On Tuesday, 18 September 2012,
Marina Geli, the former Catalan Minister of Health who is currently a Member of
the Catalan Parliament, spoke about the importance and influence of nursing
professionals. Her address was part of the opening ceremony for the UIC
undergraduate degree in nursing. In her talk, “Now is the Time of Nursing
Professionals!", Geli spoke to fourth-year undergraduate nursing students
and reminded them that the nursing profession is a vocation and that nurses
work with sensitive material. She said, "You need humanism, science, technology
and, above all, humanism” to be a nurse.

Marina Geli, a
doctor of internal medicine, spoke to the students about her experience and
career as a doctor and congratulated them for choosing the nursing profession,
"especially in these times of crisis". The former Minister reminded
them that with the new undergraduate degree in nursing their training and
professionalism was now on par with other disciplines and that nursing was
essential to many areas of the health system, in particular paediatric medicine
and the care of patients with mental illnesses.

MP Geli called
for investments in health education and occupational health. "It's a
pending revolution", she said. She encouraged the students to commit
themselves to primary care and community health.

The ceremony,
presided over by Dr. Cristina Monforte, the Director of the UIC Department of
Nursing, was attended by UIC Rector Pere Alavedra and took place at the UIC
Sant Cugat Campus.