10 years of Medicine at UAlg

The Integrated Master's Degree in Medicine at the University of Algarve in the 2018/2019 academic year celebrated its 10th edition, having promoted a series of initiatives commemorating the 10 years of the course at UAlg.

The UAlg medical course took its first steps in 1998, but it was only in July 2008 that the course was announced publicly by the Prime Minister while on a visit to UAlg, accompanied by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Minister of Health.

During this visit, the Medicine course was described by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Dr José Mariano Gago as “innovative in our country in terms of the way it is taught” not only because of the selection process that screens students already in the 1st cycle of university studies, but also because it is based on an experimental teaching model based on clinical case studies.

The curricular structure of the course promotes contact with clinical practice right from the beginning of the course and favours proximity, direct and human contact with the patient.

“At UAlg we want to train men and women with a high degree of humanism in their professional relationship with patients, always acting with empathy and compassion.”

(Doctor José Ponte, Founder and Former Director of Medicine at UAlg, Emeritus Professor at UAlg)

The course syllabus provides students and future physicians with privileged and unique contact in the country with basic and clinical research. The Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, through the Algarve Biomedical Center Research Institute (ABC-RI) provides students with participation in research projects at national and international level, as well as collaboration with internal and external specialist professors.

The course’s curriculum provides students and future doctors with a unique opportunity in the country to come into privileged contact with basic and clinical research. The Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, through the Biomedical Research Centre ( CBMR ) provides students with opportunities to participate in research projects both nationally and internationally, as well as collaborate with specialist professors, both internal and external.

Since the 1st edition, in 2009/2010, UAlg has trained 200 students in medicine, contributing to a progressive increase in doctors practicing their specialty in the Algarve region, 43 out of a total of 121 doctors have trained and are already in training in the specialty.

Of the 43 doctors trained and placed in the Algarve, 49% opted to specialise in General and Family Medicine and 51% in other specialties such as Internal Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Oncology, Psychiatry, Public Health, Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Pulmonology, Radiology and Urology.

Despite students trained at UAlg favoring the Algarve region, they are distributed throughout the country, including the autonomous regions and also abroad.

These figures have had a very positive impact on Algarve society, thus fulfilling the mission of the course and the University of Algarve.

After 10 years of existence, the milestone will be celebrated with multiple events/activities throughout the school year, in different parts of the Algarve region.

We want to provide spaces for debate, reflection, sharing of professional and academic experiences. It will be an opportunity to remember the past, reflect on the present and envision the future of Medicine in the Algarve.