In Milan, the first medical-engineering graduates in Europe were proclaimed

Under the white coat a double soul: that of a doctor and that of an engineer. The first cycle of MedTec School, the international degree course in Medicine and Surgery and Biomedical Engineering of Humanitas University and Politecnico di Milano, which integrates and enhances the skills of the doctor with those typical of the engineer, has concluded in Milan. This is the first course of study of its kind created in Italy and in Europe, explain the two universities. And today the first 10 graduates of the summer session were proclaimed, which has a total of 37 undergraduates. In total, there will be 42 students who will complete the 6-year course in 2025. The new graduates who today recited the Hippocratic Oath in the Aula Magna of the Pieve Emanuele Campus, just outside the Lombardy capital, are therefore the first European doctors with a double degree: medical-engineers, a single-cycle Master's Degree in Medicine and Surgery awarded by Humanitas University, and a Degree in Biomedical Engineering awarded by the Politecnico di Milano. Meanwhile, the two universities are already on the horizon for the launch of the new international doctorate Prime: PhD in Personalized caRe and Innovation in Medicine and Engineering.

The proclamation of the medical-engineering graduates took place in the presence of the Rector of Humanitas University, Luigi Maria Terracciano and the Rector of the Polytechnic University of Milan, Donatella Sciuto. "The goal we have set ourselves - explains Terracciano - is to train doctors with integrated skills capable of improving the efficiency and quality of care through innovative solutions, from mechatronics to artificial intelligence. Professionals capable of guiding technological evolution while preserving the human perspective and the relationship with the patient, which is the basis of every therapeutic path". The rector of Humanitas University highlights the need for "university education increasingly characterized by the contamination of knowledge to respond to the challenges of precision medicine. MedTec was the first project of its kind in Italy and today it confirms itself as an inspiring model for other universities that are developing similar initiatives, contributing to the diffusion of an interdisciplinary training approach on a national scale".

The convergence between Medicine and Engineering "represents an important factor of economic and social development at a global level - Sciuto points out - In Italy, Milan and Lombardy are considered excellent on both fronts. This degree course is unique because it expresses the combination of intent and skills, vision and ability, which are essential to compete with the main European realities. It is therefore important that these new graduates remain resources at the service of the country and that the MedTec program continues to attract talent from abroad interested in our ability to innovate training and focus on human capital, the true keystone in a context of unprecedented technological evolution".

To date, 389 students have enrolled in the degree course created in 2019, and 58% are women

Born in 2019 as an innovative course, MedTec School - coordinated by Maria Laura Costantino, professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan and Maurizio Cecconi, professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at Humanitas University - currently has 389 enrolled students, 58% of whom are women. Foreign students represent 17% of the total, with many coming from France, Greece and Turkey. Each year, the English-language course offers 100 places, 80 for students from the European Union and 20 for non-EU students. Access is via an online entrance test. At the end of the course, graduates will be able to continue according to their vocation: in medical practice by attending specialization schools, in medical and engineering research with technical PhDs or directly in industry.

Precision medicine, gene therapies, artificial intelligence, neuro-robotics and Big Data: these are some of the issues that doctors have to deal with on a daily basis, which they must be able to manage consciously for the good of the patient and with a set of increasingly transversal skills. The link between medical and engineering training unfolds along the MedTec training path, with periods of study alternating between Humanitas University and the Polytechnic. In the first three years of the course, attendance of lessons is scheduled in alternating semesters at the two locations, while in the following three years it includes courses and modules taught by Polytechnic professors at Humanitas University. This ensures, explain the two universities, a full integration of engineering skills in the clinical training path, also thanks to co-teaching and co-tutoring by Polytechnic professors in some courses and professionalizing activities typical of the doctor's training. To give an idea of ​​the mix of skills, in addition to the basic Engineering courses, the teachings of Automation and Mechatronics, Computer Science, Patient Specific Modelling and Technologies for Artificial Organs are mentioned.

The course promoters highlight that the focus is on a teaching approach that stimulates problem solving and discussion of clinical cases through interactive methods. For on-the-job training, students have access to the advanced Simulation Center, with 3,000 square meters dedicated to clinical simulation and practical anatomy laboratories, a 3D virtual catalog, and VR simulators. This is "the only center in Italy to have Full Accreditation from Sesam (European Society of Simulation in Medicine) - as stated in a note - which certifies the excellence of medical training based on simulation.

On the occasion of the closing of the first MedTec cycle, Humanitas University and Politecnico di Milano announce the launch of the Prime doctorate, an international and interdisciplinary doctorate program that "trains researchers capable of developing innovative solutions for personalized medicine". The program, under the guidance of Maurizio Cecconi of Humanitas University, supported by Andrea Aliverti for Politecnico di Milano, combines Engineering, Medicine, Biology and Data Science, with two specializations: one in computational modeling and AI, the other in medical technologies. The doctorate, entirely in English, offers research projects with industrial partners and opportunities for international mobility.