Armenia's First Hospital-Based Cancer Registry
​“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” - Peter Drucker
Bridge of Health’s mission is to give every child battling cancer a fighting chance. Though funding for medical treatments makes a huge difference for pediatric cancer patients, we can do more. As such, Bridge of Health is taking the first steps in Armenia's history to establish a practical cancer registry.
As of September of 2018, Bridge of Health has initiated
the funding of a hospital-based registry using St. Jude’s platform as a template to collect clinical and demographic data. This data will provide valuable research tools for tracking treatments and outcomes and allow for geographical comparisons as well as monitoring
the cancer burden over time. Without a registry, little progress can be made in evidence-based interventions.
It is our goal to attack childhood cancer in Armenian in more ways than one.
Currently, Armenian has a “population-based” registry where only patient demographics are listed, not disease etiology. Bridge of Health’s hospital-based registry will gather the necessary data that can be used to improve diagnoses, treatment plans, recovery time, and preventive strategies. Different hospitals as well as research studies will have access to the registry, spreading the knowledge gained from the detailed tracking of each oncology case. Bridge of Health will allocate $20,000 in funds to be dispersed quarterly toward the cancer registry.
UPDATE: Armenia's first Cancer-Registry Project is on a roll!
MEET OUR RESEARCH TEAM
MEET OUR RESEARCH TEAM
Head of the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, associate professor at the Department of Oncology of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), adviser to the Rector of YSMU, adviser to the Director of the Hematology Center after Prof. R.H.Yeolyan, and adviser in oncology to the Ministry of Health of Armenia.
He is the co-chairman of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) PODC Supportive care working group, chair-elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) IDEA working group, ambassador of the Society of Hematologic Oncology, chairman of the Armenian Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Group, co-founder of the Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology and City of Smile Charitable Foundation. He is the 2018-2019 President of the Harvard Club of Armenia and 2019 President of the Physicians Union of Armenia.
MD and PhD degrees he received from YSMU, MSc from the University of Ulm (Germany), where he currently also lectures pediatric oncology. He completed postdoc in leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA), visiting fellowships at China Medical University Hospital (Taiwan) and St. Anna Children’s Hospital (Austria), was a medical research fellow at the Headquarters of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (Belgium), visiting scientist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (USA), and studies High-Impact Cancer Research at the Harvard Medical School (USA).
He is a recipient of ASCO IDEA (2013) and LIFe (2014) Awards, he was recognized as a Young Leader of the International Agency for Cancer Research (2016) and Union for International Cancer Control (2016).
Gevorg Tamamyan, MD,MSc, Phd
Lusine Hakobyan, MD is a pediatric oncologist and hematologist at the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, Hematology Center under Professor R.H. Yeolyan. She leads the prospective Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Registry at the Hematology Center.
From 2004-2007, Dr. Hakobyan was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pediatrics of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU). From 2009-2011, Dr. Hakobyan was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Hematology of YSMU, and transferred to the Department of Oncology from 2011-2016. Dr. Hakobyan has been a a pediatric oncologist, hematologist at the Clinic of Chemotherapy of Muratsan Hospital Complex of YSMU since 2009, and after merging all the pediatric cancer facilities in Armenia, she moved to the newly created Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia. In 2008-2009, Dr. Hakobyan completed a half-year visiting fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at St. Anna Children’s Hospital in Vienna, Austria.
Dr. Hakobyan is an active member of the Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology and Armenian Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Group. She is a member of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) and Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group.
Lusine Hakobyan, MD
Masnushak Avagyan, MD
Manushak Avagyan, MD is a first-year fellow at the Department of Hematology of Yerevan State Medical University. She is simultaneously participating in a part-time MPH Program at the School of Public Health at the American University of Armenia.
Dr. Avagyan is a junior member of the European Hematology Association, Pediatric Oncology East and the Mediterranean (POEM) Group, American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology, Young Oncologists Group of Armenia and Armenian Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Group.
Ruzanna Papyan,MD
Ruzanna Papyan, MD is a senior fellow at the Department of Oncology of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) from 2016. She is currently a night-shift physician at Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, Hematology Center after Prof. R.H. Yeolyan. She obtained her medical degree at YSMU in 2016.
Dr. Papyan is an active member of the Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology, Young Oncologists Group of Armenia, Armenian Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Group, Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), European School of Oncology (ESO) and Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group.
Bridge of Health took the first step in Armenian’s history to establish a practical cancer registry in January of 2019. By March 2019, the research team began building the organizational features of the registry. The research team comprises Principal Investigator Gevorg Tamamyan, MD, MSc, PhD, and Co-investigators Lusine Hakobyan, MD, Ruzanna Papyan, MD and Manush Avagyan, MD.
The team’s first task was to secure approval from Armenia’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). After all requested documents were submitted, the IRB of the Yerevan State Medical University granted approval in April of 2019.
The team was eager to start the data collection process, however, Dr. Tamamyan emphasized the importance of receiving the support of the medical community prior to data collection efforts. As such, the team met with the leadership of the main hospitals, Hematology Center, National Oncology Center and Muratsan Hospital Complex of YSMU, as well as with the Ministry of Health. These institutions serve as the main locations for pediatric cancer patients receiving treatment for the past three decades. Meetings were fruitful and positive, which led to immense support with the next steps of the project.
In May 2019, Bridge of Health’s hospital-based cancer registry data collection took off. As data collection is now well underway, the team has been meeting regularly to evaluate conducted work and discuss future steps.
The data collection system is integrated from the St. Jude Global Childhood Cancer Analytics Resource and Epidemiological Surveillance System (SJCARES) Registry and its respective literature. Our team is in communication with St. Jude Children’s Hospital regarding the use of their tool for our data collection purposes.
As of May 2019, the main data collection began at the Muratsan Hospital
Complex of Yerevan State Medical University and Hematology Center after Prof. R.H.
Yeolyan. In addition to inputting variables in formation, a repository for the medical histories was created.
Bridge of Health is providing the full funding for this research team and their efforts in completing Armenia's first hospital-based pediatric cancer registry. As of July 2019, expenses include procuring two laptops and infrastructure costs for the four research team members.
Stay tuned for our next update coming to you shortly!