After a first term of three years as Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Professor Fausto J. Pinto was re-elected, this time for another four years.

An unequivocal vote by the School Council unanimously approved the Director, who presented his candidacy program on June 26, at a public hearing in the João Lobo Antunes Grand Auditorium at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

Teaching and Medical Education, Internationalisation and External Relations of the Faculty, Promotion and Innovation of Science, and Organisation and Administrative Modernisation are the four main pillars for his new mandate, which reinforces continuity, despite a constant pursuit of innovation.

In an information session organised for the Faculty students and staff, in the week before the public hearing, the Director not only presented the projects for the 2018-2022 term but also answered questions from those present. The hiring and redistribution of staff and their roles, a clinical educational reform, the evaluative culture of the professors and their affiliates, the importance of a student support office and the role of the mentor, replacing Harrison with another type of final exam, or the health education project, were some of the questions posed to the Director, showing the main concerns of students and employees of the institution.

In his usual reference to the CAML, Fausto J. Pinto also spoke of the intention to appoint more Group Leaders of the iMM to teach at the Faculty, also stating that September will be the month that marks the inauguration of the new Reynaldo dos Santos building, which will receive, among others, the new Nutritional Sciences degree program.



Right now, it's certain that Fausto J. Pinto is the Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and will be for four more years. The formalisation of this re-election will happen soon, with an official inauguration, on a date to be announced.

In his first reaction to his re-election, Fausto J. Pinto showed that he was honoured to have received a unanimous vote and shared his joy with the News team. "For me it was an honour to have received the unanimous support of the members of the School Council to implement a Program that I think meets the current needs of a modern institution of higher education and research, like the FMUL is intended to be.

It's also a clear sign of the stability and union that currently prevails in our Faculty. My candidacy for a second term as FMUL Director was part of a logic of continuity of work carried out over the last three years, with the objective of implementing and consolidating the various initiatives that were being developed, as well as launching new ones, as required by the dynamic of a structure such as the FMUL, to place it on an even more competitive platform at the national and international level. In this context, we identified various objectives that are embodied in several projects, some of which are already underway, and that are intended to be aligned with the objectives set out for the University of Lisbon, with the necessary adjustments to the specific needs of the Faculty of Medicine.

We are a School that honours its past and that, right now, is focussed on fulfilling its mission and on successfully achieving its objectives, in order to build the future and pursue its vision of reaching a top spot as a benchmark medical education and biomedical research institution, in the national and international context."

Joana Sousa

Editorial Team