Facultas Nostra 2022, June – Editorial

Dear colleagues,

I am sending you all a spring greeting from the pages of the magazine Facultas nostra, which is being created between the walls of the dean´s office on Husova street for the last time. In the summer, moving to the new building Unimec II will take place. We are leaving place where a whole generations of doctors, our parents, colleagues and students have studied. 

We say goodbye to old buildings

Facultas nostra 2022, June 

Almost from the very beginning of the existence of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, generations of its students went through the buildings "Procháskáč" and "Pavlák", in which - among others – the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen had its seat. Students that will start their first year in October this year will be the first to no longer visit these buildings. The construction of the new campus in Lochotín is completed, moving awaits us in the summer. "The end of an era," people say at such moments. In this farewell, let us recall the history associated with the Procháska and Pavlov institutes.

What is happening at the construction site?

Facultas nostra 2022, June 

Dear readers, 

Since the last publication in February 2018, we have been bringing you this section, which brings you closer to what is happening around the construction of our new campus. We started with the report on cutting the trees on the land next to the building of Department of Languages. The land was being prepared to be handed over to the construction company, which was not even known yet, because a selection procedure was yet to come. After four years, this is the last article. The term „construction site“ is no longer relevant for our campus. The building is complete, we received an approval from the Building Authority between May and June. 

Cancer research reigned over Javorná for the eleventh time

Facultas Nostra 2022, June 

From May 20th to 22nd, another instalment of the regular scientific meeting took place, bringing together collaborating research teams of not only the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen but also experts from the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences and from the National Institute of Public Health. The meeting called The Benefits of Pharmacogenomics for the Diagnostics and Treatment of Generalized Colorectal Carcinoma was held for the eleventh time close to the natural wonders of the Šumava National Park near the village of Čachrov. In total, 43 researchers participated, including also our new foreign colleagues and students this year. 

Rector’s Sports Day 2022

Facultas Nostra 2022, June 

On Wednesday, May 11, a traditional sports day took place at the entire Charles University – a day when the rector announces the cancellation of classes and invites all students, as well as employees to play sports together. The Institute of Physical Education took over the organization in Pilsen again. Its staff has prepared competitions for students and staff in several disciplines. 

68th Mid Year Meeting IADS in Jordan

Facultas Nostra 2022, June 

From 9th to 16th February, the 68th Mid Year Meeting IADS (International Association of Dental Students) took place in Jordan. Delegates from many student organisations from all around the world took part in it. We had the chance to represent the Czech Republic and our student organisation SSSČR (Czech Dental Student Association). The representatives for our country were the president of the student association Zuzana Kadlečíková as a deputy delegate and a National Scientific Officer Jana Panochová. 

Do you look forward to the new canteen?

Facultas nostra 2022, April 

One of the necessities of a modern campus is a place where staff and students are be able to satisfy their taste buds and spend time in a pleasant modern environment, whether during breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This place will be our new canteen. You will find it on the two floors of the Dean's Office wing. There will be modern, automatic appliances, with an efficient layout and a high standard of hygienic safety, which are comparable to the performance of the best kitchens. Cooling and freezing boxes are equipped with sensors for central control of cooling and freezing processes. Large-capacity multifunctional cooking appliances with gentle processing of raw materials or automatic meat processing are an example of what modern kitchens will look like in the future. The combi ovens can be controlled from a computer or from home with a mobile application that will allow cooking even overnight. The kitchen is also equipped with a modern ceiling exhaust hood. The entire ceiling is made of stainless steel and can be very easily disassembled and washed in a dishwasher.

Would you like to live a long and healthy life? Then walk!

Facultas nostra 2022, April

According to accessible statistical data, an average American walks 3-4 thousand steps a day. This will probably also apply to an average Czech (or let’s say an average employee or a student of our faculty).

It is clear that modern population does not meet the recommendation of the WHO of taking 10 thousand steps a day. It is true that this recommendation has been based more on experts’ views rather than on solid scientific data. Nevertheless, Lancet Journal brings now a large meta-analysis of 15 other studies aiming at the correlation between the number of steps per day and mortality hazard.

How is the living with medical students?

Facultas nostra 2022, April

Everyone who has the “luck” to have a medical student – medic – friend or even lives with one, will realize, in time, that this cohabitation brings many responsibilities with it, and not all are pleasant to a human. Actually, none is.

Faculty campus construction makes progress, saw the Rector

Facultas nostra 2022, April

On Monday 21 March, Rector of CU prof. Milena Králíčková visited our Faculty with her team in order to acquaint with the progress in the construction of the new campus. Being the former vice-dean for Faculty development the Rector herself has been well acknowledged with the development plan of the Faculty. Now the other members of the new Rector’s Board also had the opportunity to familiarize with the plans and inspect the progress on the spot.

I Have a Dream

Facultas nostra 2022, April – Editorial

As a well-bred schoolchild and pioneer, I spent the summer of 1968 on a family vacation in Sochi. An organized tour with my Mom to the coastal sanatorium Zarja, from where the sea was only 300 steps away welcoming us by a mass warm-up exercise from a loudspeaker. After our arrival from the sunny seaside resort at the Black Sea, I stayed with my grandma in Prague where I enjoyed not only the ZOO, but also museums, mainly the Technical Museum.

New heads of clinics and departments

Facultas nostra 2022, February

The new year brought changes in the management of several departments and clinics. We would like to introduce you the new heads of departments and heads of clinics.

AllSono: free ultrasound training – from students for students

Facultas nostra 2022, February

In the academic year 2021/2022, the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen have launched ultrasound courses organized by the student organization AllSono under the kind support of prof. MUDr. Jan Beneš, Ph.D., head of the Department of Anaesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Medicine of the University Hospital in Pilsen. This project, completely free of charge, has been successfully running at the First Faculty of Medicine in Prague already since 2018 and it enables students and young medics to get practical training in sonography and learn or just refresh its basic principles and rules.

Milena Králíčková takes office as Rector of CU

Facultas nostra 2022, February 

President Miloš Zeman at Prague Castle appointed Professor Milena Králíčková, elected by the Academic Senate as Rector of Charles University. Milena Králíčková, incum bent Vice-Rector of CU for education, is the first woman to head Charles University since its founding in 1348. Her professional career is closely connected to CU’s Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen. We are proud of that and congratulate her! After her medical studies, prof. Králíčková completed a Fulbright fellowship at Harvard, worked at a gynecological clinic and headed the Department of histology and embryology of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen as well as one of the research programmes of the Biomedical Center of the Faculty. Prof. Králíčková took office on Tuesday 1 February 2022 and will lead the school until January 2026. She succeeds Rector Tomáš Zima, who served as rector for maximum two four-year mandates.

Inauguration speech of the re-elected Dean prof. Fínek on 25 February 2022

Facultas nostra 2022, February (editorial)

Your Magnificence, spectabiles, honorabiles, cives academici, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure for me and for the whole Faculty to meet the two most respected persons of our University on the occasion of my inauguration for the second term of office as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen.

Dean of the Faculty prof. Fínek introduced to his second term of office

Facultas nostra 2022, February

During the ceremonial meeting of the academic community on 25 January 2022 prof. Fínek was inaugurated for the second time as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen by Rector of CU prof. Tomáš Zima. Prof. Fínek was re-elected by the Academic Senate of the Faculty in October 2021. The Vice-Rector for Education and the future Rector of CU prof. Milena Králíčková, the Rector of the University of West Bohemia doc. Miroslav Holeček, the President of the Pilsen Region Ilona Mauritzová and the Mayor of the City of Pilsen Pavel Šindelář attended the ceremony as guests. 

What is going on at the construction site?

Facultas nostra 2022, February

We are getting closer, we are. Last time I ended with the announcement that we started heating. Well, now we are cooling as well. The air-conditioning system are starting, flooring is being laid, soffit panels are being installed, painting is coming to an end, appliances are being installed.

Unforgettable Christmas

Facultas nostra 2021, December (editorial)

For each of us, some Christmases are unforgettable. It could be those in childhood, the one when there was a new member of the family at the tree, the one when we got a long-awaited gift, or when the family got together after a long time. My unique Christmas was different. It was the year 1969, the ground was covered by the smog of communist normalization, however there were still discreet places where the flame of hope was glowing.

Prof. Milena Králíčková elected the new Rector of Charles University

Facultas nostra 2021, December

On 22 October 2021 the Academic Senate of Charles University elected the new Rector of CU. In secret ballot prof. Milena Králíčková, the current Vice-Rector of CU for education and at the same time the head of the Department of Histology and Embryology of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen of Charles University and the head of one of the two research programs of our Biomedical Center, won against her rival candidate by a comfortable number of votes.

Alliance 4EU+ develops „hybrid“ mobility in Covid times

Facultas nostra 2021, December

If we want to find some positive aspects of Covid, the vast development of the distance teaching will definitely be one of them. Streaming or recording lectures, webinars and other tools are teaching methods which are commonly used nowadays and which bring benefits also in the “non-Covid” times. One example is the student exchange between six universities joined in the Alliance 4EU+, when the students never leave their alma mater.

International students have got a new club room

Facultas nostra 2021, December

ISMAP – The International Student Medical Association of Pilsen that organises extracurricular activities for students in English study programs – has got a new club room. The faculty has reconstructed and furnished one room at Šafránek building for this purpose. Students then added their own equipment and acessories to make the space comfortable and cosy. On 6^th October, the Dean of the faculty Prof. Fínek and the Vice-Dean Ass. Prof. Kuncová handed the room over to the students at a little ceremony. Let the room serve well and become a place for community meetings and a source of new inspirational ideas.

Sports success of the LFP students in 2021

Facultas nostra 2021, December

Although medicine are demanding studies, there are active sportsmen among medical students. Ice-hockey players find their employment in the Pilsen Academics team (a joint team with the West Bohemian University); however, we can find further students who can manage to harmonize sport and studies in disciplines that do not fill media that often.

A two-piece advice – Dean´s editorial

Facultas nostra 2021, 10 (October)

Not long ago I have received a visit from my colleague from Prague. His daughter had recently fulfilled her childhood dream. She was accepted into our faculty´s general medicine program. A well educated girl, she was a straight A student in high school. She was in the top third of our acceptees – she didn´t fulfill the requirements for admission without entrance exam due to her high schools focus on the humanities.

A distinguished anatomist and pedagogue has passed

Facultas nostra 2021, 10 (October)

Both current and past students, employees and many others associated with the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen mourn the death of a great man. Docent Pavel Fiala has passed on. He was a legendary figure of our faculty, an academic who molded entire generations of students. We bring to you some of his colleagues´ memories of his life. The comments in-between those texts come from messages on our faculty´s Facebook page. With profound respect for this exceptional man´s legacy our editorial staff would like to commemorate his many professional and personal qualities.

Future dentists succeeded in international competition

Facultas nostra 2021, 10 (October)

Since 2004 students of dentistry test their skills in an international inter-university competition for the Jules Allemand Trophy (JAT). There are three rounds. The first one is between students at a particular university, the second is state-wide and the third is international. The state-wide one has returned to the Department of stomatology in Pilsen after 13 years. The competition was conducted under the auspices of the department´s chief Doc. MUDr. Antonín Zicha, CSc., and the scientific supervisor MUDr. Eva Chládková.

What (not) to ask a medic?

Facultas nostra 2021, 10 (October)

Every new medic knows that life changes after you start studying medicine. They will have to speak almost more in Latin than in Czech. They will have to learn to like white color. They will spend their pocket money for textbooks. They will find their gluteus maximus sore from all the sitting. There are many new realities to the life of a fresh medic. However, there is one thing you seldom think about before you start your studies – when people learn that you study medicine, they will ask a particular set of questions. These questions will be the same throughout your life from the day you start medicine. Should you make a tick for every time you are asked one of them, you could fill an entire book. Too bad there is no reward for every 50 ticks or something similar. Here are my top 10 questions people ask medics.

The year 2020 in the Biomedical Centre

Facultas nostra 2021, 6 (June) 

In 2020, the Biomedical Centre (BC) continued to address its dominant research topics: infectious diseases (sepsis, antibiotic resistance of bacteria, prophylaxis of viral infections in transplantology), oncological problems in connection with experimental surgery, biocompatibility, stem cells, neurophysiology and reproductive medicine. 

What's going on at the construction site?

Facultas nostra 2021, 6 (June)

I'm going to start today with a question I get a lot: "Why did they destroy the sidewalk in the alley from University Hospital to Academic Square?" So I take this opportunity to answer it. The relocation of the pavement was planned from the outset because the first stage did not include a design adequate for the fact that this road is also a firefighters' road. Thus, the entire northern part of the alley and the entire academic square will be relaid with the appropriate material, but do not worry, we will not throw away the existing pavement and will use it for other pavements.

The exam period from the point of view of a medical student

Facultas nostra 2021, 6 (June)

Here we go. Once again, after half a year, the biggest fear of every med student comes …exams. After each exam period, the plan for the next semester is clear and (it must be added) the same as the previous year: study continuously, attend all lectures, solve at least x questions per day in each subject. The more adventurous among us plan at least one term ahead.