Fuster is the Director of the Cardiology Unit at prestigious Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and the President of the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research in Madrid. He received an honorary degree from the UIC in 2010. Fuster gave the keynote address “The power of resilience, or the ability to adapt to changing situations”, which focused on the same three elements he had previously highlighted in the acceptance speech he made on receiving his honorary degree, “Behaviour, heart and mind”. Addressing the students, he said, “Be doctors with hearts as well as minds”.

On a general level, Fuster has a keen interest in promoting the diffusion of science in Spain, and expressly made the trip from New York to Barcelona to congratulate the first 65 students of Medicine to graduate from the UIC. The degree programme began in the 2008-2009 academic year, making the UIC the first private university in Catalonia to offer a Degree in Medicine.

The graduation ceremony was presided over by Boi Ruiz, the Catalan Minister of Health, who began by congratulating the students. Ruiz went on to remind them that, whatever they did, they would always be doctors. He said, “It is important to help people by exercising values such as solidarity and empathy”.   

Dr. Marta Elorduy, the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, also addressed a few words to the students. She went on to thank the students’ families for all their hard work and support.

The speeches were followed by the presentation of diplomas. The graduates then stood to read the Hippocratic Oath, accompanied by Dr. Miguel Ángel Carrasco, the lecturer they had chosen as their graduation sponsor. A video made by the students added an emotional touch to the solemn tone of the occasion.

Dr. Albert Balaguer, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, drew the ceremony to a close with a description of the inception and aims of the UIC’s Degree in Medicine. He said, “It will help train doctors who have an exceptionally high level of technical training as well as an awareness that the focus of their work is on their patients, people who need them”. Addressing the students, Dr. Balaguer said, “You will always have the privilege to serve”.   

The ceremony was attended by representatives from the various hospitals and medical centres that collaborate with the university: two university hospitals (the Althaia Hospital Network in Manresa and Hospital Asil de Granollers Foundation) and two associated hospitals (IDCSalud Hospital General de Catalunya and Quirón Hospital in Barcelona).

Patient-Centred Medicine

The curriculum of the UIC’s Degree in Medicine was designed within the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It is particularly geared toward student learning through the use of active educational methodologies such as small study groups, the case-study method, problem-based learning and intensive use of simulation laboratories. The programme also places strong emphasis on information and communication technologies.

The Degree in Medicine curriculum allows students to come into contact with patients within a few weeks of beginning the programme. Students are given the opportunity to gain early, firsthand experience of the health system as interns in the accredited healthcare institutions that collaborate with the university (see list above).

The ultimate goal of the Degree in Medicine is to ensure that students acquire a solid grounding in the basic sciences while they gradually acquire instrumental and transferable skills. Ethics in clinical decision making, clinical management and accompanying patients within the healthcare system are among the other key elements of this degree.