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Medicine/Leiden University Medical Center
from About us 2020
At the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) we aim to improve both the healthcare system and the health of the individual. The health of the world’s population is one of the greatest challenges of our times. The LUMC believes that this challenge demands a clear vision and mission.
Teaching, research and patient care come together under one roof at the LUMC. Students are trained for lifelong innovation and learning. Researchers gain inspiration and test their findings in clinical practice. Patients can be assured that they receive state-of-the-art treatment. The LUMC believes not only in cure but also in prevention. We like to think of this as pushing the boundaries of medicine.
RESEARCH The research at the LUMC is closely interwoven with the clinical care in the hospital, giving it its own individual personality and a different organisational structure from the other faculties. The LUMC has around 70 research programmes that are linked to the preclinical departments, with some departments having several programmes.
The LUMC participates in the University’s research profiles, and, wherever relevant, in those of the other faculties. It also has dozens of partnerships at home and abroad.
Graduate School Medical and biomedical PhD candidates can follow a programme at the LUMC Graduate School. The programmes at this School are jointly developed by Leiden University and the LUMC.
TEACHING The teaching at the LUMC is innovative, in terms of both content and form. It is based on developments in science, healthcare and society.
The LUMC programmes focus on practitioners who are fully aware of the broader context in which they are working: society, the organisation and the other disciplines with which they collaborate. FACTS AND FIGURES 2019
2,746 students: 1,356 bachelor’s students and 1,359 master’s students
Around 8,400 staff (total LUMC)
Priorities: • Oncology • Regenerative medicine • Population Health
136 doctorates
Biomedical Sciences (BSc) was one of the top programmes in Keuzegids, the consumer guide to universities, for the third successive year.
BACHELOR’S PROGRAMMES • BSc in Biomedical Sciences • BSc in Clinical Technology with TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam • BSc in Medicine
MASTER’S PROGRAMMES • MSc in Biomedical Sciences • MSc in Medicine • MSc in Pharmacy • MSc in Technical Medicine with TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam • MSc in Vitality and Ageing
Augmented reality in our teaching The new augmented reality application AugMedicine: Lung Cases makes it easier for Leiden medical students to identify different forms of lung disease. The application was developed by the Clinical Teaching Unit of the Internal Medicine Department and the Centre for Innovation at Leiden University.
Light stops irregular heartbeat Researchers from the LUMC in collaboration with Delft University of Technology have found a way to automatically reset a heart that is beating too quickly. This is with the aid of an implanted LED light. This bio-electronic defibrillator could be the first step towards a painless treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of arrhythmia. The system that Daniël Pijnappels’ research group developed detects an irregular heartbeat in the atrium of the heart and sends a signal to an LED light that has been inserted close to the heart. When this light flashes, the heart generates an electric charge to halt the arrhythmia. This is made possible by gene therapy that introduces light-sensitive proteins into the heart, causing the heart to immediately return to a regular heartbeat.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) The teaching at the LUMC is not limited to its lecture halls. Technological developments have made it possible for people from all around the world to follow high-quality flexible courses. One good example is our Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation MOOC, which thousands of people from all corners of the globe have followed. Through interactive lectures, unique 3D films and videos about surgery and immunology, participants learn about the many and varied issues at play before, during and after transplantation.
Future pharmacists For the first time in over 35 years, degrees were once again awarded to pharmacists in Leiden: the first 12 students from the three-year Master’s programme in Pharmacy received their degrees in September 2019. The LUMC and the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research at the Faculty of Science are working together on this programme, which was launched in 2016.
