My current mandate as the Dean of the FMUL will soon be over, after the election of the President of the Faculty Assembly, a process that is a part of the context of renewal of the University, marked out by the approving of the new Statutes of the UL and by the election of its chancellor. Also taking place at the FMUL were the drawing up and approval of its new Statutes and the elections to its governing bodies, namely the Faculty Assembly and its Scientific and Pedagogical Councils.

This succession of events demands a new electoral process for the position of the Dean, for which I have both the duty and responsibility to stand as a candidate, in order to guarantee the continuity of the reforms taking place.

This period coincides with the preparation of the fifth issue of our Newsletter, an initiative that we are encouraging and which, I hope, may become a vehicle for broader and modern information about the life of our Medical School and of our partner in the forming of the Lisbon Academic Medicine Centre (CAML).

A short reflection was thus necessary in relation to the aims of the mandate that is now ending and which I deem it indispensible to continue.
Firstly, I wish to stress the importance we have granted to the need for modernization of the undergraduate curriculum in Medicine, aiming at bringing it up to date and closer to the teaching models practiced in European institutions of note. In 2006 we requested an external evaluation that pronounced upon and issued recommendations that preceded the Curricular Reform begun in 2007. Three years later, this committee returned in order to re-evaluate the process and the path travelled. In this issue the President of that committee, Prof. Fernando Lopes da Silva, is publishing a text which reflects the committee’s position and is deserving of close analysis.
For me and for my colleagues on the Direction and Councils who have worked towards the success of this programme, the report is gratifying, as it confirms the correctness of the decision to change, reinforces our aims to improve the efficiency of clinical teaching and indicates limitations that it is urgent to overcome.

That would be an aim with which it is important to continue, and for which it is necessary to mobilise our Medical School and all those of us who work and study in it.
It is fundamental to promote a modern view of medical education, within an integrated perspective between undergraduate and post-graduate training and continued medical education, to develop research and the incorporation of innovation in all of our activities, and to guarantee programmes of Advanced Training – Masters and PhDs – in order to qualify the post-graduate Professional training of doctors and of all the other health professionals.

Another activity to which we have deeply committed ourselves was the Structuring of the Lisbon Academic Medicine Centre (CAML).
This corresponds to an innovative concept of organisation that was initiated in Holland in the nineties and which has progressively been implemented in Europe, and which in our particular case aims at associating, within one common structure, the FMUL, the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) and the Santa Maria Hospital (HSM), a component of the North Lisbon Hospital Centre (CHLN).
On the 8th of December 2008, in the presence of the Ministers of Health and of Science, Technology and Higher Education, we signed the Action and Understanding Protocol between the FMUL, the IMM and the HSM for the officialising of the Lisbon Academic Medicine Centre, and in this sense we will continue to work together in order to finalise the juridical model for its organisation.

Its implementation is indispensible for the renewal of Academic Medicine, it will allow a better use of the common resources these institutions possess, facilitated by their geographical integration on the academic campus and it will contribute towards the development of clinical research in biomedicine, towards the qualification of clinical medicine and improvement of their capacity to intervene to serve the community. The recent decision by two of the best medical schools in London, Imperial College and University College, to implement this organisational model, which they term “Academic Health Sciences Centre”, reinforces our decision to press ahead on the path drawn out.

We also attempted to broaden the Network of Institutions Affiliated for Teaching, thus continuing a policy we consider fundamental to the efficiency of clinical teaching, in order guarantee its diversity and an adequate teacher/student relationship.
This co-substantiates the concept I designated as Partnership for Clinical Teaching, which should be recognised and supported by the Ministries of Health and of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
This experience has been a success, acknowledged by all the partners, and to consolidate it I have proposed the participation of a representative from these institutions on the Direction of the FMUL, which has been included in the new Statutes of the Faculty.

Cooperation with the Students and their Representatives and the reinforcing of dialogue with the faculty students, whether individually or through their elected representatives has been a permanent aim of my term of office. I have sought to arouse their active involvement and participation towards a commitment to high demand and commitment by everyone, aiming at improvement in the quality of teaching, the reinforcement of support for the students through the stimulating of ongoing initiatives, such as the Tutorial Programme for new students, the action of the Student Support Office (GAPAE) and the improving of the conditions for study and research made available to the FMUL students.
In order to guarantee greater representativity of the students in the Faculty decision-making process, I proposed, and this was included in the new Statutes, the participation of the President of the Academic Association on the new organ for the management of the school designated as Direction, and I sought to stimulate initiatives in order to guarantee greater student integration into professional life and in the improving of the conditions of access to post-graduate training, which is indispensable to their human and professional preparation.

Finally, I would like to mention the importance of the Restructuring of the Institute of Advanced Training (IFA), the role of which has been decisive in the success of the qualified range of advanced training actions, namely in post-graduation and Masters courses, which have involved about 1,900 trainees over the last two two-year periods.
This is a priority area for the development of the Faculty.
The IFA provided the administrative management of the Advanced Training programmes, and has stimulated new initiatives, co-substantiating the FMUL’s commitment and responsibility in post-graduate medical education and in the continued education of doctors and other health professionals.
A new challenge is looming: the success of the FMUL PhD Programme, to be developed with the IMM and the HSM, and which will have the project of a PhD in Clinical Medicine during the internship period as its main aim.
It is a CAML challenge and Project that we will be able to achieve for the qualification of medicine and the success of our interns’ training.
The programme was approved today in the Scientific Council, and in the Newsletter there is a detailed reference and an appeal: for young interns not to remain indifferent and to apply.
The FMUL will be able to honour its commitments and to help them, providing them with opportunities for scientific and professional training that will certainly be very useful and fundamental for their professional success.

Lisbon, April 8th 2009
José Fernandes e Fernandes