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 general practitioner (GP) and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees. She has worked as a coordinator of various educational programs at the National Institute of Health of Armenia (NIH) and is a volunteer at the International Center for Professional Development (ICPD) in Armenia. Anna is currently a PhD student at the School of Health Professions Education, Department of Educational Development and Research, Maastricht University, Netherlands, which is part of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. In parallel with her PhD studies, Anna is actively involved in a number of professional organizations. She is a member of the Interuniversity Center for Educational Sciences (ICO), an interuniversity postgraduate and research network in the Netherlands and Belgium. She represents Maastricht University PhD students on the ICO Education Committee. In addition, Dr. Isahakyan is 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. Stephen Ludwig, MD is a Senior Attending Pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. He trained as a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital in Washington DC and returned to Philadelphia in 1974 as an Instructor at CHOP and the Philadelphia General Hospital. Starting in 1976 he became the medical director of emergency services at CHOP, a role he maintained for thirty years. As the Editor of the first Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (now in its 8^th edition) and the editor of the first scientific journal Pediatric Emergency Care, Dr. Ludwig was instrumental in training many Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians and establishing PEM as a Board-Certified specialty within Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine. In doing so he was awarded the first sub-specialty certificate (001) in this field. There are now more than 3000 PEM specialists in the United States and growing numbers around the world. Dr. Ludwig focused attention on the plight of abused and neglected children and was one of the organizers of the first multi-disciplinary child abuse teams in Washington and Philadelphia. He authored a textbook on the medical aspects of child abuse and neglect and founded the Helfer Society of interested health care professionals from throughout the United Sates. With dedication to teaching and scholarship, having written over 150 research publications, book chapters and monographs and edited 25 textbooks, he was promoted to Professor in 1989. He was elected to the National Academy of Science and Medicine (Institute of Medicine in 1998), he has received numerous teaching awards at CHOP and PENN. In 2005 he was named a founding member of the Academy of Master Clinicians of the PENN Health System. After stepping down as ED Director at CHOP, he supervised all the CHOP training programs for interns and residents and took on National roles in advancing medical education. Representing CHOPs global efforts, has created collaborations in Eastern Europe, Mexico, South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia

Dr. Varduhi Petrosyan is a professor and dean in the Turpanjian School of Public Health (SPH), American University of Armenia (AUA). She also directs the Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR). Dr. Petrosyan was the associate dean in 2007-2015. She earned her PhD from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. She also has a Master of Science, focusing on environmental health, from the University of Idaho and a degree in biochemistry from Yerevan State University. She has successfully led health services research projects in Armenia and the region focusing on public health services, tobacco control, tuberculosis control, primary care, ophthalmic care, diabetes care, environmental health, and other important topics. Dr. Petrosyan teaches graduate courses in health services research, program evaluation, and comparative health systems. In 2011-2016, she was a member of the Country Coordination Mechanism for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs in the Republic of Armenia. In 2012-2014, Dr. Petrosyan was the Advisor on Health Reforms to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on a voluntary basis. Currently she is a member of the Public Council next to the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia, and the Management Council of the Health Inspectorate Body of the Government 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. She has been elected to Delta Omega Alpha Chapter, the US National Public Health Honorary Society in 2006. Dr. Petrosyan has authored many peer-reviewed publications and has extensively presented her work at international scientific meetings and conferences. She is currently the Associate Editor of the International Journal for Equity in Health, an open access, peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Zalim Balkizov, MD, PhD, MHPE, FAMEE, is the Director of the Institute for Development of Medical Educators in the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education 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. In 2010, Dr. Zalim Balkizov co-founded, as Editor in Chief, the Russian journal "Medical Education and Professional Development". In 2011, he started working with the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) on a project to translate the very successful AMEE Guides in Medical Education into the Russian language. Over 40 AMEE Guides have been translated and are available to Russian medical educationalists. His other publications in medical education are the Russian Glossary of Medical Education terminology and a Healthcare Simulation Dictionary, which are in cooperation with the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. In 2011, he introduced the first annual international conference on medical education in Russia, which is now a regular yearly event and brings together more than 700 participants from all USSR countries and international speakers. Dr. Zalim Balkizov has actively participated in every AMEE annual conference since 2009 and was appointed as the AMEE Ambassador for the Russian Federation countries in 2013 and AMEE Global representative in 2018, the duties of which include promoting AMEE and developing AMEE activities throughout former USSR countries. In 2017, he was elected to the AMEE Executive Committee and re-elected in 2018 for the next three years. He was an active member of both the AMEE CPD and Simulation Committees. Since 2013, he has led the pilot project for CME implementation in Russia, which has resulted in developing a new system of continuous professional development for the Russian Federation. He successfully promoted the OSCE as an essential element in the accreditation of physicians in the Russian Federation, which was accepted and implemented as the 2nd step of the national accreditation examination. In 2022, he founded with five leading Russian medical universities, the Russian Society of Medical Educators, and was elected General Secretary. In 2023, he successfully completed his master's degree through a joint program of the Gulf Medical University (GMU) and the Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER®). Dr. Zalim Balkizov's primary professional interests and focus are CPD, simulation in healthcare, and assessment.