“I’m a believer that humanity, empathy and commitment to the wellbeing of patients is a cornerstone of the medical profession. Future generations of medical professionals need to carry these values with them, alongside developing the skillsets to put these into practice. EDU. A degree smarter has developed a curriculum that mindfully builds well-rounded professionals who are not just knowledgeable in the medical field and talented in administering the standard of care, but who also communicate with patients with transparency and respect and practice Evidence-Based-Medicine.” – Prof. med. Klaus van Ackern
A physician of over 40 years, Prof. Dr. med. Klaus van Ackern became a doctor to fulfil his inner purpose to help others. If he had the chance to go back and decide on a new career path, he says he would always choose the medical profession. Not only is he one of EDU’s founding faculty members, but he is a professor if Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, is the Dean emeritus at the Medical School of Mannheim, and has been the Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the University Medical Hospital in Mannheim for the past 24 years. He is fascinated by the field of Anaesthesiology due to the way it added humanity to medicine; before its introduction in 1846, patients were forced to undergo operations while conscious and suffering from intense pain and were therefore only brought to surgery in cases of emergency.
With their combined long-standing experience in medicine, Prof. med van Ackern and the other members of EDU’s founding faculty have reflected on the structure of a modern medical curriculum, both in terms of material and the way it’s delivered. Medical knowledge progresses at an incredible rate, doubling every seven years, meaning that doctors must become life-long learners to keep up with the fast pace of change and new discoveries. EDU is ground-breaking in the field of medical education, by applying the European academic tradition to educate future medical professionals in a new way, fulfilling the founders’ dream of adapting the way medicine is taught to the needs of the 21st century. According to Prof. med. van Ackern, EDU is able to offer superior education than classical medical programmes due to its novel curriculum, an interactive virtual learning platform that connects expert teachers and students independent of their location, and early hands-on clinical experience with personalised supervision.
“The curriculum behind the programme in Medicine firmly builds up students to develop well-rounded skill sets in the area of professionalism, collaboration within multi-disciplinary teams, empathetic communication, and self-regulation, while promoting ethical values and practice of life-long learning. Moreover, this is not simply taught, but also exemplified by EDU’s faculty of medicine and health, it is reflected in the didactic approaches and it’s patiently supported through mentoring and feedback.” – Prof. med. Klaus van Ackern
