In 2010, the German Council of Science and Humanities paved the way for a unique project with its positive vote: University Medicine Oldenburg with its cross-border degree programme. Just two years later, the University of Oldenburg founded its School of Medicine and Health Sciences - the first new medical school to be established in Germany for 20 years. Oldenburg had a degree programme in human medicine - as had already been proposed by the university's founding committee in 1971.

Since 2012, our medicine programme has been growing and flourishing, receiving unprecedented moral and financial support from the city and region from the very beginning. One key objective has already been achieved: the establishment of first-class medical teaching. With its transnational structure, our medical degree programme, the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS), is unique in Europe. The EMS is characterised by its strongly practice- and research-oriented teaching concept. In a nationwide comparison, our medical students have achieved above-average results in all year groups to date.

This success is also made possible by the close and trusting cooperation with our partners: on the Dutch side with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and its Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG) and here locally with the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oldenburg, the Karl-Jaspers-Klinik, the Klinikum Oldenburg and the Pius-Hospital Oldenburg. There is also a network of teaching practices with 120 partners throughout the region.

Our university medical centre is also well on the way to achieving its second major goal - to expand research across borders and interdisciplinary areas -
. You can find out more about this in this special edition.

In an interview, Dean Hans Gerd Nothwang and Dean of Studies Klaus P. Kohse provide a comprehensive overview. You will also be introduced to the head of the Department of Anatomy, Anja Bräuer. She wants to gain a better understanding of the brain in order to be able to recognise Alzheimer's disease earlier, for example. The editorial team also looked over the shoulders of urologists Friedhelm Wawroschek and Alexander Winter from Oldenburg Hospital. They are extremely successful researchers in the field of prostate cancer. The two scientists Lena Ansmann and Alexander Friedrich will tell you what care researchers in Oldenburg and Groningen are working on.

I wish you a stimulating read!

Yours

Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper