“NOVA University Lisbon is the Portuguese university that has the greatest commitment to the health area”, underlined NOVA Vice-rector, José Fragata, in the scope of the conference “The Future of Medicine and Central Life Themes - Aging, Lifestyles, Ethics”. The initiative, part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alfredo da Silva, founder of the CUF Group, took place on April 13 at the Rectory of NOVA University Lisbon. The event was organized by the Amélia de Mello Foundation in partnership with NOVA and also NOVA Medical School.
The conference, which was broadcast online, joined the NOVA Vice-rector, José Fragata, the NOVA Medical School (NMS) Dean, Jaime Cunha Branco, the President of the Amélia de Mello Foundation, Vasco de Mello, the Clinical Pathologist, José Germano de Sousa, and also several professors from NOVA.
During the opening session, NOVA Vice-rector, José Fragata, stated that the colloquium was a way of honoring businessman Alfredo da Silva, who “always knew how to reconcile the values of the economy with social protection and health”. He also underlined “the academic and technical-scientific commitment” of NOVA University Lisbon, “materialized in teaching and research, but also in social intervention, namely through partnerships with industry and service to the community”. "Intervention that we do both locally and internationally, putting knowledge at the service of the global community, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."
In turn, Jaime Cunha Branco, Dean of NMS, highlighted the themes of the conference, “four fundamental themes for the practice of medicine today and tomorrow.”
Vasco de Mello, President of the Amélia de Mello Foundation and great-grandson of Alfredo da Silva, drew attention to the pressure on the health system, due to the aging population, assuming that the conference aimed to help answer the question: “Who will take care of us in the future?”
The opening session was followed by several presentations and debates. The theme "Current Ethics in Medicine" was brought up by Professor Helena Pereira de Melo, from NOVA School of Law, who reflected on the need to ensure the safety of people on whom clinical trials are focused, underlining the fact that new technologies put new ethical problems.
Conceição Calhau, Professor at NMS, spoke about "Lifestyles in Health and Disease", referring that this is a "pioneering area of NMS in medical education in Portugal". "The challenge of the present and the future is to give more life to years and not just more years to life."
Helena Canhão, also Professor at NMS, spoke on “Medical and Socioeconomic Challenges of Aging”, calling attention to the fact that today there is a longer average life expectancy, but many inequalities between individuals and differences between countries still exist, especially with regard to quality of life in the last 5/10 years of life (over 65 years).
The Nova School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA) was represented by Professor José Paulo Santos who chose to speak about the “Importance of New Technologies in Health” and underlined the need for the treatment of information to require new methods, given the high number of data powered by new technologies.
“The Future of Health has already begun” was the motto of the presentation given by the Clinical Pathologist José Germano de Sousa, who said that Artificial Intelligence, IoMT tools powered by the 5G network, gene therapy and telemedicine will change the way healthcare is provided. In an optimistic tone, he ended the session by saying that the objective is "to offer more doctors and better doctors in the future to come".