For Ana Țoghină, the anniversary edition of MEDICS 2026 was a learning experience that unfolded both in the conference hall and behind the scenes. A third-year medical student, Ana helped prepare the congress as a junior member of the organising committee. Drawing on this dual perspective, her account explores how a future doctor develops through study, engagement with research and shared responsibility.
Ana’s nomination for the Campaign for Romanian Excellence introduces readers of Occidentul Românesc to a professional journey still taking shape. Her experience at MEDICS 2026 offers an insight into the values she considers essential to medical training: scientific rigour, respect for teamwork and a sense of responsibility towards the patients she will one day care for.
Now in its tenth edition, the MEDICS congress was organised by SOMS – Scientific Organisation of Medical Students at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. According to Ana’s account, the event brought together more than 250 students for a programme of lectures, practical workshops and scientific presentations. The participation of leading figures in international medical research and clinical practice created opportunities for discussion, allowing students to consider what they learn at university in the light of the questions facing contemporary medicine. The value of Ana’s account lies in her attention to what these encounters mean. Alongside her recognition of the speakers’ standing, she considers what students can learn from the way they conduct research, explain their work and discuss their fields.
Professor Magdalena Götz’s lecture on neurogenesis and neuronal repair prompted reflection on the promise of research and the distance between experimental findings and their application in clinical practice. Ana highlights the importance of recognising that distinction. Enthusiasm for a potential discovery must be accompanied by an understanding of its limitations. This is a particularly relevant observation during the formative years of medical education. Future doctors must learn how to assess information, which questions to ask and how much caution is required when moving from a promising hypothesis to an intervention intended for patients. This process helps shape professional judgement.
The same concern for the implications of scientific progress emerges in Ana’s reflections on the lecture delivered by Professor Aaron Ciechanover, a recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His presentation on the mechanisms of protein degradation also raised questions about costs, access to treatment and ethical responsibility. For the generation now studying medicine, these issues will have tangible consequences. The prospect of developing a treatment inevitably raises the question of who will be able to access it. Ana’s account shows an awareness of the connection between scientific knowledge and the conditions that determine whether its benefits reach people.
The online address by Professor James E. Rothman, a recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, added to this perspective through its focus on communication at neuronal synapses. In Ana’s view, engaging with fundamental research helps students understand the origins of the explanations that underpin medicine and why a deeper understanding of biological mechanisms remains essential.
The programme also included talks on epilepsy, vision, auditory perception and craniofacial surgery, delivered by Ioana Mîndruță, Ioannis Pallikaris, Benedikt Grothe and Jonathan Britto. Across these varied subjects, Ana identifies an idea worth retaining: understanding illness requires attention to the patient’s experience as a whole, including the emotional and social consequences of suffering.
This dimension was reinforced by Ankur Pandya’s talk on the patients who keep a doctor’s humanity alive. For Ana, the message has particular resonance at a stage of university life dominated by lectures, examinations and assessments. Professional training must remain connected to the person for whose benefit all this knowledge will ultimately be used. “A good doctor needs both competence and character,” she writes. The statement captures one of the central ideas in her account. Medical education also involves developing an attitude towards the vulnerability of others, the limits of one’s own knowledge and the responsibilities inherent in the profession.
Her participation in the organising team added a practical lesson to the experience. Preparations, communication, logistics and last-minute changes gave Ana an insight into the work behind an academic event. The smooth running of a congress depends on contributions that often go unnoticed but require care and a willingness to help.
Ana describes the experience as a collective effort. She thanks SOMS President Teodora Chirilă and Vice-President Ștefania Andrei for their support and trust. She also expresses her appreciation to the MEDICS team, the university, its partners and sponsors. In doing so, her account gives due recognition to those who made the academic gathering possible and acknowledges each contribution to its shared success.
Viewed in the spirit of the Campaign for Romanian Excellence, Ana Țoghină’s experience illustrates how a conscientious approach to professional life can be cultivated from the university years onwards. Involvement in an academic project, attention to difficult questions and a willingness to learn through teamwork are tangible elements of this development.
Ana is at the beginning of her journey. Her account of MEDICS 2026 deserves attention for the questions it brings to the fore and for the place she gives the patient in her understanding of medicine. Through these early choices, a future doctor’s sense of responsibility begins to take shape. Excellence acquires meaning through the care with which that doctor prepares, one day, to honour another person’s trust.
Images: Ana Țoghină (personal archive)
The Editorial Team of Occidentul Românesc
A publication serving Romanians in the West, with a particular focus on the Iberian Peninsula.
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