Once again, the AUA College of Health Sciences (CHS) was well-represented at the European Public Health Conference, a joint conference of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) and Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). The 2011 conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 9-12 November.
With financial support from EUPHA and ASPHER, CHS’ Varduhi Petrosyan, Anahit Demirchyan, Arusyak Harutyunyan, and Karine Markosyan presented 
five abstracts during the Conference. All abstracts are published in the 2011 European Journal of Public Volume 21 Supplement 1. The moderated poster presentations covered our collaborative work with Emory University on HIV risk reduction among female sex workers in Yerevan; our collaborative work with Johns Hopkins Institute for Global Tobacco Control on establishing smoke-free workplaces; our collaborative work with the Ministry of Health and WHO Country Office on surveillance systems as part of the evaluation of public health services in Armenia, and our own work on predictors of poor self-rated health in Armenia based on CHS’ nationwide household health survey.
On November 9th Dr. Varduhi Petrosyan, Associate Dean of the CHS continued AUA’s active involvement in a joint World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) and ASPHER initiative on Strengthening Public Health Workforce Capacities in the European Region. The invitation-only pre-conference workshop built upon the first meeting held October 4-5, 2011, in Copenhagen where Dr. Byron Crape represented CHS. Workshop participants discussed the European Accreditation System for Public Health (PH) Education, challenges of PH workforce development, ways to increase the visibility of PH professionals in healthcare systems, and the European action plan for strengthening public health capacities and services in Europe. AUA MPH & MBA alumnus Tatul Hakobyan, now with WHO/EURO, also attended the workshop. CHS’ invitation to participate in this new WHO/EURO-ASPHER initiative reflects the strength and reputation of our program in the European region.