Gohar Abelyan

Born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia, Gohar Abelyan moved to the United States in August, 2018. Before immigrating, Gohar earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) in 2015 from the American University of Armenia, a program affiliated with the John’s Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She subsequently worked as a Research Associate at the Zvart Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development at the American University of Armenia.

Prior to joining MACRO, Gohar conducted multiple qualitative and quantitative studies in collaboration with national and international humanitarian organizations. This work focused upon a wide breadth of public health concerns, including smoking, tuberculosis, neonatal care, maternal health and child health. In the course of performing this work, Gohar has published several articles in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals, and presented her findings at multiple transnational conferences.

With her strong background in public health, Gohar joined MACRO with the desire more immediately impact the lives of rare disease patients, while simultaneously joining the effort to move trials forward that could result in novel treatments for these diseases. For Gohar, there is nothing more rewarding than a patient’s hope and elation when they qualify for an investigational study, and their gratitude and joy when these same patients find that this treatment made a positive impact in their disease. She embodies the idea of a “patient-centered” research environment, spending her time devising and iterating workflow improvements that translate to an ever-improving patient experience and quality-of-care.