BIYSC project category: Medicine

In this project, you will embark on an immersive experience that explores the challenges and groundbreaking advances in the care of sexually transmitted diseases and chronic infections like HIV. This program provides a comprehensive perspective, spanning prevention, treatment, and translational research, offering you a complete understanding of what it means to manage a chronic infection in the 21st century.

You will begin by exploring advanced prevention strategies, such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and measures to prevent sexually transmitted infections. From there, you will immerse yourself in the management of chronic HIV infection through outpatient consultations, gaining insight into what means and how complex is the long-term care.  The experience will also uncover the acute and critical aspects of HIV treatment, including the care of patients with severe immunosuppression requiring hospitalization and, when necessary, ICU management for the most critical cases.

To deepen your understanding, the program incorporates collaboration with basic science researchers addressing clinical challenges through innovative methods. You will have the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge tools and methodologies to study immune responses and explore the molecular aspects of chronic infections.

By the end of this project, you will have a 360-degree view of the care continuum for STD, and specifically HIV, from prevention to treatment and research. Based at Hospital del Mar this project aims to provide you with invaluable insights into modern healthcare and inspire you to make a meaningful impact in the field of medicine.

Learning objectives

• Goal 1. Comprehensive understanding of STD and chronic infections care. We aim to provide participants with a 360-degree perspective of the care continuum for STD and chronic infections like HIV. We want to provide an insight into what medicine care is about in 2024.

• Goal 2. Hands-On Clinical and Research Experience. We aim to provide the participants with real-world clinically relevant questions, and how they can be addressed in the daily practice. With a close collaboration with Hospital del Mar Research Institute, participants will transition from patient level care to cellular level mechanisms

• Goal 3. Provide insight of the complexities of disease in the 21^st century. We aim to foster a deeper understanding of the complexity of managing chronic infections, emphasizing a holistic approach to patient care considering the individual as a whole, rather than focusing solely on disease.   

Matching profiles

This project is ideal for people with a strong interest in health sciences, medicine, or biology, who are eager to learn more about the complexities of managing chronic infections and sexually transmitted diseases. While no prior experience is required, participants should have a passion for understanding how we prevent, treat and address critical questions about infectious diseases  such as STD or HIV.  

Required materials

• Laptop
• Writing materials

Medicine is a pillar of wellness and health, and research is critical to meeting health challenges and improving health care. In this project, participants with an interest in science, medicine and healthcare will be involved in an active learning environment in a realistic, dynamic medical experience within the Hospital and with opportunities to participate in simulations.

For two weeks they will have the opportunity to discover the work in a University Hospital and learn about the challenges faced and the research developed in the different specialized Institutes/Centers of the Hospital Clínic. In small groups, students will have the opportunity to delve into some of these areas of medical specialization of their interest and, together with expert physicians and researchers, understand how a given clinical problem triggers specific research.

Students will attend lectures, learn and practice clinical and research skills, and explore healthcare careers with various medical professionals from different Institutes/Centers at Hospital Clinic.

We expect students to learn about the basics about diagnostics and treatment, working alongside physicians, nurses, and medical students in specialized small groups. Clinical activities will be complemented with training in a translational research environment in IDIBAPS and with an experience at the medical simulation laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona.

Finally, students will be able to investigate future career opportunities by being introduced to the network of Campus Clinic-affiliated healthcare professionals, and participate in engaging careers conversations to learn about their specialties and career paths as they relate some of their most memorable patient cases.

Last but not least, the experience intends the students to learn and practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills that will help them prepare for college, work, and life!

Learning objectives

Participants will have the opportunity to work and learn with the goal to:

• Be exposed to the complexity of clinical practice of excellence
• Understand how to address clinical unknowns through research.
• Be acquainted with the methods currently used in basic biomedical research.
• See how a clinical simulation laboratory can help in medical education.

Matching profiles

This project is addressed to students interested in Health sciences, Biomedicine or Biology.

Required materials

Laptop