User:Vrpka/Faculty of Medicine, University of Osijek

Faculty of Medicine, University of Osijek (Croatian:Medicinski fakultet Osijek) is the only medical faculty at University of Osijek. It is dedicated to education and research in the fields of biomedicine, clinical medicine and public health.

Activity
Faculty of Medicine in Osijek educates future physicians and other medical experts, educators and scientists, executes and incourages lifelong learning and implementation of evidence-based medicine; research and experimental growth in scientific areas of natural science, biomedicine, clinical medicine and health care. It also publishes materials for education and scientific and expert work and provides tools necessary for the work of the Faculty, also available to the public (DNA laboratory, forensic genetics, cytogenetics, molecular diagnostics, densitometry etc.).

Programs of Study
Faculty of Medicine Osijek offers following programs of study:


 * Integrated undergraduate and graduate university study of Medicine (12 semesters)


 * University undergraduate study of Medical laboratory diagnostics (6 semesters)
 * University graduate study of Medical laboratory diagnostics (4 semesters)

Faculty also has a Postgraduate doctoral study of biomedicine and health and a number of postgraduate specialist studies (Clinical epidemiology, Ultrasound in cardiology, Anesthesiology, reanimathology and intensive care medicine, Basic internal medicine, Ophthalmology and optometry, Psychiatry and Neurology).

Funding for initation of a new program of study - an integrated undergraduate and graduate university study of Medicine in german language..

Teaching
Faculty of Medicine in Osijek has undergraduate and postgraduate programs of study along with specialist study programs. Classes at Osijek Faculty of Medicine are a bit different in comparisson to most other faculties at University of Osijek, but also when compared to other medical schools in Croatia:


 * Undergraduate program of study is organized by courses in a way that students listen one course after another. Students are that way enabled to dedicate themselves fully to one subject at a time. There is an exception when it comes to subjects which have intertwined topics. They are coordinated in their executin plan and form modules (for instance, Pathophysiology and General pathology).
 * Educational load for students on a weekly basis is therefore over the top limit usually allowed on other faculties of the University.
 * Except the usual period for exams in autumn, winter and summer term, there is also a possibility to take exams right after finishing a course.
 * Medicinski_fakultet_Osijek_-_KBC_Osijek.jpging forms are lectures, seminars and laboratory and clinical practice. Students' work is being continuously  monitored and evaluated through the duration of the course and through a final exam for each course. The exam usually has written, oral and practical exam, which ensures evaluation of the acquired knowledge and competences in more independent levels.
 * Seminar groups are smaller than those on other faculties, which is a result of keeping the enrolment quota quite small. That is an important factor contributing to teaching quality, for the student /teacher ratio is at an optimal level..
 * Teaching at Faculty of Medicine is annual, not by terms like at most of the other faculties (students do not enrol one term after another, but the whole year at once).

When it comes to the content, teaching at Faculty of Medicine in Osijek can roughly be divided to preclinical and clinical education. Preclinical education entails acquirement of basic biomedical knowledge from the scope of molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, histology, anatomy, physiology etc. Clinical education encompasses knowledge in specialist and subspecialist clinical disciplines (for instance, internal medicine, infectology, surgery, pediatrics etc.). Major difference in organization of preclinical and clinical courses are the exercises. Preclinical courses are mostly exercised through laboratory and section training, and clinical part is conducted at the clinics through practical work and also in laboratories for medical diagnostics.

Science
Faculty of Medicine in Osijek defined primary fields of interest in research and a few interdisciplinary groups of researchers were formed, linking basic and clinical research, and the fields are:


 * Cardiovascular disease s and vascular physiology, chronic neurodegenerative and degenerative disease
 * Immunology and autoimmune diseases, chronic metabolic diseases
 * Women's health protection
 * medical genetics and DNA profiling, pharmacogenomics
 * advanced molecular dignostics, research on animal models and transgenic model's development

Part of the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek is the Scientific Centre of Excellence for Personalized Health Care. That is the only scientific centre of excellence in Croatia outside of the capitol - Zagreb. Faculty has been a member of the international scientific consortium RECOOP-HST (Regional Cooperation in Health, Science and Technology). Faculty has an up-to-date equiped vivarium, laboratory animal facilities and modern specialised research laboratories. Faculty also issues a medical journal SEEMEDJ: Southeastern Medical Journal, an open access international, peer reviewed, scientific and professional journal that present of original basic and applied research from all fields of medicine.

In ther period from 2011 to 2018 scientists from the Faculty managed 25 research projects, three Ministry of Science and Education (Croatia), 66 projects funded by the same Ministry, seven University projects, two University projects for cooperation with foreign scientists, and three research projects on the University. Seven research projects were funded through Croatian science foundation. Scientists from the Faculty were a part of three bilateral international projects and 30 international research projects (Visegrád Groupi, RECOOP-HST projects), seven IPA HUHR projects, two European Social Fund projects), several International Atomic Energy Agency projects (IAEA,), etc.

Faculty Structure
Faculty is a public institution of higher education and scientific and educational integrative part of University of Osijek. Functional units of the Faculty are departments, chairs and their laboratories, along them are clinics, clinical departments and teaching bases. Indepent constituting parts of the faculty are also the library, Clinical skills' cabinet, vivarium and the administration.

The main and largest teaching hospital of the Faculty is Osijek Clinical Medical Centre. Faculty of Medicine Osijek is the only medical school in Croatia situated inside the complex of an university hospital. Faculty has around twenty more teaching health centres.

Founding of Faculty of Medicine in Osijek
August 30, year 1979, a medical school was established in Osijek, as a local division of the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb. First generation of students was enrolled in the academic year 1979/1980. Teaching took place in the spaces belonging to other faculties, university, the hospital and health centre in Osijek.Teaching in many dispersed places created a problem, so the School of Medicine in Zagreb officials asked Osijek authorities for a building. Construction began in year 1990., after archaeological excavations were done. Very soon, during the Croatian War of Independence, works on building construction were stopped. Fallout shelter built in the basement was used during that time as a shelter for the patients from the hospital.

Faculty of Medicine in Osijek as an independent institution
In 1994. all the conditions for the continuation of the construction were met, and following that a commitee was founded with a purpose to enable the school of medicine in Osijek to grow from a branch of the Zagreb medical school into an independent institution. Founding of the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek as a part of University of Osijek was supported by the Government of Croatia, Ministry of Science and Education (Croatia), University of Osijek and the dean of the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb at the time - Niko Zurak.

First meeting of the Faculty council was held June 15, 1998. and the ceremonial opening of the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek took place on September 22, 1998.

First dean of the Faculty was Antun Tucak.

In 2018. Faculty of Medicine in Osijek celebrated 40 years since the establishment of a medical program of study in Osijek and 20 years since the founding of an independent Faculty of Medicine in Osijek. Faculty of Medicine in Osijek is preparing a new program of study for the academic year 2020./2021., an integrated study of medicine in German language designed for foreign students.

Deans

 * 1) Prof. Antun Tucak, MD, PhD, (1998 - 2003)
 * 2) Prof. Krešimir Glavina, MD, PhD. (2003 - 2005)
 * 3) Prof. Pavo Filaković, MD, PhD, (2005 - 2009)
 * 4) Prof. Aleksandar Včev, MD, PhD, (2009 - 2017)
 * 5) Prof. Jure Mirat, MD, PhD, ( since 2017)