Association of Medical Students of the University of Granada Ramón y Cajal: confusion in the vein

When we try to have a perspective on the university student body, we get stuck in the Manichean formula of a great, passive life when exams don’t go our way. However, there is also a third way. The associations associated with the University of Granada are an example. And among them we can highlight the activity of Ramón y Cajal. Made up of about forty Ramones, as they call themselves, they are medical students who are dedicated to the maximum in turning their time at university into something exciting.

“Of course it involves personal participation, but also motivation for the academic year,” explains the President of the Association of Medical Students. “The exams are over and we are already looking forward to the last two months of preparations for the Congress ” Granada Ramón y Cajal, Pablo López González. Their efforts are directed at one point, three days of the year in which they initiate a medical congress with all the materials present in a medical congress. It is organized only by students.

But this effort made for Congress is like a beam of light. Moving towards its goal, it sheds light on other aspects of university life. Organizing workshops, presentations, communications, presentations, registrations, invitations and other arrangements involved in meeting “people are very motivated and it is easy”. In addition to the annual event – ​​which celebrates its twenty-first edition this year – Ramones holds social activities and maintains relationships with graduates and newcomers to the faculty.

The association was born in 1997 at the hands of today’s Dr. Juan García-Valdecasas. He was the first President of Ramón y Cajal and in the twentieth edition of the Congress he was honored by those who are now his successors. At that time, at the end of the 20th century, the idea of ​​the association was born out of the interest of elements of student representation in the UGR. Years later, this function was handed over to other more defined groups and its purpose, in the words of its current president, is to “promote university life”.

Much of its activity focuses on organizing its annual conference. The three days preceding the Holy Week offer health science students an exposure to medicine and top-level professionals who selflessly participate in this platform. “It allows you to meet people, open up to the world of medicine from a different perspective than the classroom,” says López González.

This year the Congress has been announced to be held on 20, 21 and 22 March. As in previous editions, in the morning there will be presentations with nationally relevant participants and UGR professors – “They are amazing”, reflects the association’s president – ​​and in the afternoon workshops will be held. From suture making to differential diagnosis. All styles that may be of interest to the student group are played. There are also presentations of clinical cases which are solved and presented by the students.

This academic and formal activity is accompanied by informal meetings, which take place at meal times or at closing ceremonies, which also include musical performances. All this was organized by students of medicine from first to sixth year. From purchasing materials for workshops to facilitating networking meetings, or from managing catering to reservation of venues, they take care of everything.

López González, who will complete his studies at the Faculty this year, specifies, “We care that they have a good time, that they leave with something more than attending a workshop.” He is one of the ‘veterans’ and has already started the machinery for replacement. To become a ramen you only need interest and desire, in addition to going through a process that includes an interview with candidates in which “creativity” and “enthusiasm” are fundamentally valued.

Association members are organized into commissions to organize the congress. They have excellent supports, such as those provided by their sponsors, the Official College of Physicians, the Andalusian Medical Union, the PTS Foundation or the Abenamar Training Center. They also have the Granada City Council, UGR or Federico Oloriz Institute of Neurosciences. López González highlighted the role of Blanca Gutiérrez, director of the Neurosciences Institute, as an example of someone committed to the project. The Ramones president summarized, “There are people who make it easy for you.”

Its president argues, “Our association is beyond academics, it is a spirit,” which also highlights the connection between former members and current members. “A ramen will always be a ramen.”

He has an office on the second floor of Medicine Tower B and reports on his activity mainly through his social network @ramonycajalgranada.