With the aim of helping PASS and LAS students prepare as effectively as possible for their first year of medical studies, the Pre-Semester Workshop (SPR) is a flagship event organized by the tutoring associations of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine.
Every five years, a new dean’s office team, composed of associate deans and special advisors, is appointed by the dean to represent him or her in carrying out specific tasks. This year, Prof. Arnaud Bourdin was appointed Vice Dean in charge of relations with the Clinical Research and Innovation Delegations (DRCI) of the Montpellier and Nîmes University Hospitals. Read his interview here: learn about his background and the projects he hopes to implement as part of his role!
You were appointed by the Dean, Ms. Isabelle Laffont. Could you tell us about your background and your area of expertise?
Pulmonology is an extremely broad discipline, covering fields as diverse as vascular medicine, inflammation, oncology, allergy, immunology, aerology, or more traditionally environmental science, infectious diseases, critical care, addiction medicine, and a significant amount of technical expertise. It fosters culture, knowledge, and open-mindedness. It is by far the organ most in contact with the environment. It is a difficult organ to explore. One must be fully engaged in this interaction, driven by a desire to understand, to reason, and to generate evidence in order to grasp this multitude of topics; it is also a discipline that inspires humility, with all that this entails in terms of responsibility and ethics to make progress.
How do you plan to balance your duties as associate dean with your other professional responsibilities?
As President of the DRCI and the CRBSP, I have been committed for many years to fostering a culture of science within our faculty. Knowledge is often right there, within reach, and not all problems can be solved by ready-made formulas that cannot be taught. The issue, therefore, is not about balancing activities, but about promoting this vision as much as possible in all activities of the Faculty of Medicine.
What will your contributions and goals be? What projects do you hope to carry out in your role?
The first objective is, of course, educational: research is integral to health-related degree programs, from the assessment of knowledge to the awarding of various degrees and the roles of faculty members who conduct research. The code of responsibility, ethics, and respect for patients are deeply rooted in the humanities and social sciences of the past, and the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty must be a pioneer in this field. The second objective is to foster a culture of research within the Faculty, through its commitments as well as its human and intellectual heritage. In collaboration with the Scientific Advisory Board, the direction of major structural projects, the identification of needs, and the analysis of both successes and failures must help us progress collectively.
What motivated you to accept this appointment?
Training through research, a passion for progress, a rejection of mediocrity and the “idiopathic,” and a desire to constantly improve patient care and support—all of which require rigorous and ambitious educational and scientific policies—are the driving forces behind our motivation. Today, this is an urgent challenge for our Faculty and, more broadly, for our university hospitals, to ensure not only their legitimacy and sustainability, but also and above all their excellence.
A consultation for a stuffed animal?
As they have done every year since 2002, our students in the medicine, midwifery, and speech-language pathology programs (through the ACM, AMESF, and Dislalie student associations) join forces with students in the pharmacy, dentistry, physical therapy, and occupational therapy programs to organize an event that is as unique for its warmth as it is for its practical value: the Teddy Bear Hospital.
The concept? Healthcare students welcome preschoolers from underprivileged neighborhoods to introduce them to the hospital environment and health checkups through a fun role-playing activity: their stuffed animals will be the “patients” for the day!
A goal that endures
What is the goal of this event? To make doctor’s visits less intimidating. As we know, the medical environment can be very intimidating and overwhelming, especially for children… Through this initiative, the students hope to change the cold and frightening image of doctors that many people have.
A multidisciplinary hospital
The event, which will take place this year from April 11 to 13, will feature a mini medical clinic for children’s stuffed animals, spread across 12 preschool classrooms. A real “mini-hospital”!
The program features no fewer than 15 multidisciplinary care booths! To prepare for working with children, the students running the booths received special training from a child psychiatrist at Montpellier University Hospital.
Booths run by medical students (ACM)
- Cardiology
- Nutrition
- Pulmonology
- Surgery
- General Practice
- Ophthalmology
- Gastroenterology
Booth run by maieutics students (AMESF)
Booth run by speech-language pathology students (DISLALIA)
Booths run by students from other health-related programs:
- Pharmacy
- Nurse
- Physical Therapist
- Radiological Procedures
- Occupational therapist
- Dental
Students from the Montpellier Artistic Project (MAP) invite you to join them in analyzing a scene from Godard’s film *Contempt* during the special exhibition by artist Sylvain Fraysse at the Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine. We met with them to discuss this unique project.
How did this project come about?
The“Camille” project was launched in 2022, born out of a desire among members of the Montpellier Artistic Project to introduce students at the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine to new forms of art. The 2021–2022 MAP board therefore reached out to the Regional Contemporary Art Fund (FRAC) with the aim of creating a joint project, and this led to a collaboration with visual artist Sylvain Fraysse and Céline Mélissent, who oversees public engagement and the promotion of the collection at the FRAC.
What does this artistic experience entail for visitors?
The exhibition is a sensory experience of light and sound centered on Jean-Luc Godard’s film *Contempt *. The artist uses the Dissection Room in the Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine to “dissect” a scene from the film. In this iconic scene, the director lists the parts of Camille’s body—one of the main characters, played by Brigitte Bardot—in the manner of a dissection. Sylvain Fraysse recreates the scene’s color filters using gelatin sheets on the windows of the dissection room and also cuts the film’s original soundtrack into 24 frequencies. In this way, he dissects the very essence of the scene.
What exactly is MAP?
The "Montpellier Artistic Project" is a non-profit organization established in August 2020 by three medical students who wanted to organize artistic activities within the faculty.
Over the past three years, the MAP board has expanded, and we now offer a variety of workshops and activities across our four divisions: Applied Arts, Public Speaking, Literary Arts, and Culinary Arts. To this end, we provide materials and introductory sessions for various artistic practices, and we also organize art contests on our social media platforms, as well as a public speaking contest each semester.
You can find us through our mascot, a chameleon named Léon Art, on Facebook, as well as on our Instagram account.
Why is this project so important to you?
It is important to us because it allows us to bring the Faculty’s historic building to life by opening a room that has never before been open to the public, and thus gives the association a boost by taking us out of our usual workshops. We have learned a great deal from this project and hope that students and visitors will enjoy it. Furthermore, we are very proud to be part of Montpellier’s bid for the 2028 Capital of Culture and to be able to contribute to the city’s cultural life. It is a vibrant experience that brings students together.
What kind of support have you been able to gather?
We had the opportunity to work with Sylvain Fraysse and the FRAC through Céline Mélissent, who served as our primary point of contact during the development of this project. The project was selected to be part of Montpellier’s bid for the title of European Capital of Culture 2028, which allowed us to receive financial support for the production of the exhibition. The TaM supported us by allowing us to install posters at certain tram and bus stops throughout the metropolitan area to promote the exhibition.
We also received support from the University of Montpellier (UM) through the Student Initiative Solidarity Fund (FSDIE) and the UM Arts and Culture Department, notably Eléonore Szturemski, as well as from the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine. We would like to extend a special thank you to Dean Isabelle Laffont and Professor Gérald Chanques for their support and logistical assistance.
Practical information about the exhibition
Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine
2 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine
34000 Montpellier
Exhibition open to the public from March 22 to April 18:
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Students can visit the exhibits during these open house days on a drop-in basis.
On Tuesdays, guided tours will be led by students in the Master’s program in Cultural Mediation at the Faculty of Education in Montpellier.
- Tuesday, March 28, and April 4 and 11 at 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 18, at 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Additional mediation sessions offered by association members will be announced at a later date on the event’s Facebook page.
Every five years, a new dean’s office team, composed of associate deans and program coordinators, is appointed by the dean to represent him or her in carrying out specific tasks. This year, Professor Stephan Matecki was elected chair of the Scientific Council. Read his interview here: learn about his background and the projects he hopes to implement as part of his role!
You have been elected Chair of the Scientific Council. Could you tell us about your background and your area of expertise?
I am a physiologist and head of the Pediatric Functional Testing Unit, as well as a research team within the UMR CNRS 9214–INSERM U1046 unit located at the IURC. I am also co-director of the Master’s program in Biology and Health. After completing my medical studies in Paris, I went on to do my residency and my fellowship in Physiology in Montpellier. I have always had a deep commitment to scientific education and supporting our students throughout their scientific journey. This has allowed me to develop a comprehensive support system for our youngest students through the implementation of a dual health sciences curriculum designed for all health science students. This program was recently accredited by INSERM and has been integrated into the national network of Medicine-Science programs at our School. I have also been able to develop, within the Scientific Council, this support strategy through a system of early and regular mentoring for all our candidates pursuing careers in university hospitals, who will form the core of our Faculty in the future.
How do you plan to balance your professional responsibilities with your role as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board?
When you love what you do, you don’t keep track of the hours. But as a physiologist, my professional obligations are less demanding than those of a clinician or a surgeon. Furthermore, I believe that my roles as director of the Master’s program in Health Biology and as a research team leader are highly complementary to my duties on the scientific advisory board. A role, I should note, that is very much focused on mentoring and providing supportive guidance to our young students who aspire to careers in university hospitals.
What will your contributions and goals be? What projects do you hope to carry out in your role?
I would like to focus on promoting greater transparency regarding the scientific policy of our Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine, in alignment with the Montpellier and Nîmes University Hospitals, by highlighting its core mission—education in the health field—and its driving force: our students. I would also like to strengthen our support for young candidates through the Scientific Advisory Board, which will be based on a relationship of guidance and mentorship. The goal will be to train them to reflect on their scientific positioning—a positioning that will guide them in their future scientific careers. Support for candidates must be established as early as possible, which will allow us to better advise and guide them so they can arrive at the interview with full confidence, since their academic path and scientific positioning will have been validated in advance. Finally, I would like to continue developing dual health and medical degree programs, adapting them to the increasingly strong demand, especially since the implementation of the student’s academic track record, which will be taken into account in the matching process.
What motivated you to accept this appointment?
Above all, it’s the joy of giving our youngest students all the support they deserve. Their enthusiasm and willingness to listen are a real source of inspiration for me—almost like a breath of fresh air.
