- You have chosen our institution and faculty for pursuing your studies at, and we are grateful for this choice. The Faculty of Medicine is one of the major faculties of our university, with high-level training programs, outstanding academic performance and exceptional teaching, researching and clinical excellence in domestic and international rankings and comparisons. Hereby, I wish to express my appreciation of the fact that, as a result of your hard work, perseverance and dedication over the years, you can receive your doctoral degrees and diplomas today- said Professor Norbert Németh, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Debrecen, in his opening speech.
The faculty leader also added the following: At present, there is a great and urgent demand for the up-to-date professional knowledge of the newly graduated students and their competences based on solid foundations. In addition to all these assets, it is also their humaneness and personal example of kindness and compassion that characterize truly good doctors. All of you, recent graduates, have indeed acquired the strong foundations that enable continuous development and the acquisition of new scientific knowledge and methods during your professional life, as we all know that continuous and life-long learning is essential and imperative in the medical field.
- The breathtaking developments in the field of medicine, including the appearance of new technologies, together with increasingly more accurate diagnostics and effective therapeutic options continue to open up broad and expanding horizons. However, all these developments can only serve and not replace your well-founded expertise, the human factor itself. I do wish that your dedicated work and its effectiveness should always benefit the patients either directly or indirectly in the future. The motto used since ancient times is still valid today: Salus aegroti suprema lex esto! Let the welfare of the patients be the supreme law!- said Norbert Németh.
Following the ceremonial addresses, the graduating students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Debrecen took their Hippocratic oath.
Altogether, there were, 57 Hungarian and 67 international students at the ceremony, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Medical futurist Bertalan Meskó also gave a speech to the new physicians. A former student of the faculty and now an AI researcher, he reported that, nowadays, he frequently reads about how artificial intelligence is supposed to either replace physicians or outperform them solely by being cheaper, faster and more precise at work. There are some who even fear that technology will strip away the very thing that normally makes medicine a form of art. Nevertheless, after thousands of hours of analysis, Bertalan Meskó is now certain that neither of these scenarios accurately describe the future ahead of us.
- Artificial intelligence will take over only precisely defined, repetitive and data-driven tasks. And for this, we should be happy. The reason is simply that you did not study for all these years just to mechanically copy data from one system into another. In other words, you did not become doctors only to perform repetitive work that requires neither your expertise, nor your judgment, not to mention your creativity or your kindness and compassion. However, for the tasks that truly require you, you should be fully present and let your knowledge shine. My advice: ask the question that the algorithm fails to ask. Spot what is missing from the raw data. Be there for the patients when they need not just information but understanding- said Bertalan Meskó.
There were also several awards presented at the ceremony. Ten recent graduates received DETEP certificates in recognition of their efforts within the university’s Talent Management Program (Bangera Kavya Chittaranjan, Dalma Gabriella Deák, Adrienn Harsányi, Iyer Arjun, Lili Lukács, Gábor Menkó, Sadu Arpita, Sigalov Ron, Usman Hamza Shaibu and András Márk Vereb).
“Excellent Educator of the Faculty of Medicine” awards were conferred upon Professor Attila Bácsi (Director of the Department of Immunology), Associate Professor Zsuzsanna Bereczky (Head of the Laboratory Medicine Divison of Clinical Laboratory Science) and Chief Physician Alexander Kancsev (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Teaching Hospital) in recognition of their successful contributions to both theoretical and practical student training and the organization of education.
For their outstanding work as heads of their respective institutes, Professors Zoltán Csanádi (Institute of Cardiology), János Kappelmayer (Institute of Laboratory Medicine) and József Tőzsér (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) received Pro Facultate awards.
Students enrolled in the Hungarian and the English programs at the Faculty of Medicine voted for the university lecturers they considered to be the best in each year group, who were then given the “Faculty of Medicine Lecturer of the Year” award by the faculty. The award was presented to Associate Professor Róza Zákány (Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology), Research Assistant Éva Katona (Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology), Associate Professor Zoltán Balajthy, (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Associate Professor Balázs Pál (Department of Physiology), Resident Eliza Mária Löckli (Department of Pathology), Master Instructor László Bidiga (Department of Pathology), Assistant Professor Dániel Priksz (Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy), Professor Béla Juhász (Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy), Professor Béla Fülesdi (Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care), Professor László Oláh (Department of Neurology), Professor György Paragh (Internal Medicine Clinic) and Associate Professor Péter Fülöp (Internal Medicine Clinic).
This year, the award called Weszprémi díj was given to Máté Kisgyörgy and Márk Vereb in recognition of their excellent academic performance, outstanding scientific work within the Scientific Students' Association, and exceptional achievements at scientific student conferences. Ron Sigalov, Mahmoud Einieh, and Zeina Ehsan Salameh Beqain received the Dean’s Certificate of Recognition, while Adrienn Harsányi was awarded a certificate of recognition for her outstanding work in the Kálmán Sántha College for Advanced Studies. On the basis of votes cast by students, the Student Self-Government of the University of Debrecen (DEHÖK) conferred Pro Auditoribus Universitatis Debreceniensis awards upon Associate Professor Zoltán Jenei and Assistant Professor Attila Enyedi. Last but not least, Faisal Aljasser received the Certificate of Recognition from the President and Vice-President of DEHÖK.
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