Doc. MUDr. Martin Magner, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Paediatrics of the First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University and the General University Hospital
For me, the First Faculty of a family of people who
gave me education, upbringing, understanding, friendship, as well as keys from
rooms I would not have thought to look into before. The most important of those
people is probably Professor Jiří Zeman. No one knows practical infant medicine
as well as he does. When I was appointed head of the Department of Paediatrics
at the Thomayer University Hospital two years ago, the First Faculty gave me a
lot of freedom but also bestowed on me the responsibility for a team of
teachers and participation in teaching the state exam course in paediatric
medicine and a number of other courses which are part of bachelor and master
studies. We are a small department, without own laboratories or large
specialised teams. Even so, last year we managed, thanks to extensive
collaboration, to publish 18 articles in journals with impact factor, and we
put together a special issue of the journal of Česko-slovenská pediatrie
(Czecho-Slovak Paediatrics). Thanks to the absolutely wonderful physician
Markéta Bloomfield and research on immune processes during Covid-19 disease,
our department was last year mentioned in two publications of the Science journal.
We have treated children with SMA gene therapy, opened a new outpatient station
for biological therapy, reconstructed the department for children with acute
diseases, and fitted a new lecture room at the department. In the end, we
always managed to get money for it somewhere. What was most important was
always the idea and the goal. And that is why I would like to wish the First
Faculty to never baulk at aiming high or fear the competition of the best
scientific and educational institutions. To be always aware of its broad
potential, opportunities whose limits we set only ourselves. To always require
a lot from students for whom a diploma from the First Faculty will be the most
prestigious calling card. To speak to people from other sciences, other
countries, and to create space for the unique ideas of scientists, teachers,
and students who send the results of our work to the top scientific journals.
Think big, Number One!