Dr. Alina Razak, MD, is a PGY-4 anesthesiology resident at Stony Brook Medicine, where she serves as the Academic Mentorship Program Resident Director. She earned her medical degree from the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. After completing residency, she will be pursuing a fellowship in Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Anna Isahakyan, MD, holds a Medical Doctor degree in general medicine and a Master of Public Health degree. She has worked as a coordinator of various educational projects at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Armenia, and She is a volunteer at the International Center for Professional Development (ICPD) in Armenia. She is a PhD candidate at the School of Health Professions Education, Department of Educational Development & Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on teaching visual problem-solving in health sciences.  In addition to her PhD candidacy, Anna is actively involved in several professional organizations. She is a member of the Interuniversity Centre for Educational Sciences (ICO), an interuniversity graduate school and research network in the Netherlands and Belgium. She serves as a PhD representative of Maastricht University on the ICO Educational Committee. Anna is also a member of the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (NVMO) and the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE).

Ara Tekian, PhD, MHPE is Professor of Medical Education, and the Associate Dean for the Office of International Education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago. He is involved in teaching courses in both the master’s and the doctorate programs in Professions Education. He is a leading scholar in professions education with significant and sustained research contributions that have made groundbreaking and longstanding impact on educational practices of health professionals, both within the United States and around the world. His research has vastly improved standards for educational practice and training of health professionals and transformed international guidelines that have direct consequences on the quality of patient safety and public good. Overall, Ara has published over 190 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented over 150 peer-reviewed presentations. He teaches widely, conducting over 325 invited workshops and courses, and 275 invited presentations, in over 45 countries. In July 2012, the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) conferred its ASME Gold Medal to Ara, in recognition of his scholarship and leadership in international contexts. In 2017, Ara received the prestigious AERA Division I Distinguished Career Award. He was also the 2017 recipient of the highly acclaimed Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Dr. Tekian is also the Editor-in-Chief for the Innovation and Change in Professional Education (ICPE) Book Series, published by Springer that has over 20 books in the series; and serves on many editorial boards.

Dr. Chaitanya Challa, MD is the Medical Director of Perioperative Services and a board-certified Anesthesiologist specializing in Pediatric Anesthesiology. She is part of the Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. Dr. Challa completed her medical training at New York Medical College, followed by residency in Anesthesiology and a fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology. She is dedicated to advancing perioperative care and ensuring safe, compassionate anesthesia management for children.

Dr. Maryam Asoodar is an Assistant Professor at the School of Health Professions Education (SHE) at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She is an educationist specializing in instructional design and e-learning. Her research focuses on the cognitive and theoretical foundations of instructional design, exploring how learning environments and instructional cues influence learning. Maryam actively contributes to curriculum development and teacher trainings, combining educational technologies with evidence-based approaches to enhance learning effectiveness.

Dr. Pooja Gupta, MD is a board-certified anesthesiologist specializing in pediatric anesthesiology. She currently serves within the Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine at the Children's National in Washington, DC, bringing expertise in providing safe, compassionate, and evidence-based care to pediatric patients undergoing surgery. Dr. Gupta completed her fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2020, following a residency in Anesthesiology at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center. Her medical training also includes a surgical internship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Aureus University School of Medicine. She holds an undergraduate degree from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology since 2021, Dr. Gupta is committed to advancing pediatric perioperative care through clinical excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Dr. Stephen Ludwig, MD is the Senior Advisor for Medical Education and Senior Attending Physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is the past Chairman of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, Continuing Medical Education Committee and Designated Institutional Official. Dr. Ludwig also serves as the Director for International Medicine Education. He is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School Of Medicine. He has a primary care practice and serves as a General pediatrics in-patient attending physician. Dr. Ludwig is a past president of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) and a member of the Board of Directors, as well as a founding member of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Special Interest Group. He is a member of the International Society of Child Abuse and Neglect. Dr. Ludwig is a founding member of the Ray Helfer Society. He served as Chairman of the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Pediatrics of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Currently he serves on the ACGME I Board of Directors. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Pediatrics and was Chair of the Program Directors Committee until 2009. Dr. Ludwig also chaired the ABP Global Health Task Force. He has received many awards from the University of Pennsylvania, Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD), Helfer Society and APA. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1998. Dr. Ludwig was selected by the Board of Directors of the Federation of Pediatric Organizations as the recipient of the 2010 Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Pediatric Leadership Award. In 2016, he received the Richard D. Wood distinguished alumni award from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Ludwig has over 175 publications to his credit, has edited 20 books and serves on several editorial boards. He was Co-Editor in Chief of Pediatric Emergency Care for 40 years. He was the Editor of the Fleisher and Ludwig Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, now in its 9th edition and Netter's Pediatrics Textbook. He has been an invited lecturer nationally and internationally. After graduating from the Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Ludwig received his MD degree from Temple University School of Medicine and completed his pediatric internship and residency at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, DC. He holds board certification in General Pediatrics and certificate 001 in Pediatric Emergency Medicine from the American Board of Pediatrics.

Dr. Varduhi Petrosyan is a professor and dean in the Turpanjian College of Health Sciences (CHS), American University of Armenia (AUA). She also directs the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR). She received her Bachelor’s degree at Yerevan State University and her Master’s degree at the University of Idaho. She completed her PhD studies at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. She was elected to the Delta Omega Public Health Honorary Society (US National Public Health Honorary Society), Alpha Chapter, in 2006. She has successfully led health services research projects in Armenia and the region focusing on public health services, public health emergencies including disease outbreaks, tobacco control, tuberculosis control, primary care, ophthalmic care, diabetes care, environmental health, and other important topics. She was a member of the Country Coordination Mechanism for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs in the Republic of Armenia (2011–16). In 2012–2014, she was the Advisor on Health Reforms to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on a voluntary basis. Dr. Petrosyan was also a member of the Expert panel on COVID-19 next to the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia (2020-23), the Primary Health Care Strengthening Task Force of the Ministry of Health (2021-22), the Management Council of the Health Inspectorate Body of the Government of Armenia (2017-22), and a member of the Public Council next to the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia (2019-2024). She is currently a member of the Advisory Board next to the Executive Director of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Deputy Chair of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group of the Republic of Armenia. Prior to her arrival to AUA, she held a position of Research Assistant at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she conducted research on comparative health systems (focusing on health spending and cross national comparison of quality) in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2011-2024, she was the Associate Editor of the International Journal for Equity in Health, an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Dr. Petrosyan has authored many peer-reviewed publications and extensively presented her work at international scientific meetings and conferences.

Dr. Zalim Balkizov, MD, is a leader in medical education in Russia, serving as Director of the Institute for Development of Medical Educators and Professor of Medical Education at the Russian National Research Medical University after N.I. Pirogov. He is the General Secretary of the Russian Society of Medical Educators, which he co-founded in 2022. Dr. Balkizov has collaborated with the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) since 2009, serving as AMEE Ambassador and Global Representative. He has led initiatives including the translation of over 40 AMEE Guides into Russian and the introduction of Russia’s first national medical education conference. He pioneered the implementation of the OSCE in Russian physician accreditation and directed a national CME reform project involving over 500,000 physicians. Dr. Balkizov is founding Editor-in-Chief of Medical Education and Professional Development and co-author of key Russian-language resources in simulation and medical education terminology. He holds a Master’s in Health Professions Education from Gulf Medical University. His professional focus includes CPD, simulation in healthcare, and assessment.