Targeted News Service
February 25, 2009 Wednesday 3:06 AM EST

BUSM Receives $260,000 Grant From Lincy Foundation

BOSTON

Boston University issued the following press release:

Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has received an initial
grant of $260,000 from the Lincy Foundation to support a curriculum
development project at the Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) in
Armenia. The project will develop a framework to make medical
education in Armenia comparable to that in the US and Western
Europe. BUSM and the YSMU will use the BUSM curriculum as a model and
modify it as appropriate for Armenian students. The funds will support
the first and second years of the three-year project.

"We are enormously grateful to the Lincy Foundation for their support
of this important educational project. Working jointly with Yerevan
State Medical University we hope to create the infrastructure for a
dynamic, state-of-the-art learning environment for Armenian medical
students," explained Aram Chobanian, MD, President Emeritus, Boston
University and Dean Emeritus of the School of Medicine.

While the Yerevan State Medical University has a distinguished history
as the foremost medical school in Armenia and was considered one of
the leading medical institutions in the Soviet Union, it has not kept
up with the rapid advances in medial science that have occurred over
the past 25 years in North America and Western Europe. Medical
education in Armenia continues to reflect the old Soviet system:
teaching is to a great extent didactic; class sizes are large; and
hands-on clinical training is minimal. Students have tended to be
observers rather than active members of the clinical team.

The project will provide an in-depth analysis of the current Yerevan
State Medical University curriculum, visits of senior faculty and
medical students between the sister institutions, online access and
adaptation of BUSM course materials for YSMU students, development of
new courses, enrollment of senior medical students from Armenia in
clinical clerkships at BUSM.

Gohar Kyalyan, PhD, MD, Rector of YSMU and co-investigator of the
grant, has developed the project with Chobanian. "We are excited about
the opportunity to work with Boston University to transform medical
education at YSMU and in Armenia as a whole. The grant from the Lincy
Foundation is particularly appreciated at this time of economic crisis
for the world as a whole as well as for Armenia," said Kyalyan.

Contact: Gina M. Digravio, 617/638-8491, gina.digravio@bmc.org