Mission Statement

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich is committed to high quality teaching and continuing research-based education of students in health care professions. Excellent and internationally recognised scientists and clinically outstanding physicians are at the Faculty of Medicine devoted to patients and public health, to teaching, to the support of young researchers and to academic medicine. The interaction between research and teaching, and their connection to clinical practice play a central role for us.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich prepares students for lifelong learning and consistently promotes a dynamic development of continuing education and training. To this end, we work in close collaboration with university hospitals and academic teaching hospitals, and exchange knowledge with the Swiss Institute for Medical Education (SIWF).

Structured doctoral programmes aim to promote young academics in an outstanding research environment.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich promotes innovative research in the basic fields of medicine, in the clinical application of knowledge, in personalised medicine, in health care, and in the translational connection between all these research areas. In addition, it encourages the cooperation between primary care and specialised health care.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich promotes local, national, international and inter-institutional collaboration to strengthen scientific advances, clinical excellence and the international importance of Zurich as an academic and research destination. In particular, the close cooperation between the five university hospitals in Zurich, the Faculty of Science, and the ETH Zurich is the ground for a high quality, innovative and competitive academic medicine.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich promotes inter-professional and interdisciplinary cooperation in the interest of individualised patient care. The combination of basic and clinical research with patient care allows the application of the latest research results.

Our medical practice is based on scientific evidence, on professional cooperation of the members of the treatment team, on the transparent communication of professional and ethical principles, and on the emotional support of patients.

The promotion and improvement of health care includes preventive, curative and palliative interventions.

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich brings its rich scientific expertise into the public sphere to discuss about health and education issues. Its members are actively and responsibly involved in such discussions.

Medical advances may have social and political implications, and their ethical and legal aspects must be adequately addressed. In this regard, the independence from external interests is of crucial importance.

Medicine is not for us an abstract science: scientific and medical activities should concretely serve individuals and society. In addition, beyond the well-being of individuals and society, we are also concerned with the need to ensure equal access to health care for people of different educational and socio-economic levels, ethnicity, and gender.