Education beyond the state of the art: Development of an educational program for autoimmune diseases

Learn about autoimmunity beyond the state of the art

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CIVIS focus area
Cities, territories and mobilities
Open to
  • Bachelor's
  • Master's
  • PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies
  • Medicine and Health
Type
  • CIVIS Hub 3
Course dates
15-19 June 2022

The unmet needs regarding approaches of patients with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, ways to move towards patient-centred approaches, multidisciplinary approaches, data science, the psychological profile of patients and above all, strategies for the development of precision medicine will be discussed.

The five days CIVIS course that will be held in the pathophysiology department of the university of Athens will provide students with in-depth training in two key areas:

  • Basic immunology
  • Autoimmune rheumatic diseases

The program should equip students with a sound basis of immunological knowledge, using innovative pedagogical methods. Topics related to public health, the value of high throughput cutting edge techniques, the need for centres of excellence in autoimmunity, the added value of bioinformatics among others, will be analyzed and explained in a way that goes far beyond what is written in the textbooks. Multidisciplinary approaches, drawing appropriately from multiple disciplines of medicine and beyond (psychology, sexual health etc.) to reach much-needed solutions for patients suffering from chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is at the core of our program.

Nowadays, the need for a multidisciplinary team approach when it comes to the management of those patients is imperative. Bringing together physicians, nurses, psychologists, bioinformatics as well as the immunology laboratory is the only way to meet the needs of individuals with complex care needs. Throughout the summer school, our students will be provided with the basic principles of a multidisciplinary approach in chronic autoimmune diseases and the role of each player of the team is going to be presented. Along with the structured learning activities, students will be able to experience the unique flavour of Athens by participating in extracurricular activities provided by the organization. The CIVIS course is going to be an exciting and memorable experience for our students coming from around Europe, that can translate into valuable supplies for their future pursues in medicine.

Main topics addressed

  • Get an in-depth training in basic immunology and autoimmune rheumatic diseases
  • Learn about the multidisciplinary approach in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (the role of the nephrologist, pulmonologist, bioinformatician, psychologist, pharmacologist)
  • Describe the present and the future of precision medicine in rheumatology

Learning outcomes

  • Take part in exciting interactive lectures about immunology and rheumatology
  • Get basic knowledge regarding autoimmunity
  • Participate in workshops in the immunology laboratory
Dates: 15-19 June 2022 ECTS: 1*
Format: Physical Weekly study: 26 hours
Language: English (B2) Contact point: agtzi@med.uoa.gr and lukechatzis@gmail.com
Course location: Athens, Greece CIVIS students: 20

The course in autoimmune diseases and immunology will be running for 5 days, starting on 15 June 2022.

*The recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

A maximum of 20 international CIVIS students will be accepted in the course in a total of 25 students. 

Schedule of the course

Day 1 (15 June 2022)

Day 2 (16 June 2022)

Day 3 (17 June 2022)

Day 4 (18 June 2022)

  • Patient-centred approach in autoimmune diseases: lessons learned from our national expertise centres (10:00 – 11:00 CET) - Prof. Panayotis Vlachoyiannopoulos
  • The role of psychotherapy in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (11:00 - 12:00 CET) - PhD Christina Golemati
  • Sexuality, fertility and pregnancy in rheumatic diseases (12:00 – 13:00 CET) - Prof. Joerg Henes
  • Lunch Break
  • Introduction to biomedical engineering, a new frontier in medicine (14:00 – 15:00 CET) - Prof Dimitrios Fotiadis
  • The role of computer engineers: creating a novel way to communicate with our patients, the bioassist platform (15:00 – 16:00) - Prof Panagiotis Tsanakas
  • Is the pathologist important to study autoimmune diseases? (16:00 – 17:00 CET) - Prof Vassilis Gorgoulis

Day 5 (19 June 2022)

  • Autoimmunity and inflammation in myelodysplastic syndromes (10:00 - 11:00 CET) - Prof Michael Voulgarelis
  • Lymphoproliferation in autoimmunity (11:00 - 12:00 CET) - Phd Stergiou Ioanna
  • Summary
  • Students’ interactive hour
  • Questions and answers session
  • Farewell session

Requirements

This CIVIS course is open to Bachelor's, Master and PhD students at one of CIVIS member universities and interested in immunology and autoimmune diseases. 

A B2 level of English is recommended. 

Application process

Students should send their CV and a cover letter indicating their motivation to attend the Summer School to the following e-mail addresses:
agtzi@med.uoa.gr
lukechatzis@gmail.com

The evaluation criteria will be based on previous activities, subjects, and degrees related to autoimmunity described in the CV as well as on the letter of motivation.

Interested students should apply by 10 April 2022. Selected students will be notified by the end of April 2022.

Course assessment

Students will be assessed at the end of the CIVlS course, in the form of a written multiple-choice examination based on the content conveyed within the lectures and workshops as well as by their participation and interest throughout the summer school.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

  • Professor Athanasios Tzioufas - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Professor Panayotis Vlachoyiannopoulos - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Dr. Loukas Chatzis - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Associate Professor Efstathia Kapsogeorgou - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Dr. Ourania Argyropoulou - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Associate Professor Cecilia Munoz Calleja - hospital universitario de la princesa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
  • Assistant Professor Andreas Goules - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Assistant Professor Sophia Lionaki - Attikon university hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Professor Emmanuel Mikros - faculty of pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Professor Neil Basu - unstitute of unfection, ummunity and unflammation, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Professor Jacque Olivier Pers - lymphocytes B et autoimmunité, University of Brest, France
  • Professor Christine Delporte - laboratory of Pathophysiological and Nutritional Biochemistry, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

  • Prof Soyfoo Muhammad - department of rheumatology, Erasme Hospital, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

  • Associate Professor Tzouvelekis Argyrios - department of respiratory medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Greece
  • PhD Christina Golemati - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Professor Joerg Henes - centre for interdisciplinary clinical immunology, rheumatology and autoinflammatory diseases and department of internal medicine II (haematology, oncology, immunology and rheumatology), University Hospital Tuebingen, Germany
  • Professor Dimitrios Fotiadis - unit of medical technology and intelligent information systems, University of Ioannina, Greece
  • Professor Panagiotis Tsanakas - professor of computer engineering, school of electrical and computer engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • Professor Vassilis Gorgoulis - molecular carcinogenesis group, department of histology and embryology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
  • Professor Michael Voulgarelis - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Phd Stergiou Ioanna - department of pathophysiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens