New technologies arise, influence the daily lives of people and institutions, modify habits and customs, create needs and open up new prospects.
They are a challenge and an opportunity!

The Faculty of Medicine possessed an Agenda, a monthly publication, in which it published news about the institution, its most relevant facts, its administrative decisions that impact on collective faculty life, academic events, distinctions and awards etc. It had a considerable distribution internally and scant external visibility. Besides these facts, its printing and distribution were progressively more expensive, which, at a time of financial restraint, reduced its impact.

New solutions were considered in an attempt to find new means to publicize the institutional life of the FMUL on a wider scale, internally and externally, hoping to provide international visibility of similar institutions, the Centres of the Portuguese diaspora and in contemporary scientific and educational forums.

For these reasons I enthusiastically accepted the proposal by a working group of administrative staff members at the faculty, who had in the meantime begun to reflect upon these new needs, and I support the launching, through the new digital highways, of the FMUL Newsletter news@fmul.

I am convinced that it will be a powerful instrument to promote the image of our Medical School, of its intense scientific, educational and clinical life, it will contribute to the reinforcement of the cooperation between teaching, clinical practice and research, thus helping to construct the Academic Medicine Centre, which is a strategic priority for all of us working on this vast academic and hospital campus and straightening the esprit de corps among all the professional groups at the Faculty of Medicine.

To achieve these objectives the Newsletter ought to be bilingual, Portuguese and English, hoping to widen the communication with foreign institutions, students and social sectors, with an interest in medical science and teaching.

I trust the success of this initiative, and I ask to all the utmost commitment and interest to participate in this new project for our Medical School.

José Fernandes e Fernandes