Key Reflections on the AMSE 2024 Conference AMSE Newsletter – 2025 – No. 1
Dear friends and colleagues, dear members of AMSE,
I wish you all a good start to a successful 2025. In this first AMSE Newsletter of the year, I would like to share with you the key reflections on the AMSE 2024 Conference.
The AMSE2024 Conference, organized by the School of Medicine, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece from 17-19 October, brought together leading professionals, students, patients, and educators to explore the future of medical education. The theme of “Educating for patient-centred and community-engaged healthcare” motivated strong international interest, and interprofessional participation, resonated well with many conference participants, and encouraged lively and engaging discussions on the importance of co-creation, innovation, and inclusivity in shaping the future of health education in Europe.
Key Highlights:
· Student and Patient Engagement: A hallmark of the conference was the active participation of students and patients. “ This collaboration fostered meaningful conversations about shared decision-making and emotional intelligence in healthcare. As Kostas Konstantinou shared: “It is my pleasure to be involved in students’ education. They will have to take care of people with problems like mine in the future.
· Innovation in Education: Interactive sessions, the immersive technology experience, and hands-on workshops showcased new possibilities for enhancing healthcare training for the new generation of learners, the digital-native students.
· A Culture of Co-Creation: Luka Delak, Vice President of EMSA, celebrated the first collaborative activity between EMSA and AMSE, stating: “This conference commemorates the first collaborative activity we have with the Association of Medical Schools in Europe (AMSE)”.
· The Challenge of Change: Leadership for transformation, faculty development for the educators of future physicians, curriculum change, and the deep and unexplored waters of AI in health education and health care were discussed by the AMSE senior faculty and the Deans of all Medical schools in Greece.
· Trauma-informed Healthcare and Education: The President-elect of AMEE Janusz Janczukowicz showcased the contemporary goals of healthcare.
· “Learning Empathy isn’t Easy, but it is Crucial for Medical Students”: Madalena Patricio was honored with the Peter Dieter Award presented to her by Harm Peters and Vladimír Palička.
The Conference in Numbers:
• 750 in-person participants (including 460 medical undergraduate students) from 22 countries around the world.
• Keynote sessions, workshops, and collaborative discussions and 90 accepted papers presented as oral presentations (22) or vividly discussed e-posters (68).
• A program co-designed and co-delivered by students, educators, patients, healthcare professionals and community members.
Key Themes Explored:
· Patient-centred education and care
· Student agency in learning
· Health professionals’ well-being.
· Trauma-informed healthcare and education.
· Shared decision-making
· Patient and family voices in care and education
· Emotional intelligence
· Learning for healthcare in the real world
· Inclusivity and diversity in health education.
· Evolving patient-physician-AI dynamics.
The energy and enthusiasm throughout the event were truly inspiring from insightful discussions to hands-on experiences, this conference has truly showcased the future of healthcare education. The program reflected a commitment of the Schools of Medicine to excellence, innovation, and social accountability in medical education to meet the needs of new-generation learners, global educational standards and meet the future health needs of our communities.
Thank you to all participants, especially the Student Task Force at AUTH, whose dedication and enthusiasm made AMSE2024 an unforgettable experience. Together, we are shaping the future of patient-centred and community-engaged healthcare.
Save the date for AMSE 2025 (16.-18. October 2025 in Olomouc, Czech Republic), where we will continue the AMSE journey towards transformative health education!
From Berlin,
Harm Peters
Prof. Harm Peters, MD, MHPE
AMSE President
Mühlenstrasse 8a,
D-14167 Berlin, Germany
Email: president@amse-med.eu