COSENZA It opens with the Lectio magistralis “Medicine and artificial intelligence” of the rector of the University of Calabria, Nicola Leone, the inauguration of the first academic year of the digital medicine and technology degree course. The Aula Magna welcomes teachers and students (respecting the strict distancing rules imposed by Covid), while in video link, the Minister of University and Research Maria Cristina Messa listen carefully to the words of the Magnificent Rector before taking the floor for conclusions. The national transport strike did not allow Mass to take part in the presence of the event.
“An innovative course”
The innovative course of study provides – in addition to the typical skills of a doctor’s training – also the acquisition of knowledge useful for mastering new technologies and applying them in the health sector and the learning of methods and techniques typical of artificial intelligence and Bio-informatics, necessary to conceive and develop new applications for the sectors of precision medicine, telemedicine, personalized medicine, robotic surgery. Thanks to these additional skills, certified by the achievement of the double degree (master’s degree in Medicine and Surgery and three-year degree in Computer Engineering, bioinformatics curriculum), graduates will therefore be professionals trained to face present and future challenges in the health field, capable of managing innovation and to contribute to the innovation itself. They are at the moment 50 students enrolled, but the total places available are sixty-five, of which five are reserved for foreign students.
The interventions of the rectors
The Rector of the Umg of Catanzaro, Giovambattista De Sarro addresses the freshmen, quotes Maria Montessori on the importance of the University. “In this degree course you will not have to be doctors, but at the same time doctors and engineers. The union between the two disciplines is very important “, says De Sarro who adds:” Covid has shown how important it is to adequately prepare our doctors who must be able to face any emergency situation “. Rector Leone, on the other hand, advises students to take advantage of the great opportunity granted to «increase critical consciousness“. “The University – he continues – will allow you to grow and mature”.
The gap between research and knowledge
In video link, the conclusions are up to the Minister of University and Research Maria Cristina Messa. «The project that is inaugurated today has all my admiration, it is an innovative course and we we badly need innovation“. For the minister «today we live a huge gap between research and knowledge. We must quickly recover what has not been done in the past years and the application of artificial intelligence in medicine is a guarantee for doctors of awareness and knowledge, it will support our health ”. Mass then focuses on the relationship between science and technology: «Medical art will never fail and will not be undermined in any way by the presence of artificial intelligence. A machine cannot take emotions into account. Which, on the other hand, are fundamental for doctors. The skills that are acquired over time ». The minister dedicates the gloss to the efforts made by the two universities, Unical and Umg, to “give life to a course that surpasses all parochialism and offers a great opportunity to students who decide to follow him ». A great help will come from the funds foreseen in the Pnrr «linked to green and above all to digital, which is important for enhancing schools, universities and research. There will be many actions to guide and fine-tune information systems for teachers and not just for students ».
The protest of the students
The inauguration of the new degree course was accompanied by a protest outside the “Beniamino Andreatta” conference room staged by the students of “Rinnovamento e Futuro” and “Athena”. The object of the peaceful demonstration is the doubts relating to the disbursement of the scholarships assigned and the deductions from the final remuneration (HERE VIDEO AND NEWS).