[su_quote cite="Dr. Paul Janssen"]"There is no time to lose. We have to be unrelenting. Patients are waiting for answers that will transform their lives".[/su_quote]

The 1st anniversary of the Dr Paul Janssen Virtual Education Rooms was celebrated on 6 June.

The Dr Paul Janssen Rooms are an innovative initiative in the field of medical and scientific education in Portugal and resulted from a 5-year partnership between Janssen Portugal, a pharmaceutical company of the Johnson & Johnson group and the Faculties of Medicine of the Universities of Lisbon, Coimbra, Porto and the Azores.



The commemorative talk took place simultaneously in the 4 Rooms with the live participation of the Directors of the Faculties of Medicine mentioned above and in the presence of several guests, such as the Secretary of State for Health, Dr Manuel Delgado, and the President of the Board of Directors of the Northern Lisbon Hospital Centre EP, Dr Carlos Martins. It was equally attended by the former General Director and now Vice President of Medical Affairs of Janssen EMEA, Dr José António Burón, and by Professors Isabel Pavão, José Melo Cristino and António Vaz Carneiro from the FMUL.

This commemoration began with an introduction by the General Director of Janssen Portugal, Eng. Filipa Mota e Costa, who analysed this first year of the partnership.

These rooms, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, were used by 500 participants during 300 hours of network communication.

According to Professor Fausto Pinto, Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, this scientific network constitutes a system that takes us to an "almost virtual reality". These telepresence rooms allow "bringing the national medical academy closer to the international scientific community" whose leading programmes allow an international connection between institutions that will contribute to the reinforcement of e-learning in medical education. The director of the FMUL also highlighted the innovation of the direct transmission of surgeries carried out in an operating room as an advantage of using these rooms.

The Dr Paul Janssen rooms have enormously facilitated communication and collaboration between specialists from around the world, enabling saving time and money in traveling, which makes clear the need for more rooms of this type.

In the words of Professor Duarte Nuno Vieira, Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, the Virtual Education Rooms are a valuable instrument to promote the teaching of Medicine in Portugal and of Portuguese Medicine in the World, noting the great importance of this method regarding the collaboration with Universities in Portuguese Speaking Countries - namely with the University of Cape Verde, following the integration of the Medical Degree in the training offer of that institution in partnership with the University of Coimbra.

It was also possible for the Faculty of Medicine of Coimbra to strengthen the collaboration  with the Medical-Legal Council of Coimbra as if they were all facing each other at the same table. Professor Duarte Nuno Vieira also challenged Janssen to consider "having these rooms in the regional sections of the Medical Council".

In the opinion of the Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Professor Maria Amélia Ferreira, the rooms represent an optimization of resources that will serve the common goal of expanding knowledge networks. It will add value to the implementation “of the first master degree in academic and clinical education with the University of Cape Verde".

From the University of the Azores, through Professor Patrícia Ventura Garcia, we have learned that the Paul Janssen Rooms were used in a total of 100 hours of communication and knowledge sharing.

“The promotion of scientific knowledge in medicine through an international network of researchers and academics that contributes to the sharing of good practices will have a very important impact on the care provided", said the Secretary of State for Health as he evaluated this partnership.



















Cristina Bastos

Equipa Editorial

news@medicina.ulisboa.pt