HRS4R Seal
Mentoring for Euriclea research
Javier Martínez Tubío
The award was presented during the XIX Annual Meeting of Medical Education, held within the framework of the Complutense Summer Courses 2026.
The initiative brings students closer to the reality of people with rare diseases through interviews with patients and family members, with the aim of strengthening skills such as empathy, communication and understanding of patients' needs.
“We wondered if we were teaching students to communicate empathetically with patients,” explains Almudena García, assistant professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department, regarding the project's origins. Therefore, they decided that students should experience firsthand how these pathologies affect the daily lives of those who suffer from them.
In collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases (FEDER), the students conducted interviews focused on issues such as diagnosis, treatments, and the impact of the disease on the family. They then created educational videos to raise awareness of these experiences.
For Adriana Izquierdo, a tenured professor in the Genetics department, the project addresses a training need. “There’s a lot of theory, but communication skills and how to explain a treatment aren’t taught in the classroom, and we believe they should be,” she points out.
The professors emphasize that one of the initiative's main objectives is to remind everyone that medicine must always put the patient at the center. "We must not forget that behind every patient there is a person," Almudena García points out. Along the same lines, Izquierdo states that "doctors are taught to cure, but when a cure is not possible, they must also know how to comfort and support."
Regarding the recognition received, Almudena García says it is “a source of pride and an indicator that things are being done well,” while Adriana Izquierdo emphasizes that university education should include “skills and competencies that are just as important as academic knowledge.”