About to inaugurate its new teaching and research center, the Albert Einstein Israeli Society dreams big about the faculty of medicine, which already operates in the new building. The goal, still without a deadline, is to lead all the teaching quality rankings in the area.
Currently, the Top Universities considers the USP medical course the best in Latin America and the 77th in the world. Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein is considered by the newsweek the 34th best in the world and the best on the continent.
Einstein’s course is recent. It was opened in 2015. It formed two groups. It has 720 students. Each semester there are 60 new entrants. The monthly fee costs R$9,310, slightly above the average price in the Brazilian market for these courses, which is R$8,722.
The Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa is older: it is 24 years old. Sidney Klajner, president of Einstein, says the center is already a leader in research.
“Einstein today occupies the role of the 1st organization in America, with the exception of those that receive government support, in terms of publications and citations of scientific works”said.
Among the main criteria observed by the rankings are academic reputation, market reputation, scientific citations and international partnerships.
According to Klajner, it takes time for reputations to be built with the arrival of students in the market. Therefore, there is still no deadline for reaching leadership.
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One of the main focuses of the medical course is research. The new building has several cores: clinical research, cell therapy, experimental biology and a multidisciplinary laboratory.
Einstein was part of the North American Pfizer research for the drug tofacitinib, which reduces the deaths of patients from covid-19 by up to 37%.
The focus on research contrasts with the Brazilian practice, which limits this role to public universities given the high cost.
“More than 2.5% of our revenue goes to research. A part comes from donors. In 2018, we implemented the ARO (Academic Research Organization), an academic entity linked to the faculty. This brought us closer to the pharmaceutical industry, which has a need for an organization to do phase 3 research for drug launches”said Klajner.
In the pandemic, Einstein also conducted studies with drugs that seemed promising in the treatment of covid-19.
“Einstein coordinated a network for research and response in record time on the effectiveness or not of the treatments proposed at that time”, said. The result came out in lancetone of the world’s leading scientific journals.
Method
Klajner says the college’s pedagogical project is different from other institutions.
“We have the ambition to be among the best colleges in the world, the pedagogical project was created for this college in an innovative way”declared.
The method used is known by the acronym TBL (Team Based Learning), in which the teacher is a mediator for the students. They deal with real medical issues right from the start. Internship also starts earlier.
“Unlike traditional colleges, where it takes place in the 5th and 6th year, here it starts in the middle of the 4th year”, compared. There are tutoring options and access to the facilities of the 3 hospitals managed by the group.
Pending opening
The inauguration of the new teaching and research center, which received investments of R$ 700 million, does not yet have a date to be officially carried out.
The building, designed by the 83-year-old Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, is becoming a staple in the urban landscape of Morumbi, an upper-class neighborhood in São Paulo.
There are 44,000 m² with reproduction of the internal Atlantic forest and a glass cover of 3,800 m² made up of 1,854 glass plates. By comparison, the skylight at the British Museum, an iconic Victorian-era building in London, is 6,100 m² and 3,312 slabs.
The move should have been carried out in August 2022, but the transfer of the research rooms, which require maintenance of conditions such as temperature and humidity, delayed the process.
Classes for nursing, medicine and some postgraduate courses, however, are already held in the building. Next year, the hospital administration course will also be there.
Medicine
There is an ongoing debate about the need to create new vacancies in medical schools. There are at least 180 lawsuits in court asking for the release of up to 20,000 vacancies by the MEC (Ministry of Education).
Einstein’s chairman, Claudio Lottenberg, says that Einstein’s is a different case.
“There is a question in the country whether we need more medical schools. Maybe it doesn’t. But excellent medical schools are evidently welcome.”, said. Lottenberg was president of Einstein in 2015, when the MEC authorized the new course.
stimulus to science
One goal of the new building, which stands out from the predominantly residential architecture of the area, is to remember the importance of science. “It is to bring to the city something that the pandemic has shown cannot be lost”said Klajner.
The building is connected by a bridge to the Albert Einstein hospital. Inaugurated in 1958, the original building, which underwent several expansions, is one of the landmarks of modernist architecture in São Paulo. The project is by Rino Levi, who signs the Teatro Cultura Artística, among others.
The laboratories work with glass doors, so that students and visitors can see how research is being done.
Of the 720 medical students, 27% are partial or full scholarship recipients. The criteria are meritocratic (position in the selection process) and socioeconomic. There are no quotas.
The selection has two phases. In the 1st, a general test similar to the entrance exam selects 500 candidates. In the 2nd, there is a series of interviews and experiences to measure the student’s aptitude for medicine and to lead medical and hospital processes.
doctors of the future
The goal of the Faculty of Medicine is to train a new generation of doctors, attuned to new technologies.
“If I have an artificial intelligence that, during the consultation, fills in data, forms, checks exams, tests, compares them on a curve, I will have more time to dedicate what only the doctor can do, which is the human relationship”said Klajner.
Claudio Lottenberg says that, historically, reinvention is part of medicine and, therefore, a north of the course. “The profile of doctors we have today will certainly change a lot”said.
Today, Einstein’s objective is to train this professional with the sum of research, a focus on leadership and innovation. But without neglecting the aesthetics.
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