Faculty Development

2022-11-02

TMA hosted the working meetings to share the experience gained in international conferences and summer schools. 

Head of Educational Program Tsisana Lomashvili, Vice-Rector in Research Ekaterine Kldiashvili, Manager of Continues Professional Development Maka Zarnadze, Head of Quality Assurance Department Nino Sikharulidze, Specialist in Medical Education and Research Dea Goderdzishvili and Head of Institutional Culture Department Maka Maglakelidze presented to colleagues from the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) and The experience gained at scientific conferences organized by the Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE) was shared. 

International projects coordinator Khatuna Khatiashvili, curator of students' scientific activities Saba Iordanishvili, and exam center coordinator Vakho Deisadze spoke about the experience gained at the summer school in the Netherlands at Radboud University. 

Natalia Kotchlashvili, the coordinator of current projects, shared with the audience the history of cooperation with Radboud University within the framework of Erasmus project, staff mobility program, and plans. 

Representatives of the Academy's administration, academic, and invited staff participated in the meeting. Within the framework of the meetings, the participants had the opportunity to discuss and share news, experiences, challenges, and opportunities in terms of the development of medical education, the promotion of the professional development of teachers, and the development of further international relations.

2022-10-13

Georgia hosted the annual conference of the Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE). The event was attended by European and international institutions important for the development of the field, including World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), European University Association - Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE), the Organization for Ph.D. Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System (ORPHEUS) and International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA).  Tbilisi Medical Academy was represented among the participants at the conference. TMA faculty members presented three topics:

• Arts as an effective learning tool of medical education– Maka Zarnadze, Associate Professor, Manager of Continues Professional Development;
• Using a clinical reasoning exercise as the start of a course in the research line improves motivation in research of last year students- Ekaterine Kldiashvili, Vice-Rector in Research;
• Implementation of PSI Curriculum at preclinical level in Integrated modules – Tsisana Lomashvili, Head of One-step Educational Program.

Among the speakers were internationally recognized experts and leaders in the field of medical education: David Gordon - President of the World Federation of Medical Education, the University of Manchester Emeritus Professor, (Great Britain); Harm Peters - President of the Association of European Medical Schools, Charité - Professor of Universitätsmedizin, (Germany), Alexander Hasgall - Head of Doctoral Education Council of the European University Association (EUA), Robin Stevenson - Editor-in-Chief of European CME Journal and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Glasgow, (UK), Janusz Janczhukovic - Professor of University of Lodz (Poland), Nebojsa Lalic - Professor of University of Belgrade, (Serbia), Cris Scotter - Human Resources for Health expert for the World Health Organization.

Speakers from Ukraine, Hungary, Lithuania and representatives of more than ten institutions from Georgia also participated in the conference.

The conference was hosted by David Tvildiani Medical University.

2022-10-07

Tbilisi Medical Academy, within the framework of Erasmus staff mobility program, hosted Belgian colleagues. TMA was visited by Nele Michels - the president of THE European Academy of Teachers in General Practice/Family Medicine (EURACT), Professor at the Centre for General Practice & at the Skills Lab, Director of the staff group of General Practitioners trainers (University of Antwerp), as well as Kristin Van den Bogerd - psychologist & co-coordinator communication skills lab at the University of Antwerp, and Katrien Bombeke - Professor, GP & coordinator of communication skills lab at UA. As part of the work visit, clinical and basic subject educators received training on the following topics: How to teach and assess communication skills, how to teach consultation skills, and how to train Simulated Patient (SP).

"Such training will help to improve communication skills among students during teaching, such as delivering bad news to a patient, motivational interview, and communication with patients with psychiatric problems. At the workshops, they discussed specific communication techniques in detail. An important part was also devoted to the methods of assessment of the above-mentioned skills. In addition, the part of selection, training, teaching methods and expected results of simulation patients, recognition of various didactic aspects of simulation patient training and work with them should be mentioned separately" - Khatuna Khatiashvili, International Projects Coordinator, TMA affiliate, associate professor in the direction of behavioral sciences.

In addition, TMA academics and visiting teachers shared their experience in teaching communication skills, assessment, and examples of involvement in a simulation patient education program with their Belgian colleagues. Georgian and Belgian colleagues discussed the results and statistical characteristics of the Objectively Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) held in the summer in TMA.

The guests also had working meetings with the representatives of the Academy's administration to continue the further collaboration within the framework of Erasmus and to strengthen the cooperation of family doctors (GP network).

 

2022-09-15

TMA had the pleasure to host the heads of the Center of Innovation in Medical Education (CIMED) Professor Joke Denekens and Professor Herman Van Rossum (Antwerp / Belgium). 

Within the five-day working visit, meetings were held with the administration of TMA, academic and invited teachers. The teachers presented integrated cases and related integrated assignments, discussed examples of student-centered learning within their courses, organized feedback and team-based learning (TBL), and opportunities for further portfolio development. 

During the working visit, training was also held for teachers on the topics - "Implementation of a patient centered, student-oriented, integrated program", " TBL (Team-Based Learning) Line development in the program", "The role of a mentor in the portfolio", "Teaching and assessment methods in the first-semester curriculum", "Maximizing the capabilities of the Anatomage Table, use within the framework of various training courses" and etc.

2022-09-06

Lyon (France) hosted the Annual Conference of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), where TMA proudly appeared with two presentations. 

TMA Vice Rector in Research - Dr. Ekaterine Kldiashvili and medical education expert Dea Goderdzishvili delivered an oral presentation "Virtual Patient Simulators as a Pilot of eHealth Introduction in Medical Curricula”, while the Manager of Continuous Professional Development and a member of the Curriculum Committee, Maka Zarnadze presented an e-Poster around the topic - "The impact of the Self-Reflection on the Identification Learning needs of the Medical Students during preclinical years" 

Within the framework of the conference, attending members of TMA staff - Head of the Educational Program - Tsisana Lomashvili and the Head of the Quality Assurance Department Nino Sikharulidze, participated within various thematic workshops and meetings. In addition, members of TMA had opportunities to get acquainted with the most up-to-date opinions from the field experts and engage in discussions with colleagues from around the globe. 

The AMEE conference serves as the most significant annual event for everyone, involved in medical education. This year, more than 90 medical schools from all over the world participated in the conference.

2022-04-12

TMA continues to support the continued professional development of its staff. In the field of medical education, the training courses offered by The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) are an important step in this direction. 

TMA Faculty Members Tsisana Lomashvili (Head of Educational Program), Ia Khakhutaishvili (Curriculum Committee Member), and Maka Zarnadze (Curriculum Committee Member) completed four training courses "Essential Skills in Medical Education'' organized by AMEE and gained the status of a Specialist in Medical Education. This is important for TMA to integrate into the European Educational Space. 

“The training courses were organized by the AMEE regional representation in Georgia and were led by AMEE President Trevor Gibbs. These courses allowed us to get acquainted with the innovations of medical education methodology in the format of active and quite busy workshops. In addition to the mandatory training activity, the trainees were asked to complete a post-training assignment (training reflection) to describe what knowledge we had acquired during the training and how to apply it in practice. In the course of the training, we also conducted two studies on medical education methodology - “The impact of the preclinical online Flipped Classroom (FC) on the critical thinking, a group working and independent learning abilities from student’s perspective” and “The impact of the Self-Reflection on the identification learning needs of the Medical Students during preclinical years”. One study was presented at the AMEE 2021 Glasgow Conference as an oral presentation and the other at the AMEE 2022 Lyon Conference. The involvement of the academy in this training is important because at this time we learn about the innovations in medical education methodology. We share the acquired knowledge and experience with colleagues and jointly try to introduce modern standards of teaching, learning, and assessment in TMA”- Maka Zarnadze”. 

To gain the status of a medical education specialist, six more TMA staff are currently involved in AMEE training courses.

2022-04-04

The Team-Based Learning (TBL) session was held for students at the final stage of the integration week. The session aimed to develop students' skills of independent work, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking, and to teach the principles of evidence-based medicine.

"TBLS is one of the ways to show the TMA students the importance of teamwork. Medicine is without frontiers/borders, inexhaustible, and rapidly evolving., so it is necessary not only to have various specialists at the same medical establishments but also to enable them to work closely together to achieve the best possible results for the patient, including the best results" - Salome Buliskeria, lecturer at TMA.

One week before the session, the lectures introduced the students to the purpose of the TBL session, and the learning outcomes, divided them into groups, and provided literature. During the session, students worked in groups on a patient's case and a relevant assignment. The assignment required the integration of knowledge gained by the students within the module (anatomy, histology, physiology) and the solution of a clinical problem.

"TBL accustoms us to teamwork, students work together on integrated assignments, which in the future will help us provide effective and complete service to the patient. Right now we are going through the endocrine system, studying various diseases including diabetes. Direct communication with the real patient helped us to better understand the topic. We have discussed a diabetes case and presented posters around this topic "- Iako Barabadze, a 2nd-year medical student.

Mentors assessed both the students' integrated homework as well as their interpersonal skills.

2022-03-23

As part of the integration week, TMA students had a meeting with real patients. This encounter served to put students in touch with real patients already at the preclinical stage of teaching and enabled them to use the knowledge and skills acquired during the various training courses to better understand patients’ problems. 

"This kind of events are interesting for us as future doctors, because proper communication between doctor and patient is one of the important aspects. Today we have seen a good example of how to have a dialogue with the patient. We are now studying diabetes and the endocrine system, and direct communication with the patient helped us a lot in deepening our theoretical knowledge." - Sandro Sagliani, a medical student of the 2nd year 

Students had the opportunity to observe the interaction between the patients with diabetes and their doctor, to ask them questions, and to discuss this topic. 

"I love relationships with young people, and communication with the future doctors was very important to me. They listened carefully and asked interesting questions. I tried to give them thorough answers. I think this practical experience will help students to deepen their professional knowledge, so I will gladly take part in similar activities at other times as well. It has a positive effect on me when the questions are varied, you look at yourself from the side, and this is an interesting and useful process "- Patient Asmat Guliashvili, 67 years old. 

At the end of the meeting, the students were divided into groups and were given one week to work on the cases of the diabetic patients provided by the teachers and were asked to present the posters afterwards. 

The final stage of the integration week is the Team-Based Learning (TBL) session, where students are required to work on an integrated assignment.

2026-08-01

TMA Faculty Development Department organized a working meeting with academic and invited faculty members.

The purpose of the meeting was to reflect on and share experiences gained during the first year of implementing the lecture-free curriculum and to discuss its achievements, challenges, and future opportunities.

During the meeting, faculty members had the opportunity to openly reflect on their own experiences, share successful practices, discuss existing challenges, and collaboratively explore ways to further improve the program. The exchange of experiences among colleagues facilitated the sharing of new ideas, effective teaching strategies, and practical solutions.

During the meeting, the Quality Assurance Office presented an analysis of the lecture-free curriculum based on student feedback and the results of focus groups conducted with course leaders.

The reflective meeting was attended by the head of programmes and the Dean, who actively participated in the discussions, listened to the experiences and perspectives of the academic staff, and provided valuable feedback.

The program directors emphasized that such meetings and reflective practice are essential for strengthening collaboration among faculty members, successfully implementing educational innovations, and continuously improving the quality of teaching.

2026-07-14

Tbilisi Medical Academy hosted The Research Day, an academic event dedicated to showcasing the institution's ongoing research activities, recent scientific achievements, and the outcomes of international collaborative projects.

The event aimed to promote research excellence, strengthen academic collaboration, and foster a vibrant research culture within the Academy. It provided academic staff with an opportunity to learn about one another's current research projects, exchange ideas, discuss future collaborations, and explore opportunities for developing joint research initiatives.

The Research Day program featured presentations on the following topics:

• The application of artificial intelligence in laboratory diagnostics
• Liposomal encapsulation and delivery of bacteriophages
• Cancer biomarker research
• Artificial intelligence-supported teaching in preclinical medical education
• Current Erasmus+ projects at Tbilisi Medical Academy

Through its research projects TMA encourages knowledge exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the continued advancement of its scientific and research capacity.

2026-07-14

We are delighted to announce that another cohort of TMA staff members has successfully completed the Essential Skills in Medical Education (ESME) certification program, offered by the International Association for Health Professions Education (AMEE).

After successfully completing four AMEE training courses, the following TMA representatives were awarded the internationally recognized Medical Educator status:

• Ia Avaliani - Vice Rector In International Affairs
• Kakha Bregvadze - Co-Head of the One-Step Educational Programme
• Bidzina Chachkhiani - Deputy Head of the Quality Assurance Office
• Ana Mamiseishvili -Coordinator of the Rector's Current Affairs
• Ina Leshkasheli - Study Process Management Coordinator

Tbilisi Medical Academy remains committed to supporting the continuous professional development of its academic and administrative staff in the field of medical education. The ESME (Essential Skills in Medical Education) programme, developed by AMEE, represents an important milestone in strengthening educational expertise and promoting excellence in teaching.

Participation in this internationally recognized programme also plays a significant role in advancing TMA's integration into the European Higher Education Area by aligning educational practices with internationally accepted standards.

The training courses were organized by the Georgian Regional Office of AMEE.

2026-05-05

Within the framework of this initiative, Associate Professor Maka Zarnadze, Head of the Faculty Development Department, and Dea Goderdzishvili, Medical Education and Research Specialist, represented Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA) in the peer group and collaborated with European universities. 

The report summarizes the results of intensive cooperation carried out by TMA over the course of one year. In particular, it highlights best practices in the teaching and learning model that TMA implements for staff development. The report aims to bring together universities from across Europe, create a platform for sharing experiences, and foster the development of joint visions to enhance the quality of education.

This cooperation is particularly valuable as it generates mutual benefits. On the one hand, the Academy actively participates in the European University Association's activities and shares its experience. On the other hand, it adopts the best international practices and further strengthens its integration into the European Higher Education Area.

The recommendations and practical framework developed as a result of this year-long collaboration contribute to strengthening transnational cooperation and supporting the effective implementation of staff professional development across European higher education institutions.

The thematic peer group includes the University of Huelva (Spain), the University of Côte d’Azur (France), the University of Warwick (United Kingdom), among others. The group was led by Linköping University (Sweden). The coordinator of the working group is Jonas Leschke, Head of Unit for Strategic Teaching Projects, Ruhr University Bochum (Germany).

2026-04-01

Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA) hosted a working visit by the Heads of the Curriculum Innovations in Medical Education Department (CIMED), Professors Joke Denekens and Herman Van Rossum (Antwerp, Belgium).

During the visit, the Belgian experts met with TMA’s administrative, academic, and invited personnel. Together, they reviewed key challenges in both basic and clinical courses education and discussed practical solutions. The experts emphasized the need to strengthen curriculum integration. They recommended improving horizontal integration by incorporating psychosocial and behavioral sciences into clinical reasoning sessions. They also highlighted the importance of vertical integration to ensure the continuous development of professional competencies from basic sciences through clinical training. In addition, participants discussed ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of clinical rotation overall.

The experts met with semester coordinators and shared international best practices for efficient academic process coordination.

They also attended clinical training seminars and provided professional feedback to clinicians.

In addition, Professors Denekens and Van Rossum delivered a training session for clinicians titled “Learning, Teaching and Assessment in Clinical Courses.” They also attended a workshop on Workplace-Based Assessment (WPBA) led by the program’s Clinical Co-Director, Kakha Bregvadze.

The sessions were held in an interactive format, encouraging active participation from clinicians. This approach enabled in-depth discussion of key challenges in clinical education and supported the exchange of effective teaching and assessment strategies.

2026-03-04

https://youtu.be/8nIm6THNy1U?si=dTwKnF6_hS-JCBFu

Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA) is proud to serve as a partner and host of the official Kick-Off Meeting (KoM) of the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange Project VITAL – Virtual Innovation and Training for Advancing Faculty Leaders, Digital Competencies, and Research Excellence.

VITAL aims to strengthen the professional development of early-career faculty in Georgia and Ukraine by focusing on 4 main objectives:

• Supporting career development through soft skills and academic leadership training;
• Improving digital competencies through innovative and AI-supported teaching methods;
• Strengthening research capacity through peer mentorship, methodology workshops, and co-authorship opportunities;
• Promoting European values through inclusive leadership and improved institutional policies.

The four-day meeting, held at TMA marked the official launch of this three-year project, lays the foundation for a coordinated start of the project, and supports its successful implementation.

VITAL is implemented by an international consortium bringing together partner universities from Spain (University of Santiago de Compostela), Italy (INFOR Elea Smart Business Academy), Ukraine (Institute of Food Biotechnology and Genomics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - IFBG, Ternopil National Medical University, Ukraine - TNMU), and Georgia (Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy - TMA, Business and Technology University - BTU).

Within the project, TMA participates as a partner organization, and its implementation and coordination on behalf of the Academy are facilitated by the Faculty Development Department and the Research and PhD Department, ensuring strong institutional engagement.

2026-02-23

Within frames of Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Programme, TMA hosted the Head of the Centre for Medical Education of Lodz Medical University (Poland), Prof. Janusz Janczukowicz alongside his colleagues, in order to share their expertise and knowledge with the students and staff of TMA.

Throughout the visit, the guests presented impressive insights in defining and teaching Medical Professionalism, innovative methods in immunology and trauma informed care/education. Alongside interactive lectures, workshops were implemented around the topics of leadership and doctor-patient communication. The visit also included productive meetings with the administrative and academic staff of TMA, where best practices and current experiences were shared around planning and implementing medical professionalism in the curricula. The parties also discussed potential areas of prospective cooperation and established grounds for joint activities.

Alongside these topics, part of the visit was directed to the one-health approach and topics of planetary health. 

It was an honor and pleasure to host the colleagues from Poland and TMA looks forward to further cooperation opportunities that will involve joint scientific, research and transdisciplinary activities.

2026-02-16

The annual forum of the European University Association (EUA) was hosted this year by Lisbon, Portugal. The main theme of the forum was to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in European universities through staff development.

Within the framework of the meeting, Tbilisi Medical Academy was represented by Associate Professor Maka Zarnadze, Head of the Faculty Development Department, and Ana Mamiseishvili, Coordinator of the Rector’s Current Affairs. Together with European partner universities, the Academy’s representatives presented to the forum participants the results of a one-year work of the European University Association’s thematic working group. In particular, they facilitated a workshop dedicated to transnational cooperation in the field of staff development.