The objectives of this second conference, New Perspectives in Medical Education, are to explore new directions in the educational process and instructional methods in Medical Education, advancing towards an ethical and epistemological cohesiveness.

Epistemological advances in medical sciences are encompassed by the “Person-centered paradigm”, focused on meaning and value, ethics, interactionism, and bidirectional biological influences dependent on the person’s subjective responses. Interactionism is based on a relativism of biological reactions to coping possibilities, strategies and quality. This covaries with the biological reality of human nature and the person’s humanistic variables, thus necessarily emphasizing the “Person-centered clinical method” that integrates the traditional model but encompasses an existential and psychosocial model as well. Such a view creates an epistemological, methodological and educational new perspective, which demands conflict and integration with evidence-based epistemology and problem–centered clinical methods and medical education. This shift challenges us to propose new methods and approaches for the selection and education of medical students and physicians. Thus we are challenged to develop new and innovative curricula, and focus on scientific and clinical teaching methods and skills.

It is my pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the Università Ambrosiana of Milan, where the person-centered paradigm and person-centered clinical method were born, and are applied in postgraduate medical education. The vision and mission of the Milan Medical School is to develop research programs to explore the effectiveness of such an orientation for medical education, so as to ultimately improve the care and health of patients.
In order to facilitate personal exchanges among delegates, we will keep the conference small, restricting the number of delegates to 200-250.

Rhetoric aside, we hope that the Conference will be an historical opportunity for each of us to explore advances in medical sciences and medical education, returning to the original qualitative bases of Hippocratic medicine’s meaning and value. Thus the title of the conference is, Return to Hippocrates: Quality and Quantity in Medical Education.

The Milan Medical School has its roots in the ancient Italian Salerno Medical School (800 AD) - the mother of the University and structured medical education. Prior to this, the Crotone Medical School in Magna Grecia,(Southern Italy), founded scientific medicine and medical education ( Alcmeone, Democede) and after Crotone, Cnido and Kos medical schools (founded by the Crotone’s doctors) and Alexandria, were the most important ancient medical schools in the pre-Christian age. At the Milan Medical School we wish to contribute to a renaissance of clinics that today risk a reduction to mere biotechnology.

The Conference will also be an opportunity to visit and to appreciate Milan: “The moral capital of Italy”, situated in the Lombardy Region. Milan is an important city in Italy for its economic activity, on a par with Paris and London as European cities. Milan, a world leader in design and fashion, is in a strategic position in the north of the country and is characterized by cultural, scientific and educational innovations. It is the site where Costantino the Great, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine established the roots of Europe. Here you’ll find pearls of Roman, Gothic and Renaissance architecture and the masterpieces of Leonardo, Bramante, Lippi, Raffaello, and Mantegna.

Milan is geographically conveniently located. By train it is 2.5 hours to Venice, 3 hours to Florence, 4.25 hours to Rome, and 45 minutes to the great lakes in the North.
The venue is in a Conference Centre (Palazzo delle Stelline) on Leonardo’s gardens, directly across the street from the site of the Last Supper, and Santa Maria delle Grazie church designed by Bramante. On foot, both are 5 minutes from St. Ambrogio Abbey, 10 minutes from the Sforzesco Castle, and 25 minutes from the Duomo – a splendid gothic cathedral, which is one of the best in Europe.