Last but not least you can

also read some more

information about important

upcoming EMSA events! The

EEB thopes to see you there.

I would like to thank

everyone that wrote an

article! I’m looking forward to

your articles for the next

Euromeds edition!

Europeanly yours,

Jeetindra Balak

Secretary General

secretary@emsa-europe.eu

Picture: 2nd EEB meeting London

FLTR: Tin Knezevic, Jeetindra

Balak, Tim W. Rattay

Dear EMSA members,

In front of you there is a new

edition of Euromeds! The first

edition of 2010!

2010 started great for the

EEB. We are extremely active,

we have been sending over

2700 mails in January and

February!

Nevertheless I’ve found time

to create this Euromeds

for you all! In this edition

we have some truly inter-

esting articles!

Do you, for example, know

what CPME is and what

CPME does? The EMSA

Permanent Officer (David

Herr) has written a nice

article about CPME.

In this Euromeds there is also

an article from SDS Founda-

tion, whose mission statement

is “To unlock the real potential

of people through education

and entrepreneurial develop-

ment of an underprivileged

community in need”. Curious

what this is all about, be sure

to read the article.

E D I T O R I A L

0 9 / 1 0 F I F T H E D I T I O N

E U R O M E D S

European Medical Students’ Association

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

I N T H I S

E D I T I O N

C P M E = D O C T O R S

V O İ C E İ N

E U R O P E

2

E M S C O U N C İ L 3

E M S A G A /

E M S C O N 2 0 1 0

4

S D S

F O U N D A T İ O N

5

F O R E N S İ C

M E D İ C İ N E

6

P W G & C P M E

C O O P E R A T İ O N

9

5 0 Y E A R S

H E L M S İ C

1 0

T İ M S 1 1

S O C İ A L L İ V E

A N D M E D İ C A L

E D U C A T İ O N

1 1

S U M M E R

S C H O O L A T H E N S

1 2

A N O U N C E M E N T S

EMSA NCM HOST 2010

EMSA has finally found a host for the

NCM. The exact date of this NCM is

12-16 may 2010.

Be sure to keep this date free in your

agenda, as the NCM is going to be

held in Istanbul, Turkey! The OC is

very busy with the organisation of

this great EMSA event, so keep an

eye out for further updates regarding

this meeting!

EMSA GA HOST 2010

The EMSA GA 2010 will be held in

Athens, Greece. The exact date of

this biggest EMSA event is 8-12

September 2010!

Be sure to read more about Athens

and the EMSA GA and EMS Con in

this Euromeds.

For more information and updates

visit their website:

www.emsaga2010.athens.helmsic.gr

EMS Council 7

This event will take place from 21-25

April 2010, and the early registration is

already open! The theme of this years

EMS Council will be: “Healthcare in

Europe: European Health, links to

education, cooperation, prevention and

equity”

For more information and registration

visit the EMS Council website:

ems.amsa.at

T H E P R E S C A N 1 3

İ W D 1 4

An introduction to the work of CPME and

to the EMSA „Permanent Officer“

Brussels is the capital of Europe.

Although the health related decision-

making authority of Brussels is

actually limited, there is still a

number of important health topics

on EU level that are highly relevant.

Brussels is also the capital of

interest groups and lobbyists. In

order for the doctors' opinion to be

heard as well, they have founded

representations in Brussels, too.

I want to highlight CPME in this

context. The Standing Committee of

European Doctors (French: Comité

P e r m a n e n t d e s M é d e c i n s

Européens) is composed of the most

representative National Medical

Associations (NMAs) of 27 countries.

These 27 do not completely coincide

with the 27 EU Member States, as

three (namely France, Italy and

Spain) have unfortunately recently

resigned from CPME membership

due to internal disputes. On the

other hand, Switzerland, Iceland and

Norway are also members of CPME.

Because of its composition of

National Medical Associations,

CPME benefits from a certain

representivity. Due to this and its

long-lasting political engagement on

EU level, it has a quite good

reputation at the Commission and

other Institutions as well as

stakeholders.

CPME mainly works with regard to

external relations, but also by

coordinating exchange of opinion

and best practice between the

NMAs. CPME's working structure is

dominated by Working Groups

which have just recently been

introduced as the new way of work.

They aim at guaranteeing a

targeted, efficient and quick

response on topics that have been

set on the agenda by the

Commission, for example. Yet topics

can also be founded by internal

approach, of course. In general,

CPME works on a wide scope of

issues. There are Working Groups

dealing with European Medical

Workforce, eHealth, Cross-border

Healthcare, Health Inequalities and

many others. Also issues like

Climate Change & Health or

Prevention and Non-Smoking are

tackled.

In order to do so, the working group

members, doctors from NMAs and

associated organisations like EMSA,

elaborate policy documents that are

discussed and adopted by the

„Executive Committee“ (EC). The EC

therefore is the actual decision-

making body, together with the

board.

The EC consists of the newly-elected

president, Dr. Radziwill from the

Polish Medical Chamber, and five

other members.

Adopted policy papers are then used in

Brussels in order to communicate

European doctors' opinion towards the

C o m mi ss i o n , th e P ar l i a m en t ,

stakeholders, and the like. Another way

to engage is to be proactively involved

in joint projects. Important to mention

here is the „European Network for

Patient Safety“ (EUNetPaS), where

CPME is in charge of one working

package and of the organisation of the

final conference in July.

When it comes to the translation of

policies into concrete action, the CPME

secretariat in Brussels is responsible. It

not only coordinates the internal

decision making process, but also

arranges meetings with EU officials and

other interest groups. Furthermore, the

secretariat staff attends conferences

and keeps track of the relevant

developments in Brussels. As Secretary

-General, Lisette Tiddens-Engwirda is

head of the secretariat.

CPME and EMSA have been cultivating

an atmosphere of intense and

productive cooperation for years –

obvious by the fact that EMSA uses the

postal address of CPME for its official

correspondence. Most important,

EMSA is represented in the CPME

office personally by the so called

„Permanent Officer“ (the name might

undergo revision in the future, though).

The Permanent Officer is an EMSA

student living for six months in

Brussels, working at the CPME

secretariat.

C P M E — D O C T O R S ’ V O İ C E İ N E U R O P E

Page 2 E U R O M E D S

At this point I would like to introduce

myself to you as the current EMSA

„PO“. Since January it is my honour

to work for EMSA and CPME in

Brussels. My main task is primarily

to foster the partnership between

CPME and EMSA and to ensure a

good information flow from the EU

institutions. Ultimately, the heart of

EU policy shall beat within EMSA! At

the same time, I support CPME in

various workings on site. Amongst

others, I attend conferences and

write reports on them, help at

administrative things, at the

preparation of presentations, at the

organisation of the patient safety

conference, or sometimes at writing

documents like e.g. our „Appeal to

the Commission“ a few days ago.

Thereby, a good collaboration with

the Liaison Officer towards

European Medical Organisations

(EMO-LO), Luis Machado, is crucial.

To introduce myself shorty in

person: my name is David Herr and

I am a 6th year medical student in

Münster, Germany. As I always had

a strong interest in health policy,

economy and ethics, I am very glad

to have the opportunity to assume

this exciting task for EMSA –

especially during these interesting

times, with a new European

Commission just elected.

Whenever you have questions or

suggestions regarding Brussels or EU

related topics, please do not hesitate to

contact me! I am happy for exchange

and ideas! In this spirit, I hope that we

can contribute to EMSA being up to

date and involved in all the current

policy issues!

David Herr

EMSA Permanent Officer

Page 3 E U R O M E D S

E M S C O U N C İ L — F R O M A T H E N S T O V İ E N N A

A journey in time…”

“The Cradle…”

How true are those words… These

days when we think of Athens, we

mostly think of tourism… Of ancient

ruins… Perhaps even of the eco-

nomic crisis… But if we let the

thought linger there for a moment or

two we remember the Golden Time

of Pericles, the idea of Democracy

and the Cradle of the Western Civili-

zation…

The golden age of ancient Athens

was long gone when I first set my

eyes on the Acropolis… But once I

did it for

the third

time, an-

other era

had be-

gun… A

time in

which my

path and

that of

EMSA would be entangled in a story

most interesting.

“The Spark…”

It seems many years have passed

since the 5th EMS Council… And yet,

it was only 2 summers ago…

Eager young minds, an interest-

ing subject and an inspiring

atmosphere resulted in one of

the best experiences of my life!

And, of course, in the “Athens

resolution on the care for the

terminally ill”… A document that

would very much influence my

life in the years to

come…

“The Flame…”

Some would say

that the Muses lin-

gered for quite a

while… I tend to

think that the ex-

perience, knowledge and the friends

I have made in Athens changed me

and that this change is what re-

mained… A passion was born. One

that would be my drive in the work

for EMSA, in the field of palliative

care and in policy making. Call me a

hopeless romantic, but something in

me still believes that one can indeed

leave this world a better place than

it was when one was born…

“The Squeal…”

In just a few weeks time new eager

minds will converge on yet another

challenges as well. Europe is uniting,

the public is aging, the economy is

changing. How will this effect

Europe? How will this affect health-

care? How will this affect YOU?

Can we be the catalyst of change? I

believe we must!

So do not miss this great opportu-

nity! Join us, voice your opinion and

be heard!

Registrations for the 7th European

Medical Students’ Council are now

OPEN!

For more information, visit

ems.amsa.at!

Tin Knežević

President 2009/10

Eureaopean Medical Students’

Assocaition (EMSA)

Page 4 E U R O M E D S

E M S A G A & E M S C O N 2 0 1 0

A T H E N S , G R E E C E

n September of

2010 something

wonderful is going

to happen in a

beautiful city of

Greece… Medical

students from all

over Europe are going to gather in

Athens from 8 to 12 of September

for the 20th General Assembly of

European Medical Students’ Asso-

ciation!

Greece is closely related to medi-

cine. Actually medicine was born

here! Everyone knows Hippocrates,

the father of medicine. Athens is the

biggest city of Greece with many

historical monuments spread around

its roads.

The most

popular of all

i s t h e

A c r o p o l i s .

Without a

doubt, the

fact that the annual GA of EMSA will

be held out in such a place is some-

thing more than special.

At the same time the EMS Congress

2010 will take place on the issue of

regenerative medicine. During its

three sessions lectures will be organ-

ized by distinguished scientists in

this field. Thus we will have the op-

portunity to be informed on this rap-

idly evolving field of medicine. Lastly,

we will also express our opin-

ion on both dangers and bene-

fits that arise from the field of

regenerative medicine. This is

important because it will di-

rectly influence us as future

doctors. Beyond the scientific

part we have also organized

an amusing social program,

including welcome dinner,

national food and

drinking party and

many more surprises.

We will try to intro-

duce you into the

Greek way of enter-

tainment! A tour to

the historical center of Athens has

already been organized for those who

love ancient Greece. Moreover, an

excursion to beaches nearby and a

beach party there is a great idea since

the weather in Athens is still warm in

September.

Are you sure you want to miss this

unforgettable experience?

Waiting to see you all in Athens!

For further information visit our web-

site

www.emsaga2010.athens.helmsic.gr

or contact us at

emsaga2010@athens.helmsic.gr

On behalf of the OC, Oikonomopou-

lou Niki

The ordinary student organiza-

tion arranges social drinks and

organizes parties for its mem-

bers. At times, the party is tre-

mendously successful, everyone says

it’s super cool, and whoever absent is

considered to be a fool. Inebriety level

is often used to gauge the successful-

ness of such event, which makes the

line “I don’t remember what hap-

pened last night, but I know I had

great fun.” very common the morning

after a memorable party. However,

the one discussed here is not your

ordinary student organiza-

tion. The name is Sustain-

able Development Solu-

tions (SDS) Foundation

and, yes, it is actually a

foundation.

Over a year ago six busi-

ness students from six

different countries de-

cided that they want to

contribute something to

the society aside from

their full-time job as text-

book-readers and/or for-

mula-memorizers at Rotterdam

School of Management (RSM) Eras-

mus University. The main goal is to

put the knowledge learned in class

into practice (Well, that is one reason,

another is perhaps because there was

some kind of electrical fire in their

brains that made the number of as-

signments they’re having oblivious for

a moment). This goal is best ex-

pressed in their mission statement:

“To unlock the real potential of people

through education and entrepreneu-

rial development of an underprivi-

leged com-

munity in

need.”

The most

i m p o r t a n t

c o m p o n e n t

from SDS

Fou ndat ion

lies in sus-

tainability, but not the tree-

hugger kind of sustainability, this

one refers to sustainable economic

activity. Hence, they neither fancy Al

Gore, nor lose any sleep because of

the leaked Climategate emails, but

they do put Muhammad Yunus’

Banker to the Poor in between the

latest FHM Top 100 and Tiesto’s

Elements of Life CD. They aim to

break a cycle of poverty by funding

education and start-up costs of

young people who are less fortu-

nate; they believe that teaching

them how to fish, instead of giving

them fish, is the way to go.

At present, they are collaborating

with Romanian Orphanage Minis-

tries (ROM), a non-profit foundation

that provides shelter and education

for orphans in Oradea, 435 km from

the capital city of Bucharest. During

the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, the

birth rate exploded, partially due to

the ban on contraception and abor-

tion. After a few decades of poverty,

many of these children were aban-

doned by their parents. The current

government regulation forces these

orphans to get out of the orphanage

once they reach the age of 18.

Many of them are still unable to

survive on their own at that stage

and this is where ROM

serves its purpose.

ROM bridges the gap

between the time they have to leave

the orphanages and the time they are

ready to contribute to the economy

and SDS Foundation is working with

them to achieve this goal through vari-

ous fund-raising events.

SDS Foundation organized an event

called “Run around the World” on the

15th of November 2009. In this event,

people from practically all around the

world ran for a specific dis-

tance and got someone to

sponsor them for every kilo-

meter they covered. The

runners covered the kilome-

ters in Sydney, Milan, Rome,

Munich, London, New York,

Amsterdam, Hong Kong,

Beijing and, of course, Rot-

terdam. This event turned

out to be a huge success in

terms of both marketing

campaign and financial gain.

“Run around the World” is

one event out of many oth-

ers these students have in mind. Fu-

ture projects can be as cool as the

trailer for Iron Man 2 and conducted

in various locations at once, and the

number of locations is aimed to ex-

ceed the number of Tiger Woods’ al-

leged mistresses. To achieve the lat-

ter, SDS Foundation is looking for pos-

sible cooperation with EMSA to en-

hance the scope of future projects

using EMSA’s broad network across

Europe.

So feel free grab a pen and a piece of

paper to jot down any wonderful ideas

you have in mind and contact

contact@sdsfoundation.org or visit

our website at www.sdsfoundation.org

for more information!

Millardi Nadesul

Page 5 E U R O M E D S

S D S F O U N D A T I O N

Because of my curiosity towards the work field of forensic medicine, I’ve interviewed dr. Kees Das, he is head of the department of forensic medicine in Amsterdam and started his career as forensic doctor.

What contains the work field of a

forensic doctor?

When a forensic doctor is on duty, he

waits until he gets calls. The calls can

be very divers, for example a pris-

oner, who needs a doctor. This is not

really forensic, but a great amount of

the work load. Real forensic work

contains external post-mortem ex-

aminations and research of sexual

offenses, the simple blood test for

drunken drivers, assessment of peo-

ple under the influence of various

substances. Office hours for injuries

or statements for injuries. Besides,

you also have other forensic doctors,

such as forensic pathologists, toxi-

cologists and psychiatrists.

Wat was your motivation to choose

forensic medicine?

Actually this was pure coincidence. At

that time I had heard little of this

work field as many. I started this

work in ’86. When I graduated, I first

studied general medicine and I

worked as a General Practitioner for

ten years in Amsterdam. At one point,

I wasn’t able to find a practice, there

were 800 seekers at the time. By

chance, I heard that people were

needed within this work field. And I

thought, I’m an observer already, so I

will apply myself for it.

I was not gripped by the work imme-

diately, on the contrary, I found it

rather disgusting.

But this work field also has interest-

ing aspects. I do not regret it, else I

wouldn’t be here.

In this work field you

are dealing with

cases and you think,

what is going on?

Together with the

police you find out

what happened. That

is quite some detec-

tive work and it is

never boring…

In the past, we were

called police doctors

and there was little

knowledge about this discipline only

in the United States and Germany.

But slowly but surely forensic medi-

cine was also built up in the Nether-

lands.

Wat are the interesting aspects of

forensic medicine?

Of course I have seen a lot of re-

markable cases, but what if you

have to do the external post-

mortem examination of Pim Fortuyn

(ed. important Dutch Politician shot

in 2002), this is something you

would not forget easily of course. I

haven’t done this examination, be-

cause it occurred in another town.

But it are often those cases which

are complicated. With which you

look at a wound and then you have

to combine certain aspects and

score out other aspects and then

you think okay this is what probably

happened.

The best part is when the police is

there and says “there is nothing

wrong, he just naturally deceased.

And you look at it and think criti-

cally.. “mmm I have a different view

on that..”

With which other disciplines does a

forensic doctor cooperate?

Especially the po-

lice, because often

when someone is

found dead, the

police are called

first.

If someone dies at

home and the Gen-

eral Practitioner

can’t decide if it is a

natural death, then

he can call us as

well. You have to

receive information of the medical

and social history of the GP. You also

work with the General Department,

but more on a distance. You have to

report to the Justice Department and

sometimes you have to show up for

questioning in courtroom. You also

deal frequently with employers of the

ambulance, they where the first ones

who were present and can often tell

you what happened and how the set-

ting was, when they arrived. And the

pathologist, in some cases the body

goes to The Hague for an autopsy.

You get the report later, sometimes

there was a gun or a knife involved

and then the report is rather obvious,

but sometimes there may be some-

thing that is not seen on the outside,

for example a bleeding of the brains,

thorax or abdomen.

Regarding the cooperation what goes

well and which aspects need im-

provement?

In general it is good. But to give an

idea, in the Netherlands about

150.000 people die each year and

with only 10.000 people there is a

coroner involved. With the other

140.000 people an external post-

mortem examination is done by the

treating physician or General Practi-

tioner among others. It isn’t unimag-

inable that something will

Page 6 E U R O M E D S

F O R E N S İ C M E D İ C İ N E

be missed.

And with the 10.000 cases a year at

which there is a coroner, an autopsy

is done with nearly 500 people,

which is very low. This amount could

be much higher if it were for me. Be-

cause there are many cases for

which you can’t decide with the na-

ked eye what happened. But when

police and Justice Department are

thinking, well, it is not a crime, then

they often let it be, what is a pity.

I am convinced that when more

cases would be examined, more

could come to light, especially in the

field of toxicology. It is often not even

acknowledges that there is a criminal

case. For roughly half of all murders

an offender is never found, these are

a lot of unsolved cases

How do you feel about the coopera-

tion with the General Practitioner?

When we have contact, the coopera-

tion is alright. But I think a General

Practitioner should involve a coroner

more often. It happens much too of-

ten, that GP’s doubt the cause of

death, but they are thinking, what-

ever… That is much too easy.

Do you think there should be more

education about forensic medicine?

Training on forensic medicine should

be treated more during the education

of general practice. Often it is only an

afternoon, that is not much. There is

also too little education on this field

in the medical curricula. Spectacular

images are entertaining of course,

but the work field involves a lot of

thinking. It is not that you can see

everything on the outside, on the

contrary. In many cases you have to

think about what actually happened

and if the data you’ve received fit.

For example a case of someone of

50 who is found dead, and has dia-

betes. It is interesting that someone

has diabetes, but you do not simply

die on this disease, so there has to

be more…

How do the police reacts to your

cooperation?

Sometimes, the police take control

and they want to tell us how it all

fits together and sometimes you

have people with little experience

and we take control. Mostly both

sides are experienced. You need the

skills of both work fields, when you

combine these together you be-

come wiser. That's in general the

idea. If a police officer says “here

you have the corpse on the table,

we have already stripped it for you,

can you tell us what happened.”

Then you obviously don’t have any

clues, because you have to know

the setting and the medical history

of the patient. You have to know

what someone has been drinking,

been sleeping, been doing to draw a

picture. At first, it is mainly gather-

ing information, exchanging and

then you can structure a logical

story.

Does forensic medicine in the Neth-

erlands diver with this discipline in

other countries?

I know this for certain, because

every country arranges this disci-

pline in its own way. As we have

arranged it with a civil coroner, oth-

ers have not. In England or Ger-

many, any doctor could perform an

external post-mortem examination,

and if he says I doubt about the

cause of death, then the police will

bring the body to a pathologist who

performs an autopsy.

So an intermediary coroner with

experience in the field of forensic

medicine doesn’t exist.

How does the family reacts to a sec-

tion?

If there is a reason for it, then the

family doesn’t bother, but if it would

be done like a standard procedure,

then you will receive a lot of protests.

It isn’t hard to imagine this. For ex-

ample a man of about 80, who is

found dead in his bed, then you also

don’t know the cause of his dead.

When you tell the family we have to

take him to a pathologist for a sec-

tion, just to be sure. Then you would

also say if you were family “hell, no””.

Do you also cooperate with other

countries within forensic medicine?

Not often, occasionally there are in-

ternational conferences in Germany,

Belgium and England. But real struc-

tural cooperation doesn’t really exist.

I have the impression that the pathol-

ogy is at a higher level in England

and United States than in the Nether-

lands. The Netherlands could learn

from these countries. This is mainly

caused by the amount of pathologists

in the Netherlands, when you are

having a few it is hard to find good

pathologists. In England and the

United States, there are people who

perform about 2 autopsies every day

and have a lot more experience and

knowledge. It lies mainly in large

numbers.

Which qualities should medical stu-

dents have to become a forensic doc-

tor?

It is important that you can easily

perform a diagnosis, therefore work

as a GP at first for a few years or at

the emergency department. The

most important part is, but that ap-

plies for every doctor, that you have

to trust your own opinion.

At first, every doctor doubts his opin-

ion, but at some point you have to

Page 7 E U R O M E D S

trust that it is how you think it is. But

a couple of years will pass before you

will get this feeling.

Besides this, criminals are not the

most reliable types and are inventing

a lot. Some can fool you around eas-

ily and you must be able to look

through it, human knowledge is im-

portant.

I always say: General practitioners

and company doctors are easily

fooled around, but don’t notice it,

they are buying too much of their

patients..

Micky Las van Bennekom

Ethics Director

European Medical Students’ Associa-

tion

Page 8 E U R O M E D S

Page 9 E U R O M E D S

P W G A N D C P M E C O O P E R A T İ O N

Dear EMSA members and enthusiasts,

First of all allow me to introduce my-

self. My name is Luís Machado, I’m

from Coimbra, a small but nice univer-

sity city in Portugal. I’m 24 years old

and I’m a 6th year medical student.

Since last April, in the NCM in Bulgaria,

I became more and more enthusiast

about EMSA and with the opportunity

to participate on a European level. In

October I was appointed by EMSA

European Board for the position of

Liaison Officer towards European

Medical Organisations.

I’d like to share these last months,

which have been a wonderful and mo-

tivating experience. Working on Euro-

pean level is giving me the opportunity

of developing new projects, meet fan-

tastic people and contact with other

Medical organisations as well, sharing

the same objective: to have an Euro-

pean voice for Medical Students all

around Europe.

This year we are going to start some

cooperation projects with PWG, Perma-

nent Working Group of European Jun-

ior Doctors.

PWG is a European Medical organisa-

tion that represents the interests of

the European Junior Doctors

around Europe. It is one of the most

important partnership for EMSA and

we planned a workpackage of projects

to be developed in collaboration!

The projects agreed on are:

1. Bologna Process 3rd cycle

Goal – joint policy with recommenda-

tions on the organisation of the

3rd cycle in Medicine

2. Scientific Research during medical

school and PGT

Goal – joint policy with recommenda-

tions on the importance of medical

research during UGT and PGT.

3. MEDINE 2

Goal – to define working strategy

within the network.

Which working packages to collabo-

rate, sharing of information.

4. EU Directive on the recognition of

professional qualifications (2005/36)

Goal – joint recommendations as to

what to change in the directive when it

comes to the revision phase (expected

2011)

5. Workshops

Goal – development of a team and a

template to deliver workshops to medi-

cal students and junior doctors in lead-

ership training and coping with transi-

tion between medical student/JD

6. Euromedmobility

Goal – have the students part of the

project done.

7. Networking between medical stu-

dents and JDs at the national level

Goal - Facilitate the contact between

organisations that represent medical

students and JDs at the national level.

We are looking for some motivated

people and manpower to work on

some of these projects. You can join

our workgroup by sending an email to

our Vice-President Ania through the

email address vice.president@emsa-

europe.eu. You can also just contact

me to emo-lo@emsa-europe.eu and

work just in one project you’re inter-

ested as my assistant and part of the

Workgroup as well!

Trust me, you won’t regret it! You will

have the chance of meeting lots of

new people and working on policies on

a European level.

On the other hand, we are working to

keep and improve our good strategic

partnership with CPME. Recently, Euro-

pean Medical Organisations (EMO)

agreed on Domus Medica, a future

platform of cooperation between all

EMO’s, in which EMSA is included.

This last month CPME constituted the

Working Groups for 2010 and EMSA is

included as well, with some appointed

EEB members in the Working Groups.

We are now developing a CPME infor-

mative monthly newsletter. You are

going to receive the information about

CPME policies, adopted positions and

papers.

More news on this soon, after CPME

meeting on 16th and 17th April in Brus-

sels. You will be updated!

Don’t forget you can be part of this,

just email me to emo-lo@emsa-

europe.eu!

Europeanly yours,

Luís Machado

European Medical Organisations Liaison

Officer (EMO-LO) 2009/2010

European Medical Students' Association

(EMSA)

email: emo-lo@emsa-europe.eu

msn: luismachadex@msn.com

skype: luismiguel.machado

www.emsa-europe.org

Faculdade de Medicina

Universidade de Coimbra

Rua Larga 4º andar

3004-504 Coimbra

Portugal

Making a journey back in time, travel-

ing 5 decades in the past, one meets

some medical students at the Medical

School of the National & Kapodistrian

University of Athens who had an un-

precedented idea: to create a commu-

nication network with their colleagues,

medical students across the world. A

network that had already started to

form a few years before, in 1951, the

international network that we know

today as the International Federation

of Medical Students’ Associations –

IFMSA. It was the birth of the Hellenic

Medical Students’ International Com-

mittee, the birth of HelMSIC.

HelMSIC celebrated its 50-year anni-

versary in all 7 cities of Greece with a

medical school in 2008, 50 years after

the first exchange of medical students

that left Athens for 1 month and went

to practice in Berlin. Last December, it

was time for the local committee of

HelMSIC in Alexandroupolis, north-

ern Greece, to join the celebrations

and celebrate at the same time its

10 years of existence, its 10 years

of volunteerism and

activities. A special

event took place on

December 16 th

2009, at the main

amphitheatre of the

University Hospital

of the Democritus

U n i v e r s i t y o f

Thrace, Alexandrou-

polis with the par-

ticipation of many

medical students,

Alumni and univer-

sity professors and

staff. A unique pho-

tography exhibition took place at

the same time, with a collection of

photographs dating back 50 years

of HelMSIC’s history and 10 years of

H e l M S I C -

Alexandroupolis’

contribution. A 30-

minute interview

followed the event

at a local TV-

station, where

medical students,

HelMSIC’s National

Alumni Director

(NAD) and one of

HelMSIC’s Honor-

ary Life Members

presented the

work being done

all those years at

the local committee, offering so much

to the local community of northern

Greece.

HelMSIC-Alexandroupolis is also an

FMO of EMSA since its establishment,

in 2000 and is active in most EMSA’s

pillars, organizing Teddy Bear Hospital,

Twinning Project, Anti-tobacco training

seminars and medical education ac-

tivities throughout each academic

year.

Dr. Konstantinos M. Roditis

National Alumni Director of HelMSIC

2006/2010

European Integration Director, EMSA

European Board 2006/2007

Post-doc Fellow, Max-Planck Institute

for Heart & Lung Research, Bad Nau-

heim, Germany

roditis.k@gmail.com

Page 10 E U R O M E D S

5 0 Y E A R S H E L M S İ C

1 0 Y E A R S H E L M S İ C - A L E X A N D R O U P O L İ S

Page 11 E U R O M E D S

T E C H N O L O G Y İ N M E D İ C İ N E A N D S U R G E R Y ( T İ M S )

Technology in Medicine and Surgery (TiMS)

Conference

Saturday 13th February 2010

Location: Imperial College London, South

Kensington

Have you ever thought of yourself as

an inventor? Thought of new ideas

which could be at the forefront of

medical innovations? Well on Saturday

13th February, I was fortunate enough

to go to the first ever TiMS conference

organized by Imperial College School

of Medicine (ICSM) Surgical Society.

Their main aim is dedicated to con-

necting medical students with extra-

curricular surgical training and educa-

tion. I arrived at Imperial College, col-

lected my delegate packs which con-

tained lots of freebies including pens,

notepads and 3D glasses!?! TiMS

ethos is to inspire the next generation

of medical thinkers and innovators

and expose them to the frontiers of

medical technology and innovation.

This event brought together students,

doctors, engineers and scientists from

many diverse fields and allowed stu-

dents to pitch ideas to an expert panel

of judges. With a vibrant atmos-

phere buzzing full of ideas and in-

ventors, the introductory talk was

delivered by the prestigious Profes-

sor the Lord Ara Darzi via RP7 Ro-

bot.

The competition entrants included

Cambridge University who invented

a replacement to the orange stick

tongue depressor, University of Ab-

erdeen who invented a new derma-

tological membrane used in plastic

surgery and Imperial College Lon-

don who invented a new online pro-

gramme which enabled basic medi-

cine to be instilled in all students.

It was amazing to see how much

other medical students had

achieved and how creative and in-

novative their ideas were. We also

heard from several top inventors

including Mr Roger Armour, inventor

of the lens-free opthalmoscope,

Professor Dale Harrow who de-

signed the new SmartPod Ambu-

lance, Professor Josh Silver who

invented self-refraction with adap-

tive lens eyeglasses for developing

countries and also Mr Barry

Paraskeva, surgeon at St Marys Hospi-

tal who pioneered Single Incision La-

proscopic Surgery.

We also got the chance to experience

3D anatomy from Primal Pictures

which was very educational as you

were able to add certain layers, much

like dissection but at your own conven-

ience.

TiMs was a very enjoyable day where I

had the opportunity to meet students

and professionals alike from across

the country and learn about innova-

tions and their suitability to clinical

practice. I hope to attend more confer-

ences like this in the future and hope

that you will also be inspired to think

of new ideas of your own…….

Kavita Aggarwal

S O C İ A L L İ F E A N D M E D İ C A L E D U C A T İ O N G O H A N D İ N H A N D

It is a nice thing to dream of being a

medical student while lying down on

the grass on a bright sunny day and

feeling warmth of the sun and soft

breeze on your whole body. It is nicer

to know that you are actually a

medical student when you slowly close

your eyes and fall into a sweet sleep

on that grass. Nevertheless, between

sleep and awake, you have to get up

hastily to catch your lesson and that’s

the reality itself.

One of the hard conditions that

exhausts a medical student is

undoubtedly, the Schedule which

includes lots of clinical and

theoretical lectures. It is a heavy

burden to carry, both physically and

mentally. One of the most difficult

things is feeling connected in. Long

and tiresome studies are the most

important responsiblities this

burden requires; hence, more and

more time should be spent on

studies and repititions pile up.

Adjusting to these time requirement

as a medical student brings sleeping

problems on. Think of a sleepless

night after a tiresome schedule, it is

certainly a dangerous game which

pushes the lines’ of the student.

On the other hand, this may not be as

drastic if a medical student can go on

his/her routines without abandoning

his desires. When we take into

consideration the necessity of

studiying and intensive schedule, the

most simply, it is enough to unify his/

her outer life apart from being

student and the necesities of medical

education.

It is the strong evidence for social

life and medical education’s going

hand in hand together to see a

medical student, by attending

medical congress, conquering new

cities with tens of new faces also

assisting his education within a

scientific program, by taking charge

in social support projects, gaining

experince and knowing many other

students who have the same

collage life. Of course it is a

requirement to spend time

p a r t i c i p a t i n g c u l t u r a l ,

entertainment, sportive activities

and paying attention to self

development which should be taken

independent ly f rom student

requisitions.

To sum up, medical education

requires a qualified social life and a

steady studying program. By

enabling ourselves to be acitve in

such kinds of medical conferences,

congresses or meetings, the

requirements of this hard education

would not have averted the habits

and necessities of a human life.

Finally, we can find some time for

lying down on the grass on a bright

sunny day in order not to postpone

our study plan.

Aylin INALTEKIN

İdris TAS

From EMSA-Yeditepe

Page 12 E U R O M E D S

S U M M E R S C H O O L A T H E N S

HelMSIC invites

you at a one-week

summer school

focused on Regen-

erative Medicine

that will take

place in Athens from 6 to 12 Septem-

ber 2010. You may all have heard

the ancient greek myth about Prome-

theus, a titan who stole the fire from

the Gods and gave it to humans.

Zeus then punished him for this

crime by having him bound to a rock

in the Caucasus mountain while an

eagle, sent also by Zeus, was biting

Prometheus liver. However, every day

the liver grew back to be eaten again

the next day. This was a first refer-

ence to regenerative power and

shows its high importance from an-

cient years.

Today, regenerative medicine consti-

tutes an application of the knowledge

gained from regenerative biology in

order to enable the regeneration of

biological structures such as restor-

ing structure and function of dam-

aged tissues and organs. It is also

working to create solutions for organs

that become permanently damaged.

The goal of this medicine is to find a

way to cure previously untreatable

injuries and diseases. What if it was

possible to harness the power of

the body to heal and then acceler-

ate it in a clinically relevant way?

This question shows off why this

field is one of the most challenging

issues nowadays.

So, if you are an undergraduate

student of Medicine (2nd year and

above) with an advanced knowledge

in English and an interest in this

promising field, this summer school

is a great opportunity not only to get

deeply involved with it, but also to

gain practical experience from ex-

perts and world wide

recognised scientists.

Lectures will be hold

from experts focused

on several aspects

including stem cell

sources, medical appli-

cations, stem cell

banks, scaffolds,

breakthrough research,

future expectations and

ethical issues. Apart

from this theoretical

part, there would be

also a practical one with

laboratory visits.

Little we could say about our social

program. Athens is the capital of

Greece and an important cultural

centre!! It’s also a chance to come in

contact with the greek civilisation,

culture and of course entertainment.

Let us regenerative you in Athens in

September 2010!

For more information, just visit our

website

http://rmss. Athens.helmsic.gr

o r c o n t a c t u s t o e m a i l :

stem@athens.helmsic.gr

On behalf of the Orga-

nizing Committee,

Ioannis Tomos

This year’s Leadership Summer School (LSS’10) taking place in Ljubljana, Slo-venia from the 16th to the 25th of July 2010 will be the third one of its kind, but for sure a truly unique experience for every participant…

The LSS is a joint project of different

student organisations from the

“Informal Forum of International Stu-

dent Organisations” (IFISO). This net-

work exists in its current form since

2000 and consists of student organi-

sations ranging from technical, psy-

chological to natural subjects. With

the project LSS’10 IFISO wants to

enable about 80 students to share

their knowledge in the field of leader-

ship and improve their skills through

workshops given by highly-qualified

trainers.

For this great occasion the Organisa-

tion Committee (OC) in Ljubljana in-

vites students from all over Europe to

participate in this week of hands-on

practise and learning. Besides the

OC, which is responsible for all local

work, the event is being prepared by

the Coordination Team (CT), which

makes sure everything else such as

website information is being taken

care of. Together, the OC and the

CT, want to make this event

“unforgettable and enriching for all

participants”!

To ensure the unique experience

comes true the workshops given by

trainers from the different organisa-

tions will be very diverse, and ex-

plore topics like “intercultural com-

munication”, “leadership styles”

and “effective meetings”. Addition-

ally a number of team games will be

included to strengthen the team

development between the partici-

pants and make the sessions as

interactive as possible.

For more information please:

Have a look at the website:

www.leadershipsummerschool.org

You also will find more infor-

mation about the application process

and how you can be a part of this

great event.

Contact the Coordination

Team: Sofia, Vlad, Luka and Timon

contact@leadershipsummerschool.org

Page 13 E U R O M E D S

L E A D E R S H İ P S U M M E R S C H O O L — R E P E A T İ N G T H E S U C C E S

T H E P R E S C A N — P R E V E N T İ V E H E A L T H C A R E

Everyone believes that health has a

high priority. The phrase “being

healthy is all that matters” counts for

almost everyone. If you are young or

old, if you live in Europe or in India,

health is a universal value, and we

will do anything to guarantee its qual-

ity. A recent development could im-

prove the quality of life increasingly,

but raises important ethical ques-

tions as well.

In the past, we only visited a doctor

when we were not feeling well (or had

aspecific complaints, like tiredness).

Nowadays “prevention” within health-

care is much more important than

healing. One of these new techniques

for prevention in health care is called

“the Prescan”. The Prescan is a

preventive research program, which

is carried out in hospitals in the

Netherlands, Germany, England and

Austria. The preventive check-ups

are done by several specialists, who

use sophisticated imaging tech-

niques such as CT and MRI scans to

examine the entire body. Moreover,

an ECG can be performed as well to

discover (upcoming) heart defects

and laboratory research can be

done to measure blood values. With

this preventive research program, a

patient will have more clarity about

his health, possible abnormalities

and disorders that could rise in the

future.

I myself work part-time in home care

and I remember very well that I was

nursing a family of which the mother

suffered a severe brain tumor. She

was in her early 40’s and she had

three children aged three to eight. I

nursed her in her last days and it was

horrible to see what the situation was

doing to her young children. They

wanted to be with their mother con-

stantly They tried to give her lemon-

ade and played music for her, while

she could barely talk or move. Experi-

encing this, you would wish that the

brain tumor was detected at an early

stage, therefore these young children

didn’t have to say goodbye to their

mother they loved so much.

The Prescan could be an important

development in medicine, which

could improve the quality of live sig-

nificantly for many patients, but it

causes ethical questions as well.

In the first place there are the high

costs (approximately 1000 euro’s),

which will have to be paid by the pa-

tient himself and are not being cov-

ered by health insurance.

This means that preventive

health care is only confined

to people with higher in-

comes; shouldn’t it be acces-

sible for everyone?

The next ethical question which

rises is, is the Prescan really a

positive development? We have to

keep in mind that less severe ab-

normalities and disorders will also

be detected in patients. Patients

could make a great claim on health-

care, while it could be possible that

these small disorders do not have

an effect on their health now, or in

the future.

We have to consider these questions

thoroughly.

Mickuela Las van Bennekom

ethics@emsa-europe.org

Page 14 E U R O M E D S

Throughout life women and men

contribute every day to society. Both

genders are supposed to play

different parts to the forthcoming of

their society, their family, their

career. The last centuries made an

extreme change to the traditional

g e n d e r p i c t u r e s , b u t s t i l l

requirements regarding health and

behavior towards risks and risk-

taking are different.

In 2010 EMSA will raise awareness

to the different roles women play in

society and to their requirements

regarding career planning, by

celebrating the

International Women’s Day on

March, 8th.

With your help and your creativity we

want to set up an annual event that

concerns about women in medicine

and women health issues in general.

The first International Women’s Day

celebrated by EMSA will deal with

young female medical students and

doctors approaching their career, the

lack of University’s support of female

students, what goes well and what

should be improved at the university

in Europe concerning female medical

students.

Regarding the chosen topic

(“Female Steps in Medicine”) we

would like to ask you to put all of

your creativity and enthusiasms in

the International Women’s Day and

organize projects such as lectures

or a Movie and Medicine. Invite a

female doctor and let her talk about

her career or a politician that works

with gender policies! Show a movie

that deals with female issues and

start a discussion after the movie!

Besides the core action on March,

8th, we ask you to distribute a

questionnaire to all of your female

medical students and pass it back

to us by the end of March (deadline

31.03.2010). This questionnaire

will be evaluated and the results will

be presented at the first issues of

the EMSA Medical Ethics Issue in

May! We would also ask you to send

us your pictures you made at March

8th, 2010 so that we can publish

them in the issues as well.

Please fill in the questionnaires

(link listed below) or send the filled-

in questionnaire by mail so that the

answers can be evaluated and be

used for a position formed by WG-

members, the Director of Medical

Ethics and the LO-WHO.

Link: http://bit.ly/agK2cF

You can find the questionnaire as a

Pdf-Form and a document with a

short résumé of all the mentioned

facts in this message at:

www.emsa-europe.org

We thank you for your interest and

we look forward to your projects held

in our university and to your filled- in

questionnaires!!!

Europeanly yours,

Constanze Born (Liaison Officer

toward the WHO 2009/2010)

who-lo@emsa-europe.eu

Mickuela las van Bennekom (Medical

Ethics Director 2009/2010)

ethics@emsa-europe.eu

I N T E R N A T İ O N A L W O M A N S D A Y : F E M A L E S T E P S İ N M E D İ C İ N E

EMSA – c/o Standing Committee of

European Doctors (CPME) – Rue

Guimard 15 – B1040 Brussels -

Belgium

Web: www.emsa-europe.org

E-Mail: eeb@emsa-europe.org

WHAT IS EMSA?

The European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA) was founded in

Brussels in 1991. It integrates medical students in geographical Europe

through activities organised for and by medical students and representing

them in Brussels. Faculties are members, not the individual countries. Since

EMSA’s foundation many medical faculties throughout Europe enrolled with

EMSA. It currently units 50 medical faculties from countries across Europe.

EMSA seeks to improve the health and the quality of care of the citizens of

Europe by acting as a conduit for increased interaction and sharing of

knowledge between European medical students in the areas of medical education,

ethics and science.

E U R O P E A N M E D İ C A L

S T U D E N T S ’ A S S O C I A T I O N

S E E Y O U I N N E X T E D I T I O N ! Acknowledgement

Articles do not neces-

sarily reflect the opin-

ion of EMSA. All arti-

cles are the copyrights

of the EUROPEAN

MEDICAL STUDENTS’

ASSOCIATION (EMSA).

We thank all of you for

your contributions.

The objectives of EMSA are:

° To form a network between European medical students to facilitate European integration and develop a sense of European

identity

° To represent and voice the opinions of the medical students of Europe

° To act as a forum for all medical students in Europe, to discuss topics related to the fields of medical education, medical ethics, and

medical research

° To promote the highest standards in European medical education and ensure the quality of healthcare in Europe

° To promote training, activities and projects related to health in Europe to the benefit of medical students and society

° To facilitate intercultural understanding by organizing social and cultural events

° To cooperate with other student organizations and with organizations representing the medical profession

A couple of the activities EMSA organises are: Teddy Bear Hospital, Twinning Project, Eurotalk, EMSA Summer Schools, EMS Council,

EMSA-skiing week, JEMSA and many more. For more information about EMSA projects you can contact the EMSA European Board

(mailto: eeb@emsa-europe.org) or visit our website at: www.emsa-europe.org.