When Sharon Chekijian, MD, MPH, arrived in Armenia this fall, she was returning to a country where she has spent years working to establish a sustainable foundation for the specialty of emergency medicine. In recent years, the nation has faced multiple crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to regional conflict, that have contributed to repeated waves of Armenian refugees arriving from Syria, Beirut, Iran, and the neighboring Republic of Artsakh. Chekijian’s efforts have focused on strengthening Armenia’s ability to respond to such crises.
Most recently, she has been collaborating with Sarah Lowe, PhD, associate professor of public health (social and behavioral sciences) at the Yale School of Public Health, on an assessment of mental health in the Artsakh refugee population. Their work embodies the kind of cross-disciplinary collaboration that defines the new Yale Crisis, Emergency and Disaster (CED) faculty network at the Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH).
Formerly known as the Emergency, Critical Care, and Disaster Medicine (ECCDM) faculty network, the CED reflects a recent name change that signals the network’s broadened mission: to connect Yale faculty advancing emergency and disaster care with those engaged in humanitarian and refugee crises around the world.
Chekijian, who serves as associate professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and as co-leader of the CED faculty network, explains, “We wanted to broaden the network to include humanitarian and refugee response, creating opportunities for programming across campus and the medical school. Our goal is to bring together everyone working in this space under a more comprehensive structure, rather than forming separate, fragmented networks.”
That inclusive vision is evident in Chekijian’s long-standing collaboration in Armenia, where she was recently named chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine at the National Institute of Health (NIH) of Armenia, following her establishment of the Yale Unified Armenian Emergency Medicine Residency Program. This is the first residency program dedicated to the specialty of emergency medicine in the country.
Chekijian launched this program in partnership with the Armenian NIH under the country’s Ministry of Health. According to Chekijian, this work has become increasingly vital amid the nation’s ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crisis. The program graduated its first class in April 2025 and continues to grow, with a second cohort of residents who began this past September.
“Interest quickly grew. We began orientation this September with 17 participants and ended the week with 40,” says Chekijian. “This class represents a remarkable range of backgrounds, with half coming from regions outside Yerevan, Armenia’s capital and largest city, who will help bring state of the art emergency care back to their regions and institutions.”
Chekijian’s current efforts in Armenia center on strengthening resilience and improving the country’s capacity to respond in times of crisis. “Our goal is to ensure that hospitals and medical teams are equipped not only with essential supplies but with the trained personnel to provide the best possible care when it’s needed most—and to do so quickly,” she says.
For Chekijian, the philosophy behind this work is simple: “Emergency medicine means treating any patient, anytime, no matter what they have,” she explains. “That way of thinking in Armenia helped me identify and recruit people passionate about this work.”
It’s a mindset that captures both the spirit of her work in Armenia and the vision of the CED. Through its expanded focus, she hopes the network will continue to bring Yale faculty together to strengthen systems of care in the most challenging settings.
“Emergency care and rapid, accurate response to crisis is vital to national security,” she adds. “With conflicts increasing globally, we only expect this work to grow in importance and scope.”