Core Faculty
Ara Tekian, Ph.D., M.H.P.E.
Ara Tekian is Associate Professor and Director of International Affairs in the Department of Medical Education (DME), and Associate Dean of International Affairs at the College of Medicine (COM), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He joined the DME in 1992, where he teaches courses in the Master of Health Professions Education (M.H.P.E.) program and advises graduate students. He also teaches one of the major courses in the Master of Science in Patient Safety Leadership program. Dr. Tekian has been an active member of the COM community as, for example, a long-term member of the Admissions and the Curriculum Committee, and of the UIC community as, for example, a member of the Senate Committee on Student Recruitment, Admissions and Retention.
Prior to joining the UIC DME, Dr. Tekian was the founding Director of the Medical Education Unit at the King Saud University College of Medicine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he served from 1983 to 1990. During the 1980s and 1990s he also served as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) for projects in the Division of Development of Human Resources for Health. He was also a consultant to the Ministries of Health and Education in most of the Eastern Mediterranean countries, and has established a number of medical education departments/units in eastern Mediterranean countries.
Dr. Tekian is an internationally recognized scholar and leader in health professions education. He has organized and conducted more than 140 workshops in more than 35 countries and 55 cities. His consultations and workshops have focused on curriculum development, assessment, program evaluation, and patient safety. His scholarship in health professions education is reflected in publications in premiere medical education journals. He is the senior author of the book Innovative Simulations for Assessing Professional Competence: From Paper-and-Pencil to Virtual Reality, published in 1999.
Dr. Tekian has received numerous honors and awards. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tashkent University in Uzbekistan. He was the recipient of the 1997 Teaching Recognition Program Award from the UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Tekian is the current President of the Division of Education in the Professions of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), which is a major venue for presentation of scholarship in health professions education.
