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Nicholas Hutchings, nicholas.hutchings@uci.edu
The authors gratefully acknowledge Drs Gregory Gerasimov, Lusine Kalantaryan and Suren Amiryan; teachers and clinicians throughout Armenia who served as site coordinators; the staff of the MD/MS joint degree programme of Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons; and the study participants. Financial support: This study was made possible with support from the MD/MS in Biomedical Sciences (Global & Population Health Focus) of the Columbia University Center for Global and Population Health, and from Boston Medical Center and Iodine Global Network, with additional support from the Fulbright US Student Program, the John & Hasmik Foundation, and the Anna and Hirair Hovnanian Foundation, and with the collaboration of the Ministries of Health, of Education and Science, and of Territorial Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. The funding agencies had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article. Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Authorship: N.H. designed the study, led the research team, conducted analysis of data and drafted the manuscript; E.A. provided local academic and logistical support; S.B., M.Q. and C.S. were members of the research team who conducted the study; X.H. and L.B. conducted laboratory analyses of the samples; F.v.d.H. provided guidance in study design and assisted with data analysis and drafting the manuscript; J.P.B. provided academic oversight, assisted with design of the study, analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. Ethics of human subject participation: This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects were approved by the Human Research Protection Office of Columbia University and the Ethics Committee of Yerevan State Medical University. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Verbal consent was witnessed and formally recorded.
© The Authors 2018