Page 95 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

HEALTH SCIENCES

The first 50 Medical students were welcomed at their oath-taking ceremony in May 2021.

The facility will be used by other departments in the faculty for Starting a Medical School is challenging: starting one in a pandemic
postgraduate research and training. Furthermore, equipment to takes this challenge to a different level. It has called for innovation
process and store patient samples, such as blood and tissue, has and an immense investment of resources, not the least of which are
been procured. financial. However, it may also open additional sponsorship and
funding streams, and heralds the dawn of a new era of medical
Technology-intensive approach education, with primary healthcare in the Nelson Mandela Bay area
as a central focus.
The technology-intensive approach at the Medical School
differentiates this programme from other universities. The use of
the Anatomage Table – a virtual dissection table – and virtual or
augmented reality visualisations of structures from biomolecules
to skeletons, offers a unique opportunity in medical education
research. The resources available for anatomy will be used for both
research and teaching.

Long term, the department has a multifaceted approach to
setting up research units. Firstly, the establishment of a molecular
medicine lab is in the works, with equipment to quantify gene
expression, and a proteomics lab being the next objective. For
the future, partnerships may be formed with nearby radiology
practices, to produce anatomical research that speaks to the needs
of the community. This approach will take molecular and cellular
understandings of disease and translate them to structural and
pathophysiological features of disease.

Currently, however, there is no postgraduate programme linked to
the Department of Human Biology, which limits research capacity.

Medical Education Unit

A Medical Education Unit is being set up to promote integration
across and between the different study years, delivering a spiral
curriculum that builds on foundations laid in the early years. Key
staff for this unit have been appointed.

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