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Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma is a for-profit college situated in Trigoria, founded in 1993 and promoted by the Beatus Alvaro del Portillo, according to the principles of the Catholic prelature of the Opus Dei.

THE SITE OF CAMPUS BIO-MEDICO: TRIGORIA The name comes from the Latin “tres gores” (three rivers) or, maybe, from an ancient sacred location derived from the Greek “tricore” (three-body buildings) or from the Greek Τρι-οδια (Trivium). The General Hospital at the University are located in the North-West part of Trigoria on fields partly sold and partly given by Alberto Sordi, at the borders of the Riserva naturale di Decima-Malafede. In Rome there was not the necessary space to realize such a project, therefore Trigoria was considered the perfect solution for the upcoming innovations and the birth of the urban fabric. However, many doctors had troubles reaching Trigoria considering its decentralized position.

THE PROJECT Alvaro del Portillo, a well-known character of the Opus Dei, thought that Italy lacked of a place where the sick were assisted in a concrete way. The idea came from the founder of the Opus Dei, Josemaria Escriva who was inspired by the clinic belonging to the University of Navarra. Being in contact with the clinic of Pamplona and the University of Navarra, the idea of sending medical students to improve their skills and approach towards healthcare was developed. Many members were added to the initial equipe, each of them loyal to the prelature and with a different task. Later on, medical doctors arrived from Navarra to strengthen the Spanish method in Italy. The surgeon and professor of clinical pathology Raffaello Cortesini, wanted to underline the connection between sanitary aid and scientific research. He also promoted the name of Campus Bio-Medico Romano in 1989. On December 19th 1990, sixteen members signed the deed of incorporation of Campus Bio-Medico association. The goal was to promote research in the biological and medical fields by creating research centers, making human dignity and the right to life and health always a priority. “At the end we will have to found a university”. This were the words pronounced by Luigi Altomare who, collaborating with Paolo Arullani, presented the application to establish a university with degree courses in nursing and medicine and surgery. The new association rented a wing of Lancillotti Palace, a place designated to teaching for the formation of the university step by step. Throughout Italy, a sort of propaganda began in favor of the new university and the best professors started to be recruited. The initial project was to create a University Hospital with 400 beds. However Alvaro del Portillo was not in favor, because he thought that the best way was to proceed with caution. Palazzo Lancillotti, relevant for its artistic architecture, was not suitable as a space for teaching, but the problem was solved with the initiative to use the Rome American Hospital as an educational area. After the admission tests, when the lessons started for the first time, 40 students were in the Medicine and Surgery course, while 25 in the Nursing one.

ALBERTO SORDI In 1989 the negotiation between the Sordi brothers and the managers of Campus Bio-Medico association was born for the purchase of the land that would be used for the new project.

Giuseppe Sordi, Alberto's brother, died in 1990. At this point Alberto decided to donate part of this land to the Campus, precisely eight hectares, giving life to a foundation: the Alberto Sordi Foundation. The latter was officially born on February 4, 1992 in Palazzo Lancillotti with the aim of protecting the care of the elderly and establishing the nursing school of which Alberto Sordi was the honorary president. Then there was a steering committee of which Calabrò, the current rector of the University, was a member. In October 1998, under the gaze of the mayor of the city, the first stone was laid for the construction of the Center for the Health of the Elderly. In fact, he said “Those who suffer a lot are a weak and defenseless category like the elderly [...], there are older people than children”.

In June 2000 the real inauguration of the structure occurred thanks to Ruggero Gozzani who became the director of the Umberto Sordi foundation.

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In 2002 the Alberto Sordi foundation was named Alberto Sordi Onlus Association, of which the president was Antonio Polacco. This change guaranteed greater autonomy.

With the death of Alberto Sordi, to keep the actor's memory alive on one hand, his sister Aurelia supervises the activity started by his brother, making sure that the same spirit is maintained and on the other, every June 15th, Alberto's birth date, a charity evening is organized.

VOLUNTEERING A key idea of the campus is combining the scientific knowledge to the practice, by putting at the centre the human being. For this reason, since the foundation of the campus, there have been different voluntary initiatives and plans to provide assistance   for needy people. We can mention the episode happened in Umbria. On September 1997, there was a terrible earthquake that led to 10 death and to a lot of disorders. 8 students of the campus( 5 nursing students and 3 medicine and surgery students)left to take part into an aid initiative for Nocera UmBra. They spend 5 days with the earthquake victims. In 2001, there were different courses focused on the topic of the voluntary activity and on the story of different doctors e nurses who gave important contribution to the voluntary field. Then, it was possible to pass from words to deeds thanks to the the initiative of the work camps that involved not only medical and nursing student, but also engineering students. In this way in some areas of Madagascar, Tanzania and Peru ,it was possibile to offer free drugs and medical examinations. Another noteworthy project is the ‘Afia together’ that aims to the creation of a research community for the healt in Africa.in the Swahili language ‘afia’ is the most common name to indicate the good health, but it means also strength and power. ‘Afia together’ represents at the same time a name and a program: the good health that arises from the joining of the forces.

THE BIRTH OF A NEW UNIVERSITY October 4 of 1993 was the first day of class in Via Longoni, a few days later, October 15 at Palazzo Lancillotti the beginning of the academic year of the Free University Institute Campus Bio-Medico was celebrated, following the ceremony the current Beatus Alvaro del Portillo celebrated a mass at the basilica of Sant'Apolinnare in Rome. The news of the beginning of the academic year was also reported in the famous newspaper Corriere Della Sera. The opening of the new Roman university attracted the attention of many mainly for the mission and the cultural project that is aimed to implement: making the relationship between teachers and students interact in such a way that each student can feel free to express himself at his best, devote ample space to practical activity to make the student feel fully involved. To make this idea concrete, the Scientific Committee turned to numerous experts in the pedagogical field and student training, including Paola Binetti and Daniele Santini. The choice of teachers was also very studied, were selected personalities who supported the mission of the structure and who stood out for their commitment and competence in such a way that they could be masters of life as well as of knowledge. Among the first teachers are the surgeon Augusto Arullani and the orthopedist Vincenzo Denaro and many others from numerous European universities and La Sapienza in Rome. The first teachers were involved on one hand in teaching, on the other in organizing the programs to be followed for specific degree courses. Another novelty, typical of this university was the creation of numerous "integrated courses", still present nowadays, in which teachers from different disciplines collaborated to provide an even more complete training rich in practical and theoretical elements. Gastroenterology Aldo Torsoli is remembered for the great passion he put into the implementation of this project and for the real and concrete relationship he had directly with the students he treated as "equal" as his teaching colleagues. Many student initiatives were organized throughout Italy to promote the new university and its mission despite the limited places for the first year: 40 students for Medicine and Surgery and 25 for Nursing Sciences. Elena Taglieri, today an orthopedic surgeon at the Jewish hospital in Rome, received the serial number "001". Another element, very present today, was that of combining scientific subjects with a very rich program of humanities to provide students with broad knowledge even in the philosophical, ethical, psychological, and religious fields, despite the formation of the university, he wants to remain civil and not ecclesiastical.

RESEARCH It was clear that the prefix Bio, in the name of the newborn University, was used to indicate the desire to make this new structure an important research centre, in fact in the following years, the research field would become the backbone of the university. With the establishment of the First Scientific Committee, whose members came from numerous rather prestigious universities in Italy and of the world, the research officially began. On January 28 1995, the first research laboratory "Laboratorio Margherita Lama Caputo" was inaugurated, where the first projects concerning the development of the nervous system and neuro tonic growth factors in newborns and adults were held. Already from the first year, the laboratory became a reference centre for other research sites of other universities until it was among the winners of the "Biomed-2" project in which the Campus Bio-Medico participated with a project focused on the relationship between serotonin and autism thus obtaining the first European funds for research. In September 1944, the first scientific research work was published in Rome in the "Proceedings of the VII National Congress of Medical Informatics", signed by Angelo Serio, Michele Crudele and Daniele Tartaglini. This was followed by other publications, signed by both professors and young researchers. Another milestone, in the field of research, was reached with the inauguration of the Anatomy Laboratory for the study of organ microcirculation, directed by Professor Giulio Marinozzi: in this laboratory, many students had the opportunity to practice thanks to the hours of training that they were part of their curricula. In January 1996 there was the first research competition of the Free University Institute Campus Bio-Medico in which a place was announced for research in the field of Human Anatomy which was won by Sergio Morini, collaborator of Giulio Marinozzi, then full professor. In the same 1996, the research began to expand more and more, other laboratories were opened such as that of hemodynamics directed by Germano Di Sciascio, and the university began to host numerous seminars and meetings that had the theme of scientific progress at the centre. At the same time, alongside the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery and Nursing Sciences, the Degree Course in Engineering was being born, which will give a big boost to research activities, also leading to the birth of the Interdisciplinary Research Center (CIR) in 2000.

THE GENERAL HOSPITAL “The General Hospital of the 21st century is born!”. These are the words said by many Italian newspapers to spread the news of the birth of the third general hospital in Rome after La Sapienza and La Cattolica. Organizing a hospital was not easy, since it was necessary to move from a temporary structure to a definitive one. The new general hospital was supposed to have two closely related entities: the outpatient activity for visits and day hospital, and the hospital wards. What was about to be born was not a private clinic but a hospital which, having an agreement with the region of Lazio, would be open to everyone. Despite the agreement was signed on December 5, 1994, it was still not possible to establish a starting date for the hospital activity due to bureaucratic difficulties. This problem logically prevented medical and nursing students from starting the internships for example. Therefore, it was decided to appoint the hospital management. Antonio Polacco was appointed as the director of the general hospital and on October 20, 1994, during the inauguration ceremony at Palazzo Lancillotti, the typical Anglo-Saxon experimental model was presented, divided into an inductive and a deductive phase of verification and diagnosis. Then, on that very same day, the structure was inaugurated in via Longoni 83 and on December 19, the first patients were admitted to the rented building of the Rome American Hospital, with 15 initial beds.

The first operational areas were three: medicine, general surgery and orthopedics, but everything ha to be built, not only the wards of the hospital, but also it was necessary to follow the protocols for medicines and supplies. One of the first episodes regarding the general hospital was told by Antonio Picardi: one of the first days a patient was hospitalized and needed gamma globulins not available in pharmacies. Thanks to the help of pharmacists and, after various bureaucratic procedures, it was possible to obtain authorizations for various drugs. In general, finding patients was not easy at first due to the location of the hospital and the recent inauguration. At the beginning, in fact, it was doctors, nurses and drivers who accompanied the patients, who were pleasantly surprised by the care received. Another element that distinguished the new hospital, as Antonio Picardi tells us, was the consideration for the patient's family. Both in the ward and in the outpatient clinic, the visits were made in the presence of the closest relatives, considered essential for the reconstruction of the patient's clinical history. The Campus put the patient at the center, the motto was take care to cure and it was respected not only by the health personnel, but also by the administrative staff. The first surgical operation was performed on December 22, 1994: a cervical disc herniation. Obviously there was a competition to grab the primacy of the first operation, but in the end Vincenzo Denaro from the orthopedics area was chosen. Interesting is that the Prelature of Opus Dei assured all patients who wished to gather in prayer and attend Mass. A small chapel was created in via Longoni and at eight each morning, the chaplain celebrated Mass for students, teachers and the staff of the University. Ever since the opening of the hospital, an important figure was Mons. Echevarria, who had replaced Alvaro del Portillo to lead the Prelate after his death. His visits to patients, full of passion, were a source of hope for the sick, their families and health professionals. His affection was reciprocated when he was admitted to the hospital in December 2016 for the disease that would have led to his death on 12 December.

A NEW DEGREE COURSE Thanks to Vincenzo Lorenzelli, appointed as new Rector in 1998, at Campus Bio-Medico was created the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Professor Lorenzelli, pioneer of the new faculty, was joined in his project by Marcella Trombetta, who collaborated in the creation of other degree courses that could fit the field of Medicine. On September 1, 1999, the first admission exams were held and 42 students were admitted. The lessons began in a rented building at the intersection of via Prenestina and via Longoni. Domenico Formica, one of the first students, described the entrance tests saying that they were the same but the subjects were weighted differently depending on the faculty. For those who wanted to attend engineering, mathematics and physics had a greater weight, while for those who strived to become doctors biology was the most important subject. The engineering lessons, at least for the first period, took place in a building that housed a warehouse of appliances. Despite the difficult beginning, the Faculty of Engineering had important developments such as the collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa and the arrival of promising researchers such as Eugenio Guglielmelli and Loredana Zollo.