The multidisciplinary team designing the curriculum includes key contributions from researchers at the Centre for Research in Biomedical Engineering (CREB – UPC), reinforcing the program’s technological and innovative focus.
The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC) is advancing the implementation of its new Medicine degree, designed with a strong technological and multidisciplinary orientation. Several researchers from CREB-UPC are part of the team developing the program, reaffirming the center’s commitment to integrating research and technology into medical education.
Roger Paredes, principal investigator of the Microbial Genomics Group at IrsiCaixa in Badalona, will join UPC as a distinguished professor and medical coordinator of the new degree program. The multidisciplinary team that has been shaping the curriculum includes: Mar Carrió, director of the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE-UPC); Cristina Canal, director of the Doctoral School and researcher in the Biomaterials, Biomechanics, and Tissue Engineering research group; Daniel García Almiñana, deputy director and head of Master’s Studies and Internationalization at the Terrassa School of Industrial, Aerospace, and Audiovisual Engineering (ESEIAAT); Daniel López-Codina, researcher in the Computational Biology and Complex Systems Research Group (BIOCOM-UPC); Àlex Perera, director of CREB; Clara Prats, coordinator of the BIOCOM-UPC group; and Xavier Roca, the rector’s delegate for the Medicine degree.
The Medicine degree was approved in April 2024 with the endorsement of the UPC Governing Council. The project for the new Faculty of Health Sciences in Terrassa is being developed in collaboration with the Terrassa City Council and the Terrassa Health Consortium, which owns the Terrassa University Hospital, the reference center for the new program. UPC Rector Daniel Crespo stated, “With the incorporation of a figure of Dr. Paredes’ prestige as medical coordinator of the curriculum, the project takes a definitive step forward and reinforces our commitment to offering a high-quality medical education, with innovative teaching methodologies and a strong technological foundation, aiming to become a reference in the national university system.”
The new Medicine degree at UPC aims to train professionals capable of addressing contemporary healthcare challenges through a multidisciplinary and innovative approach. With the support of CREB-UPC and collaboration from experts in various fields, this program aspires to become a benchmark within the national university system, fostering research, technology, and academic excellence in healthcare.
The UPC Medicine degree program
The UPC Medicine degree will offer 50 seats per year and will initially be conducted at the Faculty of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa (FOOT), which will be renamed the Faculty of Health Sciences of Terrassa upon curriculum approval.
The six-year program (360 ECTS) will blend theoretical classes, hospital internships, and placements in healthcare centers to ensure comprehensive training. The curriculum emphasizes humanistic, technological, and ethical education, preparing doctors with a multidisciplinary perspective and technological expertise. It will also integrate new technologies and innovations into patient care and health prevention.
Furthermore, the program will promote research as a driver of continuous improvement, equipping students to interpret and generate scientific knowledge while integrating into interdisciplinary teams that advance biomedical and healthcare innovations.
Internationalization will also be a key focus, fostering student mobility, global institutional collaboration, and an understanding of worldwide health challenges, with a strong social and ethical commitment to medical practice.
As stated by Xavier Roca, the rector’s delegate for the creation of the Medicine degree, “This new program aims to train medical professionals with rigorous clinical and humanistic preparation, but also a strong technological foundation. This will be the defining feature of UPC’s Medicine studies. We will develop professionals capable of integrating research and innovation into their clinical practice, with a solid scientific and technical background that will enable them to apply evidence-based medicine and data science in clinical decision-making.” Roca adds, “The use of advanced digital and technological tools is already a priority in medicine, with technology serving as a means to humanize medical care and improve the doctor-patient relationship.”
UPC plans to submit the curriculum to the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya) in the near future, the entity responsible for accrediting university degrees.