The official opening of the Calouste Gulbenkian Chair in the area of Palliative Care took place on 27 January at the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

The ceremony was presided by the Rector Magnificus of the University of Lisbon, Professor António Sampaio da Nóvoa, and was attended by the following persons: Dr. Fernando Leal da Costa, Assistant Secretary of State of the Minister of Health; Dr. Emílio Rui Vilar, President of the Board of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Professor Fernandes e Fernandes, Director of FMUL, Professor Correia da Cunha, President of the Board of the Northern Lisbon Hospital Centre; Professor Peter Lawlor, Visiting Professor of the University of Ottawa, and Professor António Barbosa,  Director of the Bioethics Centre of FMUL and the major driver of the initiative.

Established in May 2011 through a collaboration protocol Collaboration Protocol between FMUL and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation between FMUL and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation with the support of the Rector of the University of Lisbon, the Calouste Gulbenkian Chair aims to foster knowledge in the fields of the humanization and social dimension of medicine in a multidisciplinary and global perspective, by enhancing links with social sciences and culture.

Its primary objective is to strengthen the academic nature of medical intervention by promoting research, staff training, and the development of new areas of integration of knowledge and social intervention.

Within this framework, it was decided that the action programmes of the Calouste Gulbenkian Chair would last a minimum of three years and that their activity would be independently assessed. It was also established that this collaboration would focus in the area of Palliative Care in the first three years.
Editorial Team
news@fm.ul.pt