacles in developing healthcare in Armenia, and to coordinate priority-setting and decision-making processes.<\/p>\n

HENAR co-founder Arman Voskerchyan opened the summit, welcoming all participants to this milestone event in healthcare policy collaboration. He noted the importance of identifying key gaps and bottlenecks related to healthcare standards, training environments, licensing, accreditation, faculty capacity and healthcare workforce distribution.<\/p>\n

\"Woman
First Deputy Minister of Health Lena Nanushyan (left) and Deputy Minister of Education Sargis Hayotsyan (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lena Nanushyan, First Deputy Minister of Health, presented the MoH\u2019s plan for the development of Universal Healthcare for Armenia, which started a staged rollout on January 1. The government now provides many healthcare services free-of-charge for the disabled, children under 18, and the poor \u2013 and as of January 1, the elderly over 65. Even so, the government still cannot afford to pay for key services including most lab draws, x-rays and advanced imaging, and all but very basic medications. The goal for the next several years is to gradually extend the range of services to these existing groups, and then slowly expand coverage to all Armenians until the nation has true universal healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Armenian government has been continuously working to address gaps in healthcare\u2026 and we have learned that you cannot tackle large problems in isolation — activities are interconnected, requiring a systems change,\u201d said Nanushyan. \u201cA competency-based residency program has been identified as a key priority as it is central to enabling doctors to better serve their patients. We want to ensure physicians graduate with strong, practical skills, so they can effectively address patients\u2019 needs and deliver high-quality care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sargis Hayotsyan, Deputy Minister of Education (MoE) and chairman of its Higher Education and Science Committee, introduced the Ministry’s main priorities for 2026. \u201cOur purpose in participating in this event is to better understand how residency education is perceived within the policymakers\u2019 community and among our international partners, and to present the regulatory provisions outlined in the Law on Higher Education and Science,\u201d said Hayotsyan.<\/p>\n

Jeff Markuns<\/a>, MD,\u00a0 represented Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine\u2019s Global Health Collaborative and shared his 20 years of developing healthcare systems internationally, outlining a framework for healthcare capacity building. He outlined a phased strategy: first developing a core group of educational \u201cchampions,\u201d then equipping departmental leaders to design and oversee new competency-based curricula, and finally strengthening faculty through targeted development programs. Markuns also stressed the importance of clear planning \u2014 using competency-based curricula, measurable goals and evaluations, strong accreditation systems, and mechanisms to sustain skills over time \u2013 to ensure reforms are effective and lasting.<\/p>\n

The second half of the summit highlighted Armenia\u2019s experience in implementing competency-based medical education (CBME). WHO Technical Officer Sulakshana Nandi introduced findings from a healthcare labor market analysis and workforce planning initiative conducted for Armenia. Lorky Libaridian, Program Director of the Pediatric Residency Program (launched in 2023 by HENAR Foundation in partnership with Children\u2019s Hospital of Los Angeles), presented early lessons from implementing a competency-based residency model.<\/p>\n

She was followed by Henry Louis, Program Director of the Masters\u2019 program in Health Professions Education, (developed in 2025 by HENAR in conjunction with Boston University \u2013 Armenia Medical Partnership and with the support of the Armenian-American Medical Association of Greater Boston). Louis noted the program\u2019s success in training faculty to introduce and apply the principles and practices of CBME across residency disciplines as diverse as pediatric infectious diseases, family medicine, and orthopedic surgery. Two MHPE students \u2013 Hrachuhi Ghazaryan of (ANIH) and Hripsime Apresyan (YSMU) \u2014 shared reflections on the program\u2019s impact on medical residency education in Armenia today.<\/p>\n

The Summit concluded with a roundtable discussion, where participants exchanged perspectives on opportunities, challenges, and next steps in advancing medical residency reform in alignment with Armenia\u2019s broader healthcare system transformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WHO and HENAR Foundation convened a Healthcare Policy Summit on January 27, inviting all major Armenian healthcare institutions to coordinate programs in postgraduate medical education. In attendance were representatives of key institutional players, including the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education (MoE), Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), National Institute of Health (ANIH), Boston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2114],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}