The Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Minas Gerais is a subdivision of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. It was founded in 1911 by Italian-born Brazilian doctor Alfredo Balena, shortly after the creation of the capital city of Belo Horizonte, it produces 320 doctors every year, the biggest number of graduates per year in Brazil, and another 50 speech-language therapists.

History On March 5, 1911, the Medical-Surgical Society of Minas Gerais created the School of Medicine in the city of Belo Horizonte, the fourth school of medicine to be founded in Brazil. It was housed in a stately house in the center of what is now the capital of the state of Minas Gerais. In 1927, the institution integrated the University of Minas Gerais, which was made federal in 1949 with three other tertiary schools that existed in Belo Horizonte: the School of Law, the School of Engineering and the Free School of Dentistry, which included the course on Pharmacy.

The class of 1960 was the inaugural class. The opening lecture was given by President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, alumnus, benefactor, and honorary professor. In the 1960s, Medical Residency was made available for graduate students in various specialties. Graduate courses were implemented in 1968, with the creation of the Ph.D. in Ophthalmology.

In the last few years, the Faculty of Medicine has also witnessed a considerable increase in faculty tenures and titles, leading to the expansion of numerous research projects and publications, always linked to theoretical and practical instruction for students.

The development of the Faculty of Medicine has been constant. The first class to graduate in 1917 consisted of 17 students of medicine. In 1933, there were 70 graduates. In 1965, the number of ingresses was fixed at 160. In 1969, under pressure from a greater number of professionals in the market, the number doubled to 320, divided into two biannual ingresses. In 2007, the year of the graduation of the 123rd class, a total of 14,740 doctors graduated from this school.

On July 1, 1999, the undergraduate course in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology was created. The first class entered the university in 2000. Starting in 2010, with the creation of courses on Gerontologic Care and on Radiology and Image Diagnostics Technology, the School graduates professionals capable in the care of the elderly and image technicians, answering an increasing social demand in these areas.

The teaching reform in the Faculty of Medicine in the 1970s revealed the necessity of a greater knowledge of the evolution of healthcare through the ages, and led to the creation of the Center for Memory of the School of Medicine – Cememor, open to visits by the public by appointment.

Undergraduate Course

Medicine The main aim of the undergraduate course on Medicine in UFMG is the instruction of general physicians that are competent in the areas of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Mental Health. Knowledgeable about these skills and attitudes, the graduate will be a medical doctor able to give quality assistance, acting for the promotion of health, disease prevention, and in the recuperation and rehabilitation of the sick.

The course is divided into four cycles: Basic, from the first to the fourth semester; Propedeutic, composed by the fifth and sixth semesters; Out-patient Ambulatoria, from the seventh to the ninth; and Internships, composed by the last three semesters.

The courses on the Basic Cycle are offered in the Biological Sciences Institute, on the campus situated in Pampulha. From the fifth to the ninth semesters, the courses on clinics are developed with direct contact between students and patients, in groups of ten students supervised by one faculty member. From the tenth onwards, the students take part in the urgent and emergency services, as well as in hospital inpatient care, always under faculty supervision.

The sites for the practical studies varies: laboratories for basic science; clinical analysis; and education technology simulations; outpatient clinics in municipal health centers – in Belo Horizonte and in other towns in the state –, in the university hospitals Hospital das Clínicas (HC) and the Hospital Universitário Risoleta Tolentino Neves; in inpatient units and emergency services in the HC and in the numerous associated hospitals, such as the emergency center Hospital de Pronto Socorro João XXIII.

The Rural Internship, which happens in the eleventh semester of the course, supplements the students’ practical instruction, and has the students acting for three months in municipal services in numerous small towns in the state's countryside, in rural and urban areas. More than a compulsory course, the Rural Internship is considered by students as an incomparable professional and human experience.

Every semester, the Faculty of Medicine receives 160 new students, selected by the UFMG unified entrance examinations, adding to a total of 1920 enrolled students. The faculty includes over 400 professors.

The undergraduate course of medicine at UFMG has been considered the best in the country by the press Editora Abril's Guide for Students in 2006. It received the maximum grade in the National Exam for the Performance of Students (ENADE) and also in the external evaluation for teaching conditions promoted by the National Ministry of Education.

Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology The course offered at UFMG proposes a generalist and interdisciplinary formation focused on the scientific and social aspects of Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology. The undergraduate course has a minimum duration of four years and can be concluded in up to 13 semesters. Presently, 50 openings are available each year, divided into biannual ingresses.

The internships start in the fifth semester and include the areas of Speech, Child and Adult Languages, Oral Motion, Child and Adult Audiology, Voice and Public Health. The Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology Outpatient Clinic, where the internships take place in the Hospital das Clínicas facilities, is composed of 11 rooms planned for patient care, which is provided free of charge for the population. Six of these rooms have observation panels, where students can observe and learn from their colleagues.

Faculty includes 42 professors, 19 from the Faculty of Medicine, and 11 speech-language therapists themselves. Apart from the Faculty of Medicine and the Outpatient Clinic, another nine academic units from the university offer Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology courses: the Biological Sciences Institute, the School of Philosophy and Human Sciences, the School of Languages and Arts, the School of Music, the School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, the Exact Sciences Institute, the School of Dentistry, the School for Information Sciences, and the Nursing School.

Graduate Courses The UFMG Faculty of Medicine offers many Graduate Courses stricto sensu and lato sensu with active production and steady expansion, besides Medical Residency in the Hospital das Clínicas.

Stricto sensu Ever since the creation of the first graduate course in 1968, over a thousand MA theses and about 400 PhD dissertations have been approved at the UFMG Faculty of Medicine. Presently, there are about 420 students enrolled. Graduate courses stricto sensu in the Faculty of Medicine include the following programs, all offered at MA and PhD levels:

Ophthalmology and Surgery Applied Sciences Adult Care Applied Sciences Health Sciences – Child and Adolescent Care Health Sciences – Infectiology and Tropical Medicine Pathology Women Care Public Health

Lato sensu Graduate courses lato sensu include five specializations in the area of Pediatrics; Gastroenterology, Pneumology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, and Adolescent Care. The Department of Preventive and Social Medicine offers many courses in the areas of Public Health, focusing on Health Services Management and Workers’ Health, among others, some of them offered by the Center for the Education in Public Health (Nescon), that also offers specialization courses in the areas of Basic Care and Family Health, and Epidemiology.

Medical Residency The Medical Residency is a graduate course on the same level as the specialization, developed as a supervised program of in-service instruction, which aims at the development of qualified professionals in specific areas of medicine.

At UFMG it is developed in the Hospital das Clínicas (HC) and in the Hospital Universitário Risoleta Tolentino Neves. The Medical Residency in Family Health is offered in the towns of Belo Horizonte, Tiradentes e Brumadinho. Agreements for the extension of the program to other towns are underway.

The Hospital das Clínicas offers 41 programs of Medical Residency, all accredited by the national Ministry of Education. The programs have a minimal duration of two years and a maximum of five, depending on the specialty. Another seven Residency programs are available at Hospital Universitário Risoleta Tolentino Neves.

Students are selected by means of an examination promoted by the Medical Residency Coordination (Coreme). Applications can be submitted in October every year, and the exams take place in November and December, in two phases consisting of objective questions on general knowledge of Medicine and the analysis of the students’ curricula.

Extension Programs The extension programs developed at the UFMG Faculty of Medicine seek to establish educational, cultural, and scientific interactions between University and society. This relation allows the students to elaborate on the praxis of academic knowledge, by means of an interdisciplinary work based on the contact with the Brazilian national and regional realities.

The community, on the other hand, effectively takes part in this process, and can intervene in University actions.

Created in 1976, the UFMG Faculty of Medicine Extension Center offers courses, seminars, conference cycles and other activities for the academic community, healthcare professionals and for the community at large.

Research and Scientific Production The research activity in the UFMG Faculty of Medicine goes as far back as the creation of the school, and has become traditional in many areas. In the last few years, the number of lines of research and research groups has increased significantly. An expanding number of undergraduate students are also taking part in research developed as scientific initiation programs.

The School has dozens of laboratories and has important national and international funding partners, including Fapemig, Finep, Capes, CNPq, and the European Union, besides UFMG's own Office for Research Affairs.

Among the areas that concentrate lines of research developed at the UFMG School of Medicine, we can find Infectious and Parasite Diseases; Medical and Compared Pathology; Epidemiology, Health Service Management and Worker's Health, Internal Medicine, Gynecology, Fetal Medicine and Obstetrics; Experimental Surgery, Surgery of the Digestive System, and Neurosurgery; Ophthalmology; Neurosciences; Child and Adolescent Health; and Microbiology of the Digestive System.

Faculty and departments The UFMG Faculty of Medicine is composed of eleven departments and has 411 faculty members. The faculty has 243 (59%) PhD-level professors, 85 (21%) at the MA level, and 83 (20%) specialists. In 2006, 51 (12.4%) of these specialists were pursuing better qualifications.

The UFMG Faculty of Medicine faculty take part in teaching, research, extension, and administration. The majority (232 or 56% in 2006) is on an exclusive work regimen for the university and are not to be employed elsewhere. A significant number of professors are employed in the partial regimen, and thus keep their activities in the health systems.