The creation of a Católica Medical School has been a project of Universidade Católica Portuguesa for more than 20 years, but only now have the right conditions come together for its creation. Our Medical School begins its journey at a unique moment in our civilization: a pandemic on a global scale that has imposed so many changes, difficulties, questions, and doubts that compel us to rethink two fundamental areas for humans: education and health care.
In this context, we adopted three strategic lines to train healthcare professionals of excellence, with a high ethical sense and social responsibility, capable of contributing to the continuous improvement of health care, and inspired by the mission of working for the common good, in a firm commitment to the patients:
The use of student-centered teaching methods to ensure the transmission of knowledge and of the most advanced medical and scientific techniques, placing students at the center of their learning and empowering them with the autonomy to make decisions about their academic and professional paths;
Training in clinical skills from the first year of the medical degree and the organization of semi-professional clinical internships, with the integration of students as full members of medical teams;
The inclusion of research, both laboratory and clinical, in the curriculum of the medical degree, thus stimulates education in the scientific method and facilitates the training of clinician-scientists.
The excellence of teaching that we offer is guaranteed by four fundamental pillars:
Our inclusion in the universe of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, an institution with significant experience in the health sciences and well known at the national and international levels for excellence in teaching and research, which we will perpetuate here.
The partnership with the University of Maastricht, one of the leading Universities in Europe occupies a top position among the best Young Universities and whose Medical curriculum, which will be adapted and implemented in our Medical School, has proven excellence.
The partnership with Grupo Luz Saúde, one of the largest private health groups in Portugal. The clinical excellence practiced in its hospitals, recognized through the accreditation of Hospital da Luz Lisboa by the Joint Commission International (JCI), guarantees the quality of clinical teaching. Hospital da Luz Lisboa has all the variety of medical and surgical specialties, equipment, laboratories, and clinical research required of a university hospital. In addition, it has a strong tradition in teaching - Hospital da Luz Learning Health - with the experience and notoriety acquired in Training, Research, and Innovation.
The faculty is made up of educators recognized and distinguished for their medical practice, as teachers or in research.
It is with great enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility that we dedicate ourselves to the creation of this Medical School, certain of its enormous value for those with a vocation to practice medicine as well as to contribute to the excellence of the teaching of Medicine in Portugal.
Mission
Católica Medical School’s mission is to train physicians and outstanding health professionals.
For the accomplishment of this mission, and through the creation of a culture that integrates basic, translational, and clinical research with primary and specialized health care, Católica Medical School is committed to offering:
- Inspiring curriculum programs that will train clinicians who will combine in-depth scientific knowledge with highly developed clinical and communication skills;
- The ability to self-learn throughout life, to train outstanding professionals and support staff, as well as compassionate communicators endowed with a deep sense of social responsibility;
- The strong increase in a multidisciplinary collaboration will allow professionals to adapt to the challenges of technological and social developments, as partners in health systems;
- Significant collaborative research that will allow advances in the practice of medicine and health;
- Service to the community in the spirit of Christian ethics, ensuring respect for the intellectual freedom, needs, dignity, suffering, and hopes of each individual.
Vision
Given its Christian foundations and its humanist and care-centered vocation, Universidade Católica Portuguesa is committed to developing inspiring and innovative medical education closely associated with research, in order to train health professionals with the skills to generate knowledge, with a deep ethical sense and social responsibility, who will contribute to the continuous improvement of health care and the advancement of the well-being of populations.
General Objectives
The general objectives of the Integrated Master in Medicine, leading to a degree in Basic Medical Sciences, inseparable from those leading to the degree of Master’s in Medicine, are the following:
- To enable the acquisition of the core skills necessary for the practice of Medicine, through a student-centered model of teaching-learning;
- To prepare for the application of appropriate knowledge in the analysis and solution of clinical problems, structured through the use of Problem-based Learning – PBL teaching methods;
- To develop skills and the ability to collect, select and interpret relevant information for the professional practice of medicine;
- To foster a critical spirit and attitude regarding knowledge (competence in knowledge management) and promote scientific research in the field of health sciences, adopting the integrated medical approach and the principles of evidence-based medicine;
- To enable the acquisition and development of independent learning skills that allow the development of lifelong learning strategies, stimulated by the use of PBL methods;
- To promote intervention as agents of change in the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and participation in the well-being of communities and populations;
- To promote leadership in the area of health policy.
These general objectives served as the basis for the definition of the pedagogical plan of the study cycle, which was developed in partnership with one of the best references in medical education at the international level, the Maastricht University.