"The search for new knowledge unabated to the interior of the ICBM"
For more than 18 years the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, has actively participated in the development of research and scientific innovation in the country. Behind this task is also the Office of postgraduate, unit that supports and organizes programs graduate within the institution.
Interview with Dr. Emilio Herrera, Deputy Director of postgraduate:
How do the graduate branch of the ICBM originates?
The Subdirectorate of postgraduate was born in the year 2014 with a mission to optimize all the graduate programs in which participates the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, including 18 masters and 6 doctoral programs of the Faculty of medicine.
Since its inception, the Subdirectorate of graduate has given him great relevance to the generation of basic and clinical specialists in first level in our country. This has implemented it in accordance with its mission to create, develop, communicate and transfer knowledge in the area of Biomedical Sciences.
For example, the 1st fair of academic degrees to organize this by 2016, in conjunction with the Graduate School of the faculty, open space facing students and academics who wish to show their findings and the different lines of research to the public. Such instances are of great importance, since they spread the knowledge generated within the faculty, and also to promote the emergence of new collaborations. For the new postgraduate students it is also a help, since they feed on the University and scientific environment which are being incorporated.
What are the challenges ahead of the Subdirectorate of postgraduate?
Problems of public health should be an important focus for the researchers of the ICBM, which as referents national subject matter, propose new academic programs and research to develop science and train scientists at the highest level.
This could be achieved articulating - or even merging - programs masters that have many points in common, for example: aspects of Microbiology, virology and parasitology. In addition, clinical specialties could eventually be a master's degree or PhD in infectious diseases. However, whenever you create a new program requires restructuring provisions and running long processes of accreditation, then, the idea and the call is all postgraduate programs cooperate between them, creating an interdisciplinary articulation, and carefully analyze the elimination or creation of new academic programs.
In areas of PhD:
The doctoral program prepares professional to develop her own line of research, and fully study the scientific method, experimental design and data analysis, among other topics.
There are doctoral research that only exist in Chile, for example: marine toxins, red tide and mining in height, all these areas have a tremendous impact on the health of the population. Chile is a natural laboratory, since it is a very rich country for studies related to the environment, which still has a great potential for development.
On the other hand, perform a postgraduate degree at the University of Chile, Faculty of medicine and the ICBM in particular, is a very important pole of adapting to the new challenges of science and health. If one wants to do science in Chile, the Institute of Biomedical Sciences is the place to be.
To join and follow the academic career in Chile, the most traditional universities require professionals with doctorate, so the relevance of the postgraduate course is very high in higher education.
Dr. Herrera is veterinarian with a Ph.d. in Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of medicine, developing his thesis in the pathophysiology of the ICBM program. There he served as researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Aníbal Llanos, investigating the effects of hypoxia on fetal level, in newborns and adults. Between 2007 - 2010 was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, England, specializing in maternal-fetal Physiology and oxidative stress. On his return to Chile developed its own line of research investigating the cardiovascular effects of various pathologies. He is currently CEO elect of the school of graduate and President of the Comité de Bioética on research animals at the Faculty of medicine.