Page 93 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

HEALTH SCIENCES

Primary healthcare is the ethos

of our new Medical School

The Chair for Sustainable Human Settlements includes researching and assessing the impact
of the coronavirus pandemic on low-income settlements and how to improve spatial planning
for the future.

In line with the University’s Vision 2030, the new Medical School Human Biology Department
operates within a paradigm of medical education geared towards
developing graduates who are oriented towards being in service of The Medical School houses the interdisciplinary Human Biology
society. The school has been deliberately placed within precarious Department, which has an integrated approach to the basic
communities, and is poised to make a tangible impact on medical sciences. The department’s long-term goal is to
healthcare in this region. It opened its doors to the first cohort of develop an interprofessional research hub on the Missionvale
medical students in March 2021 with the aim of producing medical Campus, addressing healthcare concerns with a high impact on
doctors trained with a strong focus on primary healthcare. the surrounding community and the Eastern Cape. This hub will
integrate chemistry, medical biochemistry, cell biology, human
Tagged as a potential flagship for the Faculty of Health Sciences physiology, pharmacology and human anatomy, offering services
and the University, the new programme has generated a lot of that have previously not been available to disciplines in the Faculty
interest regionally, nationally and beyond. Partnerships are key, and of Health Science.
agreements have been signed with the Eastern Cape Department
of Health and Walter Sisulu University, among others, to foster Developing effective strategies to address healthcare burdens is
further collaboration. dependent on understanding genetic, epigenetic, physiological,

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