The OMI is pleased to continue our international partnership series, and this week we are featuring the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. The Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University is an official partner of the Open Medical Institute and is located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is part of Charles University, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, the thirteenth largest city in the European Union, and is home to about 1.3 million people. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe complete with a rich history.
Founded in 1348, Charles University became the first general study university north of the Alps and east of Paris. Over time and after several reformations, modern university life began to thrive, drawing strongly on international cooperation. Aware of its mission, Charles University continues to nurture academic cooperation and plays an active role in a broad spectrum of European and global programs.
The Second Faculty of Medicine (http://www.lf2.cuni.cz/en) is a part of Charles University in Prague, teaching more than 1,400 Czech students and 250 international students from both European and non-European countries. The faculty’s main objective is to provide high-quality medical work and increase medical knowledge by training skilled doctors and carrying out research work. The main teaching is done at Motol University Hospital (http://www.fnmotol.cz/en/), the biggest hospital in the Czech Republic, with more than 5,000 employees and nearly 2,500 beds. The hospital provides basic, specialized, and very specialized health care services in various medical fields. Extensive clinical background of our teachers enable top quality training with a focus on practical work. We particularly focus on the research in the fields of human genetics and genomics, childhood oncology and hematology, neuroscience, and pediatrics. The internationally recognized medical research is a priority of the faculty. The faculty’s scientific potential is determined to a great extent by its doctoral students, and has a lot of experience with international collaboration of different fields with European countries, the USA, as well as with other countries around the world.
Charles University has five faculties of medicine, three of which are in Prague, one in Pilsen, and one in Hradec Kralove. The Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University has been an official partner with the OMI since 2016. In 2019, the Dean of the Second Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Vladimir Komarek, approached Professor Aulitzky, the OMI CEO, requesting an increase from five to 20 pre-selected candidates per year for OMI fellowships. To date, 60 fellows from the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University have attended OMI courses in Salzburg, and 1,148 fellowships have been granted to healthcare professionals from the Czech Republic. Participants of the OMI seminars are also eligible for the observership program as well as visiting professorships of OMI faculty in Prague.